Showing posts with label train. Show all posts
Showing posts with label train. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Events: Snow trip - gear summary

I was lucky enough to be taken up to the snow for my 40th birthday not long ago, by my mum, who kindly took my whole family up for a long weekend at the Falls Creek snow resort in the Victorian Alps. Snow, in Australia? Yes, it snows here. Sometimes, in a few places. When we went there was a base-cover of around 80cm and it was forecast to be between -3oC and -6oC, with 24cm sow expected each night, or thereabouts.

It was a 5 hour drive, including an hour on the shuttle-bus, as we didn't want to go through the hassle of snow-chains and on-mountain parking, as well as windy, icy mountain roads. Leave it to the professionals, I say, and have a nap on the way.

That said, when we arrive mountain-side, it was sleeting pretty heavily, and continued to do so for the majority of the day. We lost a bunch of snow cover and everybody got damp. Some more than others. That's kind of what I wanted to cover in this post. What I wore to stay warm and dry. What gear  I took.
 Now, I cheated to some extent in that I hired ski-boots, and the outer-layer jacket and ski-pants for when we actually went skiing, (my first time in 20 years, since I lived in Calgary, Canada).

However, I also packed accordingly, for the times I wasn't skiing, and I'm glad I did.

I've had quite some experience in cold climates, both Canada, the UK, Danmark, as well as holidaying and I know they key elements to not having a bad time are to stay dry and warm. Not always both, but if you are one, or the other, you can usually get by. Cold AND wet? You're going to have a bad time.

Here's my layered approach to a trip to the snow:
I wore as my base-layer, the Platatac fleece leggings, and DriFire long sleeve shirt. I don't have any fancy socks, but tend to get hefty heavy-duty socks from the supermarket and wear them to death These ones are Kirkland's,, from Costco. nothing special, but long lasting and don't get stinky.
I wore my Danner Striker ii GTX combat boots, which could do with a thorough polishing, but I hit them with a liberal coating of Kiwi boot waterproofing spray and they worked a treat, even when I stepped through slush up past the ankle. Be sure to open the laces right up if you're waterproofing boots, and get in around the tongue to ensure you don't miss any leakage points.

I looped the leggings foot-hole stirrups over my socks, so they didn't ride up, and I had full coverage from toe to belly-button. Tucking my shirt into the elastic waist of the leggings then carried that all the way up to my neck. No cold draughts.

For my outer layer, I took my snow-proven Propper Adventure Tech shell outer pants, which offer a wind and water proofing layer that I really appreciate. They don't have a lot of pocket real-estate, but I made do, and didn't either loose anything, or lack anything on my adventures.

Over the DriFire shirts, I wore the lightweight Propper windcheater which provided me a really good lightweight dry-layer, as well as having a good neck-seal. My one was a bit too shirt, so my super-long arms tended to poke out, but I had a plan for that anyway.

As my outermost top layer, I chose my Baubax multi-function jacket, which is a semi-hard shell with a hood and thumb-hole fitted wrist extensions. I'll be covering this in detail some time soon. It held the sleet off really well, although the cuffs and the wrist extensions got pretty sodden. They could do with a dose of waterproofing spray as well, I think.

As far as outer layers went, it was a spot on combination for what I was expecting, although had I wanted to stay even dryer, I should have packed my Hazard4 Poncho Villa but I erred on the side of less gear. I should have left out my spare 90's era snow-pants I got when we moved to Calgary, but I'll pack it next time.

For head and hands, I wore my Peruvian fleece caps, along with one or two Headsox to keep my neck, mouth and ears warm. I wore my dual layer, long wristed Condor Nomex gloves which I also gave a liberal waterproofing. That can of spray was an excellent addition and I can't recommend them enough. I think I shall trial a few different ones soon.

I wore a skiing helmet, to which I mounted my Contour Cam in its waterproof case. I gave the misty fogging Arena Flakjack goggles, with a smoky lens fitted, which remained mostly useable when I was skiing, but I needed to keep taking them off and wiping them off. The goggles really helped me have a clear and wind-free view of where I was going at upwards of 40kph downhill, who knew? I didn't hit ANYTHING this time. (I killed two aspen saplings at least, when living in Calgary).

I wore my Platatac Bravo hydration pack, with a 3L Source WXP bladder in it. I have a Blackhawk Side Plate carrier mounted to the bottom of my Bravo, as its hook-and-loop top makes it an excellent flat-pack pocket.

