The Aarn Marathon Magic 33

The Marathon Magic is a 33 litre pack made up of a 30 litre main bag and 2 front pockets capable of holding 3 litres in total.


There are all sorts of fancy names for the harness system such as Omni Flow, U Flow and Conus Clip chest strap, however, what they do is ensure a snug fit of the pack with the body and as a result the the pack moves with you, partly as a consequence of shoulder harness where each side is connected using the U Flow system allowing the shoulder straps to move as you do. The conus clip which is perhaps best described as the alternative to the chest straps found on conventional packs, connects the shoulder straps together. The shoulder straps are in turn connected using the uflow strap. The net result of the harness system is that you are not “fighting” with the pack as you walk.

The hipbelt has a central buckle between the balance pockets and is connected to two points on each side of the pack, each of these straps are adjustable thus allowing the tension to be varied resulting in the ability to reduce pressure on any points or areas of discomfort that may occur.

The other unusual feature of the pack is the front balance pockets (which can be removed) these are designed to distribute the load with some of the weight placed on the front to counter balance the weight in the main sack. It is recommended that the pockets are loaded with heavy items such as water bottles etc.

For my recent trip trip the balance pockets contained a camera, my Velbon vpod tripod, tent stakes, approx 1 litre of water, all my food for the day as well as maps and other items for use during the day. In the past I have often used hipbelt pockets and shoulder strap pockets, to enable easy access while on the move, the balance pockets have replaced them, and have allowed me to access items such as camera and tripod without needing to remove my pack. The pockets may look strange but I felt that I was walking more upright, however, one trip does make a full test. One question that is often asked is can you see your feet, yes is the answer and the balance pockets do not interfere with my use of my pacer poles.

According to Aarn's website the main sack holds 30 litres, I have no reason to disbelieve that as I was able to carry my bivy, tarp, sleeping bag, neo air mattress, down jacket, pot and stove as well as odds and ends with some space to spare. It has a draw string closure with a flap with a small zippered pocket on the inside of the flap. Of note is the aluminum bar across the top of the flap which allows the shoulder straps to move as you walk providing a “load lifter” effect. I was able to place my Haglöfs Pullover under the flap when not wearing it.

Between the back and the pack there is Matrix Mesh, which I found to be very comfortable and have no doubt that in warmer weather would provide some airflow on back as you walked.

The front of the pack has a mesh pocket which is ideal for placing small items in it such as gloves, hats etc. The cross straps allow the securing of items to the outside such as sleeping mats. Also tucked away under these straps are points to secure walking poles.


I loaded the pack up with 8.5 kgs of gear for my over night trip with the front balance pockets holding about 2.5 kg. I quickly felt that I was walking more upright with the pack and noticed how it moved with me as I walked, there did not seem to be any weight on my shoulders as well there seemed very little pressure on my hips, though the hip belt was tightened.

I believe that this pack will be ideal up to 3 days 2 nights using lightweight gear and I am looking forward to using it again very soon.

There is an increasing number of dealers of Aarns packs, mine was purchased from Outlandia in Copenhagen, a visit to Aarns website will soon find more.

Aarns website also has several videos on how to fit and use the Aarn pack, which I found very helpful.

And the winner is

Recently we celebrated our 100 th post by running a small competition which showed how many stoves we have, when you can really only use one stove at a time.

Whilst the number of entries was low, the quality was high, demonstrating that there are others out there who know their stoves, meaning they surf the internet a lot looking at stoves.

Firstly the correct answers.

In the number one was
the Optimus Stella, Bushbuddy Ultra, Svea 123 and Ti Tri Caldera

The first "0" clockwise from the top
Snowpeak GigaPower Manual Titanium. Whitebox Solo, HPS Esbit, MoGo Firefly, Trail Designs 12-10 stove, Thermojet Micro stove, Trail Designs Gram Cracker, BPL Firelite and the Evernew EBY254

The second "0" clockwise from the top

Pack a feather XL stove, Whitebox original, Brunton (Optimus) Crux. HPS Esbit, Trangia, MoGo Firefly, Trail Designs 12-10 stove, Vargo Triad and Trail Designs 12-10 stove.

So who won, well it was very close and congratulations to both Lighthiker and the Armchair adventurer who between them were able to name all the stoves.

