FRC gear review 4: Sea to Summit Trash Bag.

I wrote about my intent to take one of those on my trip: https://mountains.social/@ysb33r/111880045857673354

Normal trash bags break easily. They can leak into your pack, or they can swing around on the back of your pack like a baboon drunk on marula fruit. This dry bag solves the problem. It keeps the smell in the bag.

A definite for future trips.

#frc2024 #hiking #seatosummit #whatsinyourpack

FRC gear review 3: I wrote about taking the BD Alpenglow sun hoodie https://mountains.social/@ysb33r/112132350982190407, so how did it do in the FRC? Bloody marvellous, old chap!

I never got sun-burnt. Some days I only put sunscreen on my face. When the sun was from behind I pulled the hood over to protect my neck. Many days it was the only thing I wore as a top.

It's not odor-proof though - it built up a stink over those hot days!

#whatsinyourpack #blackdiamond #hiking #frc2024

FRC gear review 2: CuloClean

I write about the backcountry bidet system I was going to take on the FRC.

https://mountains.social/@ysb33r/112075761770392709

The TL;DR is it works well even in water-deprived conditions. The fact that one no longer has to deal with smelly & shit-smeared toiletpaper is the big win.

In our group I number of people got converted, however I do see quite some resistance to this in the greater hiking population with arguments including

- I burn my toiletpaper
- I don't want to carry extra water in a bottle.

Burning toiletpaper in the desert, might not cause disaster, but carrying that habit over to forests or savannah/grass plains are inviting environmental disasters.

If I have to filter water for drinking anyway, I can just as well dual-purpose the bottle by screwing on a small water filter when needed & really handy when carrying a bladder and I just want to replace electrolytes by mixing a drink in my mug.

#frc2024 #whatsinyourpack #hiking #culoclean

FRC gear review 1: MSR Gravity XL 10lt filter.

This really worked well for the group. A couple of people had Sawyer if similar kind of small squeeze filters, but having this MSR filter meant we could filter into two 4lt MSR Dromedary bags in little time and people could then fill up their hydration bladders or water bottles easily.

It took a bit of time to get used, and there was not always place to hang it up, but we made do with the terrain we got.

I did find that due to the pools, we had to backwash the filter every 7-8lt. We also had to take care of getting air out of the system.

Luckily I won't need this for a while, but it will be there again when we need it.

#whatsinyourpack #hiking #namibia #frc2024 #msrgear

FRC report day 6: I wake everyone up a bit later, but they are all ready to go just after 07:00. It is the last day sand we have 7km to go. It was also relatively cold - below 10⁰C - as compared to our previous days.

This section is an walk and the pace picked up. There are some beautiful spots to stop off and take some last photos.

Just after 09:00 we marched into Ai-Ais, to which as now become a custom, the traditional bell-ringing for a group finishing. It felt emotional. I'm glad I got this group through, but I'm ready to do another one - it feels like I have unfinished business in the FRC.

We had a small breakfast, then uang out in the hot springs for hours, then went out on the terrace for milkshakes and ice cream. The farmer who runs the guesthouse where we stay, picked us up at 12:30. We spent the afternoon watching a beautiful Namibian sunset, then indulged in a braai (BBQ) with proper Namibian meat from the farm.

#frc2024 #hiking #Namibia

FRC report day 5: From here the terrain really changed - the canyon widenes and there are number of arid short cuts to take.

With just enough dawn available, we ascended our first shortcut to see the sun rise from the neck. From here on we continued to the next water, called Cornelius Camp. It is a beautiful spot to camp, but we push on. The more we do on day 5, the less we have the next day.

We got to the last of the NWR water stashes, fill up, ate something, talked about the spiritual effect the canyon has on hikers. Then we ascended the arid Bandage Pass to arrive at a pool at Fool's Gold Corner. This is a traditional place to camp for the last night, but we pushed on.

We arrived at Big Bend, by lunch time. I went off to look for water and a camp site. Having found a small brackish pool, suitable for sourcing water for cooking we set off to setup camp late afternoon. As night set in, some people went scorpion hunting.

#frc2024 #hiking #Namibia

FRC report day 4: We were up again early to beat the heat. Some people took some load from our slow member, which definitely made his life easier, and he could walk faster.

We now encountered sections where the sand underfoot was form and well-trodden path appeared, making navigation easier.

We came across two more NWR water stashes. We took the day a bit easier, but we hit our overnight point, Barbel Pools, by lunch time. My original plan was to do this every day, but circumstances did not allow.

It was a pretty large body of water, but very muddy underfoot and not well suited for swimming. There were decent sized barbel in the pool too. We did eventually find a small, but better pool later in the day.

We set up camp, a hot wind blew through, then it cooled down. Before going to bed, I noticed 50% humidity on the sensor, but stupidly ignored it. By 23:00 we got hit by two hours of frontal rain drizzle - a scramble to cover up ensued.

#hiking #frc2024 #Namibia

FRC report day 3: This was the notorious day, the day that for 15km there is no water. We made sure everyone had 3lt of drinkable water before setting off just after 07:00

It was hot - I measured 33⁰C in the shade before lunch. Although I had sunscreen on, I wore my BD Alpenglow hoodie most of the day. I walked at the back with the slow member. Luckily we had two-way radios. As we were resting, the front of the group radioed in that found the NWR water stash and it was full and in the shade. We had a long lunch there, just to avoid the heat. We filled up with enough drinking water for everyone.

At 15:00 we set off again to camp at a place called Sand Against Slope. Not my preference as when the blows at night it will sand blast you, which did happen.

There were some green pools. I filtered a sample from each and then pointed out the least brackish one to the group as the water source for cooking. Then dusk and the bright stars of the night came upon us.

#frc2024 #hiking #Namibia

FRC report - day 2: I was up at 05:00 sitting in the moonlight, contemplating the day ahead. The silence was amazing.

At 05:30 I woke everybody up so that they could get ready to leave as soon as it was possible to see one's feet without a head lamp. We left camp just after 07:00. It was already hot even though the sun was not even up.

This was another day of mostly big river boulders and some soft sand. Going was slow. Some people were concerned that we were going too slow, and I had to reassure them a number of times that this is normal and that further down the canyon it gets a lot easier to cover terrain. The sensor in my backpack measured a high of 34ºC.

We camped at a place called Palm Sulphur Springs, where there is a ~60º hot spring that runs down into a large pool in the river bed. I wanted to camp 1km further, but the group was tired, so I called it a day.

I did not want to take water from the sulphurous spring -filtered water out of the pool.

#frc2024 #namibia #hiking

FRC report - day 1: We started our descent into the FIsh River Canyon just after 09:00 after being dropped off. Some of group made it down in 90min, but one of group was carrying heavy and took some falls. I stayed with him and it took us 150min to get down.

It was a hot day and going was slow across the terrain. We got to a great pool just before lunch and took a swim.

We made the 4km mark by late afternoon and took fresh water from a spring. There was soft sand to strike camp on, cook some food and enjoy the warmth of the evening next to a pool. (It was still 21ºC at 21:00)

#frc2024 #hiking #namibia