UKC

The Tupilak Pack is Mountain Equipment's first new rucksack in many years. We've had it on exclusive review for the last few weeks of the Scottish winter season. So does it live up to the hype?

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In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

From bitter experience I think key clips, when used for car keys, in packs are a bad idea. On a strong cord, round your neck, is the place for car keys. This can avoid the ignominy of hitch hiking home in the dark and blizzard, and the registered owner of the car (particularly when that's your aged granny living about 1000 Kms away) getting a phone call from Strathclyde police checking they are ok when you and your rucksack end up in different places!

In reply to TobyA:

How on earth did you manage that?

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Did Monolith Grooves (back in the 90s). Decided to go pack less like all the hard men in the mags. Plan was to descend the grade I gully next to the buttress back to the packs afterwards. Weather crapped out while we climbed. I looked at the gully at the top and felt strongly that it was primed to avalanche - temperature had gone up, heavy wet snow loading it etc. So we walked down the Corrie edge instead. I remember it being bloody miles before, in the dark, we could find a way down into the corrie. Started walking back up, but my partner who had forgotten his shell (yeah, I know...) was showing the signs of exposure ("I'm just going to lie here and sleep for a bit"!) so I decided down ASAP was the best plan. I actually had to slap him and kick him a bit to get him up and moving! We hitched back to Glasgow where my girlfriend, who had our route plan, had gone to a dinner party with my flatmates and they had all forgotten us and hadn't called MRT. The Arrochar police saw our car. my gran had lent that that to my family as she was too old to drive and I had borrowed it a bit to take to Glasgow, hence they called her after a reg check. She gave them my parents number, so my parents in the Midlands knew I was 'missing' but the person who was meant to call the police if we were late had forgotten! We made it to my girlfriend's flat (nearest to where the dude who gave us, two soggy blokes in helmets carrying ice tools standing in the dark on the side of a deserted road, a lift dropped us) and we were drinking wine (for recovery purposes) when my dad thought to phone there and see if she knew where we were! Him and my mum were reasonably frantic by then. Bussed it back to the Rest and Be Thankful the next morning, walked back up, found the packs with the car keys inside, drove back.

All quite amusing in retrospect except another mate was just over on Beinn Ime that same day and did get avalanched descending a gully of a similar aspect. He got very badly injured and was severely hypothermic by the time MRT managed to get to him and get him onto a chopper, cardiac arrest etc. Andy's mate, the MRT and the RAF crew were all heroes that night, along with Andy being one super-tough bugger not giving up. I just had to slap Paolo a few times, walk a bit while soggy and do a bit of late night hitch hiking!

Anyway, don't put your car keys in your pack. Otherwise I'm sure the Tupilak is a brilliant rucksack!

In reply to TobyA:

Keys down the back panel for me. Driest and most secure spot in the pack. 

In reply to Tom Last:

Have you lost your head?

Keys on neck string for me.

In reply to Rick Graham: But if hes lost his head wouldn't the neck string just fall off ?

 

In reply to leon 1:

Least of his problems then.

In reply to TobyA:

Never a good idea to leave pack at foot of winter routes I reckon. Ive heard of people failing to find bags on the Ben after doing this. As long as pack is with you, key generally pretty safe in key clip in a pocket. Good story though.

In reply to steveb2006: I've met people who have dropped packs down routes so even though I tend to climb with my sack now I still go for the keys round my neck method!

 

In reply to Rick Graham:

My pal did this until he took a jumper off whilst canoeing one day. It took a moment for him to work out what had made the 'plop' sound.

 

In reply to steveb2006:

If I leave a bag I tag it on my GPS watch. Job done. I still make sure I have the car key on my person though.

 

In reply to TobyA:

Do none of you have pockets? My car key always nestles closely swaddled in midlayer or trous.

In reply to leon 1:

I tend to lose my head on every winter route I do to be fair, so a distinct risk, definitely

In reply to Rick Graham:

Neck string, perfect way to hang yourself inadvertently!

 

There's a reason why climbing helmets have a maximum strength rating for the buckle....

In reply to BnB:

That method has its potential weaknesses too

at the end of a long weekend in snowdonia about 7 years ago, my brother and I thought we’d have an easy day and do the eastern terrace scramble on cloggy. In the mist and rain, it felt a bit more serious than the grade 1 scramble it was billed as, and to say I only enjoyed it in retrospect is understating things by a fair amount...

so trudging back to the car, soaked and chastened, I felt in my pocket for my car keys. Nothing there. The zip was still closed... but there was a small hole in the fabric that the keys had worked their way through.