All in all, I was really pleased with my loadout, but most of all, I can't go without saying that my favourite bit of cold-weather kit was the SORD StormTrooper belt-fitted muff. Not only did it's pockets keep my needfuls (like my Manta emergency strobe, CLIF bars, and the like), they also were a place for me to stuff my gloves, and also just plain keep my hands warm. Warms hands mean good-times.




Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Review: Food bar comparison CLIF bar & Blue Dinosaur bar



Following on from my Bounce food nugget post a while back, We lashed out and got me some other energy foods to trail and I wanted to give you my comparison assessment.


I got a box each of the Bounce Peanut Protein Blast, the CLIF Bar Crunchy Peanut Butter and the Blue Dinosaur Ginger Nut bars. Of all the listed flavours these appealed the most, and I wanted to select flavours that were close, and that I would enjoy. No point picking identical ones that I wouldn't like, after all.



All foil wrapped, with nitrogen filling, to reduce and avoid any oxidative spoilage, the three bars weighed in at 45g for the Blue Dinosaur, 68g for the CLIF Bar and the Bounce Ball at 49g.

I covered the Bounce nuggets previously, so I wont go into them much, read them up here.



The Crunchy Peanut Butter CLIF Bar is an energy bar that was purposely designed from rolled oats, dried fruits, nuts and seeds. As such it provides energy from multiple carbohydrate sources and a blend of protein, fat and fiber blended to slow the rate of digestion to deliver sustained energy. CLIF Bars also contain a blend of vitamins and minerals reported to be important for energy and physical recovery. They give 1088kJ (260Cal) which is quite a lot, compared to the 8368Kj (2000Cal) recommended daily average for an adult male.



The CLIF bars were light in the hand, and moderately hard, but the puffed protein crisps throughout added to the lightness of the bar. It also made for easy eating, which his important to note, because jaw-fatigue is a real thing, and something I found came up with the Bounce nuggets. It was also delicious. Not too tacky, not too sweet, but favoursome and sufficiently complex to make me want to eat a couple a day. Certainly good for road-trips, hikes, or endurance events like Tough Mudder.










The Blue Dinosaur Ginger Nut Paleo Bars are a baked snack made from only 5 ingredients. With a taste similar to that of an ANZAC biscuit, with a hint of ginger to enhance its sweet, nutty flavour. With plenty of protein and good fats, the ginger nut bar will give you plenty of energy, at 865kJ (207Cal) per bar, to keep you going.

Baked at 75oC, they have very little water in them, so they are very stable, and the oils from the nuts, coconut and coconut oil prevent any bacteria from growing, these were a very soft bar which I didn't find nearly as appealing as the CLIF or the Bounce bars, but they were tasty and certainly seemed simple and appealing in a very wholesome way. I'd say these are less a survival staple and more of a road-trip and day-hike snack. They were tasty, for sure, but something about them seemed less durable and suited more to day to day snacking than disaster preparation.

So in summary, I liked all three of the bars, and each have their place, uses and desirability. I think I will preferentially re-stock up on the CLIF bars, because of the solid-but-light nature of the bar.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Review: HHA Razorback CQC knife

Following up from my recent review of the ZU Bladeworx FFSA knife loaned to me by a friend, I wanted to do this second blade he was kind enough to sling my way, the equally interesting HHA Razorback CQC. I'm a big fan of the chunky and no-nonsense badassness of the Hardcore Hardware designs, especially the LFK blades that my partner Omega and I both have an example of  as well as the TWI pen that is in my EDC.

It was really interesting to see what HHA are calling their "first signature blade in the fighting arts genre," but I'll give it the same caveat that I gave the FFSA, this kind of knife is not the kind of tool I've trained and sparred with in the limited knife-fighting training I have done, but I'm happy to tell you that it is certainly an impressive piece of steel.

Featuring the same 6mm (0.236") thick, full tang, D2 tool steel blade, as all the HHA blades this back-swept, double re-curved blade features two hollow ground faces on the sharp edge, and another on the spine of the blade.

HHA report that it is engineered for slashing, thrusting and trapping, and designed for the same type of the reverse grip as might be used in Arnis (but again, it's not my martial field of expertise).

The combination of live and non-live edges however makes the Razorback gives you the opportunity for both both offensive and defensive techniques. For expanding on those blunt force, defensive striking and less-than-lethal applications, the Razorback also has an extended glass breaker, strike/hammer pommel, in keeping with their other designs.

