Wild Camping Gear for an overnight summit stop in Scotland
Spring 2013 and myself and my brother decided we would try wild camping on the top of one of the Munros in the Glenuig Forest. Being a circular route we thought it would be fun to try camping on the summits as opposed to the Glen so we set off in high spirits. 24hrs later and after zero hours sleep I deposited the faithful (at Glen level) tent in the bin after returning to the car….. (see film at very bottom of page!!)
This is what spurred the next purchase and the love of summit top camping. During this time my love for making short films of our adventures has also increased and I get asked a lot about what kit I take up on the hill with me on my summit camps. So I made the below movie and thought I’d write a short piece of text to list what items I have. If you are looking for information on light weight wild camping then I suggest you don’t read any further. I weighed my bag for the first time for this film and it turned out that when I added all my filming gear the pack weight was roughly a third of my body weight (I’m not a small chap either!)!! However looking at my gear I wouldn’t change any of it as some of the items I have provide me with a better night’s sleep and I wouldn’t change that for anything J. I would also say that my camera equipment (tripods extra batteries etc etc) weighs roughly the same as all the camping gear combined! Maybe I could invest in a lighter tripod, however my funds don’t currently extend to doing that ;)
I have listed some of the gear that I take below (I’ve excluded camera equipment presently but can do this in the future if anyone is interested). Please note I am in no way an expert and this is only an indication of what I take on the hill. It is not intended as a recommendation but only as my preference J
TarpTent SCARP1 Tent RAB Ascent 900 Sleeping bag Exped DownMat 9 Ground mat SMIDGE ;) Insect repellent Sawyer Mini (or Sawyer Squeeze depending on trip) Water filter Jet Boil Zip Stove Spork Spork Wayfayrer Chicken Tikka Food All in one coffee sachet Coffee First Aid kit First Aid kit Extra Painkillers Painkiller Compeed Blister Plasters Duc Tape Tape Everest Poles Fizan Walking Poles Platypus Water holder Deuter 65 + 15 Pack Ruck Sack 1:25000 OS Map Silva compass Compass Viewranger App Digital software and GPS Powerpack Extra I phone battery Hat/ 2 Pairs Gloves/ Buff Clothing Sigmond walking trouser with braces Trousers SCARPA Charmoz Boots Baselayer T shirt Mountain Equipment Gillet Midlayer 1 Rab Vapour Rise Lite Alpine Jacket North Face Jacket Duvet Jacket Rab Latok Waterproof outer Lighter / back up flint Lighter Ear Plugs Jelly Babies ;)
This is as much of the kit that I can remember from the trip on the attached film. Obviously the weight and equipment gets even more in the winter months so this is what I take generally in the summer. Additionally I use dry bags to compartmentalise the equipment and also to use as a pillow at night!!
As we all do, I spend the evenings before any major trip scouring the internet and books for routes and tips. Walking websites are an excellent resource to find out what people have experienced previously and to look at their photos to see ideas for pitches et etc The weather is still fickle though an I tend to use three or four references to try and second guess it sometimes!! Its Scotland after all!!