golite peak - another peak

As promised I've taken a closer look at the bag. The hip fins are easy to remove being held by Velcro tabs, double sided means a secure attachment but I'm still wondering about how well these will work with loads when approaching the claimed 30lb maximum.


Golite's rucksack ideology goes back to Ray Jardine who wasn't a fan of hip belts for the simple reason that if your load is as light as you can make it hip belts are effectively redundant. And since a lot of weight in rucksacks is the hip belt and back system it makes sense to strip these out or pare to the minimum to save weight. That said I still feel that even with lighter loads some transfer of weight to the hips is essential. It lowers your centre of gravity adding stability, and if you're running, jogging or scrambling then a hip belt will keep the load from moving about. From a personal point of view I won't bother to look at a rucksack that doesn't have pockets on the hip belt. Removing the hip fins will save 133g.


As stated the foam back insert is removable and can only be done if the 'sack is empty, and even then it's a struggle to get out as it fits tightly. I ran the foam under a tap and although it doesn't look like closed cell foam it didn't take up any water. If you use three quarter length mattress or pad then the bag can be put under your heels if required but I wouldn't bother going to the effort of taking the insert out. The foam insert weighs a measly 44g.

With the hip fins and back insert removed the stripped down weight is 586g.

snow

Ham pond

Working from home has it's benefits, I can pretty much stop what I'm doing and head out of the door. As soon as snow started falling I togged up and headed out the door with Harry.

One of the many 'tree houses' found in the park

I've a choice of routes but the one that I favour is a wander through Ham Common Woods to Richmond Park climbing up to Pembroke Lodge for a coffee stop. Pembroke Lodge is a Georgian mansion which was once the home of Bertrand Russell, the view from the terrace is a expansive one and on a good day there are a number of landmarks that can be made out some easier than others (Heathrow airport and Twickenham Stadium). Since I had Harry with me I wasn't allowed in to the house and grounds so had to make do with a coffee from the shack and it being midweek it was quiet. At weekends the car park at Pembroke Lodge is a place where dog walkers, ramblers and sunny day cyclists converge and the Lodge and shack become overwhelmed.

Snow dusting

Just north of the Lodge is a mound, Called King Henry's, where there's a telescope making easier to spot the more elusive landmarks like Windsor Castle. You can also look back to the City along St Paul's Vista. This day however the gap in the trees that create the vista was the only thing I saw. From Richmond Gate there's a path that runs parallel to Star and Garter Hill down to Petersham Gate, I took this and there was now a sprinkling on snow covering the trees and brambles.

St Paul's Vista

Through the gate and across the road, Richmond council finally installed a crossing here last year, even with the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill getting across this bit of road was a test of skill, timing and nerve. Past Petersham Church, where George Vancover is buried, I left the Capital Ring and followed a series of narrow footpaths skirting walled houses and school playing fields to the Thames.

I've walked and biked this stretch of the river countless times so I poddled along on autopilot with my mind on other things passing Marble Hill House and Ham House without a single glance. At Teddington Lock I picked up the Thames Cycle Path and followed this through to Ham, and home.

arcam cd37 cd player

I've had a CD37 on home audition for the last couple of days and in between the various building works I've had a chance to listen to the player. The CD37 is a natural upgrade to the CD72 that I own (now available to purchase on gumtree if anyone is interested!) An interesting point to note is that one of the reasons for buying a CD72 was that the DACs could be upgraded to the similarly award winning CD92/CD192; a 192 upsampling improvement over the 24 bit DAC in the CD72. However by the time I made a decision to upgrade Arcam had revamped their CD player range and the boards were no longer available.

Straight out of the box the it was clear that there was a need to run the player in, over the last couple of listen sessions there has been a marked improvement with greater definition and more detail being pulled from the discs. The sound stage is wider and fuller than the CD72, with greater separation of the instruments and voices; the close vocal harmonies on Gillian Welch's Orphan Girl along with the sparse guitar picking stand out. One thing I like about Arcam's sound is that it's laid back, not strident or aggressive so you can enjoy hours of listening without the feeling that your ears needed a rest. Not all Arcam's disc spinners were this easy going, I once auditioned an Alpha 7SE and after twenty minutes I was longing for the quiet dead of night.

The transport and tray are solidly engineered, and the player takes time to load and read discs, no doubt due to the fact that it also plays SACDs. I don't own any of these although I've ordered one up from amazon to get an idea of what this format does sonically. I won't go into my cynical view of vinyl vs CD vs other formats here, I'll save that for another post. Suffice to state that the SACD format hasn't taken off as perhaps Sony would have hoped, no doubt not helped by the iPod generation, streaming and downloads.

Which leads nicely to why spend a very large chunk of cash on a seemingly soon to be obsolete item of hi-fi? There are personal and practical answers to this question. I've amassed a large collection of CDs and I prefer to spend time listening to the music rather than copying it to a hard drive, mp3 player or whatever, that is when I'm not out enjoying the hills and fells. And when I'm out I prefer Natures Soundtrack so I have no need to carry my favoured tunes around on a flash drive.

chanukah

Chanukah starts this Friday so I was out on a mission to find a menorah. Back where I grew up this would have been a easy task; walking up to Stamford Hill and having a browse around the shops on the parade. In the depths of northern Surrey I'd have to improvise. Philip Werner suggested that I make one (Brent Council have a PDF on their website with instructions for a menorah made from recycled materials in case I was that way inclined). However I was going to find a candle holder to suit the Festival of Lights needs; it must hold nine candles, one for each day of the Festival and one for the Shamash, which the other candles are lit from.


The menorah is one of the enduring symbols of Judaism and is traditionally a linear affair but then there's tradition, and then there's tradition. My offering is a modern take on on this, well that's my belief.