The winner is Armchair Adventurer, with Lighthiker one stove behind, so in consideration of their expertise I have dug out 3 prizes from the stoves pictured have asked them to send me 2 choices out of three and they each will receive one of their selections as a prize.

Well done and thank you to Dave and Roman

Torekov gear testing

Like Hendrik, I had the chance to get away for a quick over night trip. The focus of the trip was very much on testing some gear for up coming longer trips. I chose the location of my last visit the Bjärehalvön Penisula to explore and with temps around negative 10 at night it would be a good test of the clothing and sleeping gear. However, I was more interested in using the MLD Trailstar for its first trip along with the Aarn Marathon Magic 33.

After alighting from the bus I headed through the quiet streets of Torekov, these streets would normally be very busy in summer but at 10 am on a cold friday morning it was quiet. I sat for a while looking out to sea and watching a large Coast Guard vessel pass between the mainland and Hallands Väderö (in Swedish). It was then south along the coast with a calm sea to right, the sun in my face and the ground covered in snow or frozen water. The ice patches were thick and slippery and care was required with every step, however, I was soon warming up in the sunshine regretting not having packed either sun glasses or a peak caped.

A short stop allowed me to take a look at the view and made me realise how beautiful the coast was in the winter sunshine.


The remainder of the day passed uneventfully with my mind on the evening campsite and beginning to wonder how far below the surface would the ground be frozen, would I be able to get a peg in the ground, why did I not pack some Ti nails, would the water pump be working .... As I walked it was also obvious that very few people were out, even the dog walkers were noticeable for the absence.

I arrived at camp and quickly grabbed a 9” Easton alloy stake and started walking around pushing it into the ground, some spots were rock hard and others were less so, finding a spot on the east side of the trees to get the early morning sun and I set up the trail star, it was an easy task and though it required some adjustment I was pleased with the speed of the set up and reflected upon how in wet weather it would be easy to get some shelter quickly.


Having set up camp layed out my bivy and mattress, I spent some time just looking out to sea and enjoying the last of the afternoon sunshine.



A wander around the area soon found enough firewood for the stove and as the sun began to set I started a fire in the caldera inferno to cook dinner.



By the time dinner was finished, the sun was setting behind Kullaberg Naturreservet and the air was cooling. I wandered around for a while enjoying the peace, only punctuated by the bird song from Inre Gryteskär. I headed to bed and was soon asleep, as the night wore on even with a 1/4" Gossamer Gear Thinlight under my neo air there was some sense of coolness but I was never cold and slept till about 7:30 before the sun begun to brighten an already bright Trailstar, I love the yellow colour.

After breakfast in bed I set about packing up and after a further hours walk I was at the bus stop and 4 hours later at home.

It had been a very pleasant and relaxing walk and whilst it was old ground the scenery and the relaxing environment ensured a pleasant trip and one that I will happily do again.


Gear:
As has been stated by other authors, the MLD Trailstar is a great shelter, it is spacious, easy to erect, packs small, and has ample space to move around inside as well as offering a variety of pitches. For this trip I used a ID eVent Overbag wth the Therma rest neoair inside and the Gossamer Gear Thinlight (1/4" inch mat) underneath on a thin silnylon ground sheet. In warmer weather I probably use a BPL Vapor bivy or Six Moon Designs Meteor bivy for insect protection as well as a draft stopper.

I used a BPL 550 pot partnered with a Ti Tri Caldera Compact Inferno built for the MLD 850.

The pack as mentioned previously was the Aarn Marathon Magic 33 litre pack, I will provide a more detailed report of this pack in a later blog, however, I was very happy with it and enjoyed the experience of carrying the pack.

100

This blog had its first post in October 2007 and since then the number of posts has gradually built up till its 100th post today. To commemorate the 100 th post I thought I would offer a little competition based around stoves.

The challenge is to identify the 18 different stoves, (including manufacturers name) shown in the photos, some tips

1. All stoves were purchased commercially, no homemade stoves.
2. Some were purchased up to 5 years ago in the USA.
3. Some stoves are no longer commercially available.
4. Note that some stoves are repeated (for aesthetical reasons)

I will leave the competition running for about 2 weeks, at which time the entry with the most correct answers will receive an alcohol stove (one of those pictured) which I believe is currently not available in Europe. If there is more than one correct entry a random number generator will be used to determine the winner.

