Wow Andy. Sounds to me like your blood pressure's running a bit high. Perhaps you need some hill time? Thought you might have been having a go at me but wasn't sure since you started in with a "you all".
To start off lets get something completely clear, I was't denigrating anybody or anything I was simply countering your arguments. This is supposed to be a discussion right? If you take the time to go back and read what I actualy said then perhaps you'll get the point.
Here's what I said about the Akto :
"I neither know what you do nor what conditions you do it in but this reads to me like you're probably carrying redundant weight around by having a single shelter that can deal with the worst you'll ever experience. The akto is an excellant tent but I can think of plenty of situations in which I would consider an akto overkill. That includes the UK."
If you look carefuly I don't , or at least don't intend to, say an Akto is overkill for the UK. What I say is that there are situations, also in the UK, where I think, an Akto is more shelter than is needed.
I closed with:
“That lightweight gear isn't suited to UK conditions full-stop is simple nonsense. Bivvies, tarps, tarptents, and trad two skin shelters all have their place.”
Notice I say that tents have a place? I don't have some sort of pathological hatred of the Akto or any other tent for that matter. I use tents. I just think it's nonsense to suggest that an Akto is some sort of minimum requirment to "survive" a night on the british hills. Davids comments make sense to me. He accepts that his shelter is not always necessary but chooses to carry it becuase of reasons of expense and excess. Good reasons. What he's not doing is telling people they're idiots for making a different choice. As far as I can see only one person has refered to “Dumb Hikers” of any variety.
You say:
“As I have already written I am not an ultra lightweight camper so I have no experience of what conditions this aproach can cope with but you say that you are yet you have written nothing which tells us how you cope with the weather conditions even in the uk which I have experienced. “
When did I say I was a UL hiker? I'm not. I don't like the labels and definitions attached to this pastime. I choose my kit based on what I'm heading out to do, the conditions I'm expecting and the duration of my trip. I just choose the lightest set-up my experience tells me I can get away with. Sometimes that includes a bivvy bag. Sometimes a tarp. On occasion a tent. You're right I didn't say how I cope with the conditions you've experienced. I didn't realise this was an exam. How can I answer that? What conditions are yoy talking about? All I can say is I've been walking and paddling in wild country since I was a teenager, in many of the places you list in your CV and more, and have often used a bivvy or a tarp. Also in wet weather. Also in stormy weather. What do I do? Just the same as you with your tent I suppose, I find a suitable place to pitch/lie down, get into my shelter/bag, cook a meal, brew up and see out the night.
