by wayno » Sat 21 Dec, 2013 5:27 am
remember in my early tramping days, i had a main tramping partner,, and we invited along other people to join us, ... one guy in particular was right into travelling stupid light, with very little gear... me and my mate carried all the cooking gear.
he bragged about how fast eh walked, would take off ahead, then i found him coming up behind me, he'd been going so fast he hadnt paid attention when the track changed direction and wandered off on a false path, he did take the stove and billy with him to the first hut so he could start cooking when he got there ahead of us , but the next hut was on top of a mountain and he quickly gave all the cooking gear back to us for the climb, he pulled out a can of coke towards the end of the four day trip. i lent him my fuel container for a trip, it came back badly dented after he stood on it with his boots when he had crampons on.
yeah i know not really major issues, but pulling your own weight if you're able bodied enough maybe needs to go on the list.
i got off lightly, i heard some real nightmare stories from friends trips of people doing stupid things being lucky not to get killed. someone climbing a really loose slope it was obvious to others shouldnt be climbed and sliding back down stripping the skin off their hands and knees...
beware of the more is better people when planning trips... be realistic and dont end up on a masochist fest with people who like really long hard trips if its not really your thing. find people who want to do the sort of trips you want to do at your level that you're comfortable doing
from the land of the long white clouds...