Entry can be submitted via the comments section,

Enjoy

Time for a walk

It has been a while since I did an overnight walk, there has been a few false starts recently but I never really got past the planning stage. Today I decided it was time to put on a reasonable size pack on and go for a walk, testing some gear in preparation for upcoming trips. The location was a snow covered Tsvilde Hegn (the location of an earlier trip) with predictions of snow turning to raining it was to be a slushy trip.

The gear I was particularly interested in trying out was the MLD Trailstar (nicknamed the Yellow Peril, Melbourne humour), a pair of Salomon Quest 4D GTX Boots as well as an Aarn Marathon Magic 33l pack.

The walk followed a number of trails in the forest with large damp flakes of snow falling, I finally decided it was lunchtime and found a flat spot to put up the Trailstar, the benefits were soon obvious plenty of space under the trailstar, the resilience of the fabric as large wet clumps of snow falling from the trees hit the sides and slid to the bottom as well as the golden glow inside. This was only the second time I had erected the trailstar (both times in snow) and it took less than 10 minutes to have a secure pitch, I used 9" (23 cm) Easton Alloy pegs which easily went through the top couple of centimetres of frozen ground and provided a secure attachment for the shelter.

I continue to be very impressed with the trailstar and it will get its first over night outing in a couple of weeks and may in conjunction with an SMD Meteor bivy be my shelter system for Lapland this summer.

The Salomon Quest 4D GTX boots are not the lightest footwear in the world but I have come to recognise that for me Salomon footwear works, I use the XA Pro Ultras for every day use, the Salomon Fastpackers for hiking and I wanted something a little more weather worthy for winter and the Quests fitted this requirement. I was very pleased with the boots and found they also provided a little more toe room and I could have easily worn thicker socks, the boots are too heavy for summer in my view but will see some more use in the cooler weather.

The Aarn Marathon Magic 33l will seem to some as a strange choice, however, I have been very interested in the design of Aarn's packs for quite a while and have seen them as an option for reducing stress on my lower back when hiking. I have also come to realise that the packs I use these days tend to have hip belt pockets and shoulder strap pockets and the Aarn packs replicate this in the use of balance pockets. Recently I became aware that there was a distributor in Denmark for Aarn packs which provided me with an opportunity to try them on and see how they feel. I was impressed. I have only used the pack for a short trip so I will save my field report until after my next overnight trip, however, a report on the details of the Aarn Marathon Magic will appear soon.


The walk itself was pleasant and the sea was relatively calm, finally the hot chocolate cooked on the Ti Tri Caldera (using Esbit) was really appreciated in the cold damp conditions.

What gear have you carried for the longest time?

I like many others have changed gear when the next "bestest" thing comes along, however, there is always gear that does not change because we are happy with it, for me it is the BPL.com long handled spoon. The spoon has an interesting history as the design was first suggested by Bill Fornshell on BPL.com MYOG Spoon Well I purchased one of the BPL spoons in 2006, when they were bright and shiny, now they have a matte finish.
The spoon is ideal for the meals where there are a few pieces at the bottom of a deep pouch. However, whilst out for a day walk I realised that I had forgotten my Ti stakes for the Caldera stove, but then I discovered that the spoon had another use, a pot support in a Trail Designs Caldera Titanium Caldera.

It is no longer bright and shiny but will remain in my pack for many trips to come.

What has been in your pack for many trips? And it is not likely to be changed.

Esbit Caldera

I went for a short walk this afternoon, the temperature was about -2 C. There has been snow on the ground for about 3 weeks now and the ground is frozen. I visited a nearby forest Hareskoven, where I have been many times before. It is a very popular area though late on a friday afternoon it is less so. I wandered around the area, meeting some people as well as a couple of deer, after a while I decided it was time for a cup of tea so I got my BPL 550 Titanium pot out out along with the Caldera and set about boiling some water. After about 6 minutes the Esbit tablet had heated the water to boiling at which point I made some tea.


I keep returning to Esbit for its convenience and simplicity, the ability to take it in your luggage on a plane is a further benefit. No doubt Esbit has its down side but for me, it works.

The walk was very pleasant and a fine escape from other commitments.