spanners. Consequently, it’s a simple tool that’s a delight to use, especially if you’re hungry or if your stove jet needs cleaning! So as a general rule, aesthetics in an original product are a good indication of quality. Occasionally, imitations can be as good as the original product but it is rare for a copy of a premium product to be as good as the original because the temptation to cut corners with cheaper materials is so hard to resist.
Most people aren’t going to go out and replace all their gear in one hit, but having lighter, better performing gear is probably a more compelling reason to buy a new piece than because their old piece wore out.
When I started out as a teenage bushwalker, the closed cell foam pad was the latest innovation for those sensible enough to avoid sleeping directly on the ground, having recently replaced felt, which was usually made from compressed, matted wool and fur. But my pack was made of steel and canvas, my tent was of a lighter cotton, as was the shell of my “down” (feather) sleeping bag and my clothes were of cotton and wool. Down and wool are still around but in more refined “premium” forms, while for everything else, synthetics and high-tech alloys rule.
Once just an irritation in its oxide form because it always ended up inside your volleys, silicon has turned indispensable. In integrated circuitry form it has transformed the night with LED lighting, brought safer communication with satellite beacons, made navigation easier with
GPS devices (always take a compass as a back-up and the knowledge to use it) and delivered the convenience of digital cameras. As a polymer, silicon has spawned a range of collapsible pots and crockery for compact packing, and as a coating to super-fine filaments of nylon it has brought us super-light but surprisingly strong fabrics.
The success of Sea to Summit’s world-leading stuff sack and dry sack range which relied so heavily on that siliconised nylon not only gave us the resources to develop our award winning X pots but also our award winning Air Sprung Cell™ technology for sleeping mats.
Passion for developing better gear combined with market forces will ensure that gear will continue to get lighter and be made more efficiently and sustainably Let us hope that enough young people will continue to discover the joys of being outside and that there will always be places worth visiting.