[pct-l] Insulation and padding, ice ax

[goforth@xxxxxxx (Joanne Lennox)]

I made an insulated bottle (12oz ) out of a Raise power drink bottle and
pipe insulation.  Weighs 3 oz.  Almost all the weight is the bottle which
has aluminum inside and outside and plastic inbetween.  At least I think
so, other than taking the bottle apart I couldn't axactly say.  They also
make a drink called "pyscho".  It may taste better than the Raise stuff,
which is the strangest tasting stuff I've ever drunk - was not sure whether
it was meant to be fruity or vegy.

The pipe insulation comes in about 6 foot lengths and with varying sizes in
diameter depending on the size of pipe you are trying to cover - they are
long cylinders.  It can be pretty handy and is very lightweight and
inexpensive.  I cut mine to fit whatever and then wrap it with duct tape to
protect the surface.

I wrapped my biothane horse collar with this stuff and it lasted 4,000
miles(never a rub mark).  The only reason I replaced it was that the horse
loves to scatch on whatever is available (tree bark and latches on the
trailer work well), and the strings from the duct tape were hanging in
festoons.  I was raising the eye-brows of a number of horse owners,
hoity-toity and otherwise, and thought that if I wanted to keep any company
at all I might well upgrade my image.  So I got another piece of pipe
insulation, which will certainly ward off the haute image owners who never
see a mountain trail anyway (the helmet, running shoes, and thruhiker
supplex work well too).

when the shoulders are starting to ache and the padding has compressed, try
some pipe insulation.

I have used pieces of this stuff to ward off damage to my picture frames in
transit.  It might be useful in shipping tent poles, the ends of ice
axes,etc as well.

By the way, I sent my ice ax out from Sierra City using 2 US postal
Priority mail boxes end to end.  You can use the stickum on the ends to put
the tow boxes together and to seal the ends.

 I would say that you definitely need the ice ax for Kerrick canyon and for
Sonora Pass (both sides), these were the two most dangerous places on the
trail - more so in some circumstances than the high passes to the south of
Yosemite.

Goforth