Page 32 - SA Mountain Issue 62

GEAR REVIEWS
nowhere, I
would
feel like a successful human
being. My old tent nally gave up the ghost after many hours of UV rays and serving as my home away from home on many road trips. So, after patching yet another tear in the brittle y sheet, it was evidently time to bite the bullet
and
buy a new tent.
After weighing up the options I ended up going for the Vango Zenith 200, a tiny tent that packed up small and light. Excitedly I raced off to Oudtshoorn to test this baby out. I have to admit, I was rather unimpressed at rst. The
initial set-up was so complicated that
the rst time in living memory that I had to look at instructions to set up a tent. Oh, the damage to the ego. This tent has the unique design of setting up the outer y sheet rst and then clipping the inner tent to it, before trying
to balance
the tent up long enough to get the
pegs into it. When you’re camping by yourself, this is extremely challenging and I felt like a downright fool crawling inside the ysheet and wrestling the inner tent into submission. To add insult to injury, the soft tent pegs were not
playing
along
either.
I vowed to return the tent
the moment I got back to civilisation.
The birds nesting above me had other ideas though, pelting my tent with the red berries they had digested. Thankfully (and this was when I found out how easily it is to clean) a
quick wipe
with a da
of avian visitation was gone.
30 SA MOUNTAIN.CO.ZA
mp
cloth and all
SEPTEMBER–NOVEM
and it left all the
come snif ng very close to the
it was
evidence
BER 2017
Mad Rock Lifeguard – assisted locking belay device by TONY LOURENS
Let’s face it, Petzl changed the world of belaying when they brought out the Gri Gri more than two decades ago. Just about everybody rushed out to purchase one of these magical machines
other manufacturers rushing
drawing boards to see if they could invent something to beat it . . . no chance. Petzl had won gold and they held on to it for ages, and some would say they still hold top slot. And perhaps they do, but in recent years there have been a few belay devices that have
opinion, the closest rival is Mad Rock’s Lifeguard.
A friend of mine just returned from a climbing holiday in the Alps, and he brought back some nice new ‘locking’ belay devices to show me and to try out. Some were quite impressive, but what they all lacked
stand up to four seasons . . . in crazy morning in Oudtshoorn, snow falling on my little tent. Karoo! Well I never!
The snow quickly
muuuuuch later in the day,
This might not
purchase but it has surprised me. If you only car camping a want to be able to roll around in a roomy
dome
with plenty
shaped
of
top podium,
I decided to give the tent another go rather than swopping it out for another tent in the same
range
where I would run into the same design
problems. Cursing, I braced myself to pitch the tent the following weekend in Montagu. Lo and behold, the awkward set-up had been reduced to a few minutes’ worth of threading the poles and pushing in the tent pegs. After the initial
set-up, the inner was now
the y sheet. This saved so much time, that I had pitched the tent, set up the bedding, gone for a shower and was already prepping crag lunch before all my buddies had nished with their once enviable dome tents.
A month later, I got
tent
vestibule
and in
to
already clipped
to test out how it would
melted into
out from behind the grey clouds, and we were treated to a starry sky that night. I was as chuffed as nuts that there was no condensation in my tent, and I managed to stay dry through the adverse conditions.
be
what
pleasantly are
nd
the
my
adjustments to
the
device – just
unclip
Vango Zenith 200 Tent by ILLONA PELSER
I love camping. If I could be out every weekend, under the stars, with friends, in the middle of
one day! One I woke up to Snow! In the
the sun
I set out
slush
onto
and
peaked
to
ef ciently so that you can use your time
SPECIFICATIONS
Weight: 2.2 kg
Capacity: Small 2-person
Pack size: 12 cm x 45 cm
Pitching: Flysheet and inner pitch together Groundsheet: 70 denier, 6000 mm lightweight polyester
Flysheet: Protex® 70D 5000 mm HH Polyester Inner: Breathable polyester
Poles: Vango PowerLite 7001-T6 alloy poles – lightweight, durable and colour coded
Inner pockets – conveniently positioned pockets for organising essential items
was smoothness and instant grati cation with regards to rope management.
Made from hot forged aluminium and stainless steel, the Lifeguard is a very effective assisted-locking belay device, but what makes it a top rival in the game is its smoothness, and its ability to act on demand. What I also like is the fact that it is small and compact, which makes it ideal for multi-pitch sport or trad climbing on a single rope. It is quick and easy to rig at a top belay for bringing up the second, so great for guides, and can be changed around for lead belaying without any
from the anchor and slip straight onto your harness belay loop. And it can be used with skinny 8.9-millimetre gossamer threads to corpulent 11-millimetre cord. A belay device
that ts just about all single rope applications.
space, then this is not the tent for you. But if you’re hiking, like to set up and pack away to carry on to greater adventures or if you’re travelling far distances, and space or weight is at a premium, then this baby will be a proud
purchase.
R1246
vertigoadventures.co.za
R2750
rammountain.co.za