The kit

What I carry, and why

Everything is filmed solo, mostly on a pole-mounted action camera while walking and talking, but the kit goes well beyond the films. It is what gets me up the hill, keeps me warm, dry and fed while I am there, and brings me home again.

This page is the honest version of the list, including what I'd tell you before you spend money. Open a section to read it.

Camera and sound

4 items

Item	Role	The honest note
Insta360 Ace Pro 2	Main camera. Around 85% of every film, pole-mounted, 4K60	Standard profile, ungraded. The log mode is 8-bit; don't bother.
DJI Mic 2 ×2	All the dialogue you hear, recorded standalone in 32-bit float	The built-in capsule is noisy for quiet ambience. A cheap lav on the 3.5 mm input transformed it. Measured, not guessed.
DJI Lito X1	Drone segments	Shot in Normal/Rec.709. Not because the log is bad: 10-bit log is very workable. I just try not to get too tied up in colour grading as a novice.
Fotopro X-go Carbon E-2	Static shots, timelapses, astro	Lightweight, and honestly a bit big for a small action cam, but it stands tall and stays standing in the winds these hills serve up. A small phone tripod just falls over. It is also the reason my trekking poles stay at home: something had to make room.

Shelter

4 items

Item	Role	The honest note
Tarptent Scarp 1 (solid inner, crossing poles)	Home on the hill, whatever the forecast	Stands up to wind very well with the crossing poles fitted. The one gripe: it can be a little low to sit up in if you are tall.
3F UL Lanshan 2	The lighter tent, for kinder forecasts	A trekking pole tent, so it only comes out when the poles do. Lately the tripod has taken their place in the pack, so it stays home more than it deserves.
Quintcraft footprint	Under the tent	Custom-cut groundsheet protection. Nothing clever about it, which is rather the point.
Pegs: MSR Groundhogs, Delta ground anchors, titanium shepherd hooks	A deliberate mix	Different ground wants different pegs. Between the three, every pitch so far has been covered.

Sleeping

3 items

Item	Role	The honest note
MYOG down quilt	800 fill power hydrophobic down, comfortable to about minus 10	Designed and sewn myself, from ideas collected across the internet. The biggest influence was Tacblades, whose quilt videos are worth your time if you fancy making your own.
Exped MegaMat Ultra	The winter mat	Luxury sized: it more or less fills the Scarp. In winter I want comfort, warmth and a proper night's sleep, and this is how I get all three.
Bestway AlpineLite insulated	The summer workhorse	Cheap, insulated, and easy to replace when it gets punctured. I have owned mats at three or four times the price with the same weight and pack size. They fail too; the replacement just costs three or four times as much.

Cooking and water

6 items

Item	Role	The honest note
3F UL conical alcohol stove kit	Boils water for rehydrated meals, which is most of my cooking	Light, quiet and simple: no moving parts, nothing to go wrong.
CAMPINGMOON XD-2F gas stove	Control, when the cooking gets more ambitious	Also what I carry when the ground is tinder dry. An open burner of flammable liquid is a risk I would rather not bring to a dry hillside; gas can be turned down or off.
Fire-Maple frying pan	The chorizo and halloumi hash, and the risotto	A wider surface gives more control than balancing everything in a pot. The hash is in the MF509 film if you want proof, and the recipe is on its own page. The mushroom risotto from the Llanthony film needs it too.
Titanium pot	What the water boils in	Also the mug, and big enough for a one-pot supper: the tuna pasta from the Black Mountain film.
Katadyn BeFree 1L	Water filter	Excellent for my needs. UK hills are a particle and bacteria problem rather than a virus one, and the BeFree handles both. I take water from free-flowing sources away from anything obviously contaminating them, which is half the job done before the filter starts.
NaDCC purification tablets	The backup	They cover a blocked or failed filter, and on a slow or still source they go in as well as the filter, for peace of mind.

Carry

4 items

Item	Role	The honest note
Durston Kakwa 55	Carries the lot: camp kit plus camera kit	Lightweight, but with a proper internal frame and rated for real weight, which most lightweight packs are not.
Emergency bivy bag, used as the pack liner	Two jobs, one orange bag	It is an emergency bivy that spends its working life keeping everything in the pack dry. If it is ever needed for its real job, it is right there.
MYOG packing cubes	Order inside the liner	One for sleeping kit and spare clothes, one for cooking and food. Made these myself too; a pattern is forming.
Trekking poles	Knees, mostly on the way down	Honest one: mine mostly stay at home now, because the tripod has their spot in the pack. I would still recommend them; they take a real load off the knees on descents.

Navigation and safety

7 items

Three layers, each one covering the failure of the one above it.

Item	Role	The honest note
Garmin Fenix 8	Primary navigation	The GPX route lives on the wrist: turn prompts and the map on screen. It will also alert my wife if I take a fall, provided the phone is connected and has signal, which on these hills is a real if. It tracks the route for the post-walk review too.
OS Maps app	Second navigation, better mapping	The subscription is also where routes get planned, together with gpx.studio, which is free and excellent.
Map and compass	The fallback	No battery to die, no screen to break. The layer underneath everything else.
Nitecore NU25	Head torch	Light and excellent. Trusted by many, me included.
INIU 10,000 mAh power bank	Power, on drone-free trips	Honestly enough for phone and camera across a two-day hike.
Anker 325 20,000 mAh power bank	Power, for longer trips or drone days	The drone is why this one exists.
First aid and repair kit	The likely problems	Self-assembled for what actually happens: a cut finger, a torn muscle, ticks, minor burns. It does not have kit for sorting out a sucking chest wound. Medical tape covers first aid and repairs, alongside a mat patch, a tent pole repair tube, a lighter and spare purification tabs, all in a MYOG burnt orange pouch so that I, or whoever needs it, can find it fast.

Clothing

11 items

Item	Role	The honest note
Altra Lone Peak 9+	Default footwear, wet weather included	Trail shoes first; the boots only win when it is cold as well as wet.
Scarpa Terra GTX	Cold and wet days	See above: cold plus wet is their weather.
Darn Tough merino socks	Socks	Merino. No complaints to report.
Rab Latok Alpine Gore-Tex Pro	The bad weather shell: rain, snow, wind	Chosen for durability and pockets: they sit clear of the hipbelt, and the chest pockets are deep and usable with the pack on and the chest strap done up. The hood fits over a cap, the sleeves are long, and the colour is deliberately loud. The honest bit: Gore-Tex is not the silver bullet most think it is. In a proper all-day soaking it wets out, and sweat gets you just as wet from the inside. That is when the Páramo comes out instead.
Páramo jacket and fleece	The all-day-rain alternative	A different system with different trade-offs, and the better one when it is going to pour from breakfast to pitch. For balance: it can keep you too hot at times, and it is heavier than the Gore-Tex.
Jöttnar down jacket	Camp and stops	Swapped in and out of the pack with the forecast, like the rest of the layers.
Outdoor Research hoodie	Midlayer	The everyday warm layer under the shell.
Synthetic base layers, merino underwear	Next to skin	Synthetic where wicking matters, merino where comfort does.
RVRC GP trousers	Legs, most days	Versatile and comfortable, plenty of pockets, plenty of stretch. That is the whole review, and it is a compliment.
Rab Kangri GTX gaiters	Bog and snow	Excellent with short boots like the Scarpas, and these hills do not lack bog.
Showa 282-02 gloves	Filthy weather	An insulated industrial work glove, recommended by Mowser, and the best gloves I have had on the hill. Neoprene came closest, but neoprene means accepting wet hands; these keep them dry in the first place. Air your hands now and then, or sweat will do the job the rain could not.

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