So the day had taken an even worse turn. Now my brother would have to drive me to Yorkshire to pick up the spare keys, and back to snowdonia, then all the way to London for work the next day. What a miserable end to  the trip.

Then... deliverance. The trousers had two layers of material, and there, at ankle level, trapped between the outer and inner layers, were the keys. A sigh of relief, we finished the soggy trudge, and I went off to bed. 

I don’t think I’ve climbed in snowdonia since...

 

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Good story. Fortunately my Sabretooth pants (brilliant and therefore discontinued in the fine tradition of outdoor gear manufacturing f*ckwittery) have a zip pocket inside of a zip pocket!!

In reply to TobyA:

Cool story!

In reply to steveb2006:

Do more squeeze chimneys.

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Reminds me of a colleague who spent hours of a site visit roaming around trying to find his mobile phone.  He eventually found it inside his wellies - he had evidently tried to replace the phone in a trouser pocket but dropped it down the gap between his trousers and overalls .

In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Having read your review, you mentioned compression straps aren't long enough to accommodate a foam mat, which in my mind is their primary function on an alpine pack? Especially if they are detachable, come on ME?

Top tension straps are also uneccessary on a pack of this size, catching slings over the shoulder when climbing and adding weight.

Having handle one in Tiso, the pack fabric does seem durable.

Stuart

 

In reply to DaveHK:

I go for the double safety net of tag it on the phone's GPS and leave poles beside it which have reflective tape on. The latter does rely on not leaving your head torch in the bag though: a mistake you only make once! (Anyway, the batteries stay warmer if it lives in your pocket, as do the spares. Plus it means there's then no batteries in the lid compartment of the rucksack so you can put your compass in there without fear of it being de-magnetized: an alarming experience which I have had!)

It looks identical to Patagonia ascensionist in almost every feature

 

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

When we Yanks first started using nuts in the late sixties, many of our British friends were wearing them like necklaces.  The potential for garroting seemed high, and you couldn't see you feet if you had to lean over.  I didn't do that with nuts (after a day or two with the nutty necklaces), and I wouldn't do it with keys either.

My "key" (it is actually a transmitter that enables push-button engine-starting) goes on thin nylon cord girth-hitched to belt or belt loop and then stored in pocket, which can still be zipped 99% closed if it is of the zipping type.  A lot has to go wrong to lose it with this system, and the short cord isn't inconvenient because the "key" never leaves the pocket while driving anyway.

In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

 Unless it's very public I often leave the car key in a place near the rear wheel of the car. If everything goes wrong, you can tell someone else to move the car and zero risk of losing the key in the outdoors. If not it's in the pocket of a layer that doesn't get removed. It's just not worth the aggravation of losing it. 

In reply to Stuart the postie:

Hey Stuart, I am reliably informed that they are long enough to fit a folded Ridgerest after all, though I imagine it's a close squeeze. I don't own one to test with so I tried it on my old bulky winter weight Karrimat, which doesn't fit

I tag it on my GPS watch. Job done

thanks and Best Regards

 

In reply to Stuart the postie:

That sounds really rubbish. It is baffling that most manufacturers cannot get something so basic right. They should be long enough to take any mat and not to be fiddly with gloves on 

 

In reply to steveb2006:

This happened to some friends on Beinn Dothaidh. They dossed in a shed rolled up in an old carpet with their feet wrapped up in the skin of a dead fox.

 

In reply to rgold:

Yanks still tend to use bandoliers and so have the feet seeing problem! Over here we've progressed to harnesses with gear loops

 

In reply to Robert Durran:

Did you see my response to Stuart, Robert? Apparently they will take a folded Ridgerest after all - I always thought my ancient winter Karrimat was no bulkier than that, but it must be since it's too big for the straps. I still think another inch or two wouldn't have gone amiss

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com: Is that probably a Thermarest Z lite they mean rather than a Ridgerest which is much bulkier ?

 

In reply to leon 1:

I was told Ridgerest, but on the product vid it looks like a Z Lite

In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

totally agree that longer straps are a necessity. I spend a lot of time in the Pyrenees where snowshoes (or sometimes skis)  are often obligatory for the approach/return, and if you cannot attach these easily because the straps are too small it is a big negative for me.