A large finger notch is devised to ensure a secure grip to increase weapon retention substantially, and I found it rested in the edge of the hand really nicely in that reverse grip.

The knife is 235 mm (9.25") overall, with 115 mm (4.52") of that being the blade, and is 368 g (0.81 lb) of hungry steel and G10.

To reduce grip weight and optimize balance, both the tang and handle scales have been skeletonized, with a cavity in the handle which could easily double as a hidden storage space for emergency items. However, those scales are secured with Torx screw all steel fittings, so you might find it difficult to pull of a Jason Bourne style recovery without that particular driver.

I found the backwards sweep of the blade a little difficult to adjust to, mostly because I wasn't sure of the arcs it was offering me, but it certainly felt good in the hand whilst moving it around.  I imagine in a practiced set of hands it would be extremely dangerous.
When held in a forwards grip, the blade was no less dangerous feeling, and I certainly didn't have any trouble cutting with it, though I didn't care for the broad double-recurve  of the edge and handle combination.  No fault of the knife, it's just engineered the way I like a knife to be.

With its ambidextrous Kydex sheath, with a Tek-Lok belt mounting system it can be customised in vertical, horizontal or angled positions to suit your rig, or even lashed via eyelets. It also comes paired with a BlueGun style HIVIZ blue trainer, which matches the blade in weight at 369 g (0.81 lb), but with thoroughly safe edges and points. I'd have no qualms training with it, and letting enthusiastic people pretend to do me harm whilst getting better at using the real thing. 

All in all, the Razorback is a substantial, solid, scary-looking and well thought out blade, that just isn't right for me.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Home Front: Mass transit


My daily commute takes me about 40 minutes, all up, and sees me at three train stations; my local station, a major junction station and a subway station. I'm ten stations out in the suburbs, so when I am in my way in, or getting home, the crowds have thinned considerably, but in the city, and at the junction station, there can be considerable crowds. Most of the time this isn't an issue, even at peak hour, as the trains are quite frequent and the stations laid out reasonably well.

They are, however, a nexus for people, all moving about, for the most part studiously ignoring everyone and everything. They feed into the choke-points and bottlenecks and I can only assume are unconcerned and oblivious.



When there are delays, usually for technical reasons (not pointing at the rail service provider, or the people stealing copper from signal boxes or anything), but also for environmental reasons (heat buckles the rails on occasion in summer, for example), or even safety reasons (sick passengers, people on the track), these crowds swell tremendously. Nothing new here. Station staff, roaming inspectors, even occasional Protective Services officer teams bolster incidental security, public order and safety.

However, I see this in terms of crowd density, choke points, exit placements and the potential for harm. Growing up in Thatcher-era UK, I am familiar with the specter of domestic terrorism. I see throngs of crowds on underground escalators and waiting at the platform in terms of potential casualty numbers, not to mention disease vectors.

Being stuck on an escalator, or at the bottom of one, waiting my turn on a regular 9-5 day, when everyone is polite and civil is one thing, add panic and strife, another beast entirely. I can usually just get on with my daily commute, without dwelling on it, but other times, I see and triage the risks.

What can we do to mitigate these potential risks? In regular life, we can out trust in the design and emergency response planning that the designers and operators have in place.

We have large, clear-sided waste bins in some train stations, to mitigate them as easy hiding spots for explosive devices, ubiquitous exit signage and fire prevention systems. All good ideas, however, in the event of panic, in a packed station, they may be difficult to operate or ineffective.

Too many people, too many choke points and environmental hazards.
I have similar concerns whilst on board. In regular circumstance, even the mundane issues or patient illness, technical issues, even incidental accidents are all things I have faith in the policy and procedures the operators have in place. It's in the instances of extraordinary events that I am given pause. Catastrophic power loss, or physical infrastructure failure. Major accidents or environmental disaster, or again, communicable disease come to mind. Standing room only, shoulder to shoulder, in a metal plastic and glass tube moving at 80kph. What can I do? What can anyone do?

Situational awareness is a great buzzword. I'm often engrossed in an iDevice, or a book, but I try remember to pause, look around me, watch the movements, postures and demeanours around me. I try to keep my earbuds turned down low, so I can still hear ambient noises and announcements, as well as conversations around me. I maintain control of my pack, full of needfuls and a variety of resources.I ensure my lights are charged, my kits are stocked and my head is in a good space.


[edit-update]
Power has been lost in Melbourne's City Loop, leaving passengers stuck for up to 20 minutes.
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