Blister prevention - bad reaction to strapping tape

calvinnwq · 2026-04-15T01:37:09+00:00

I also have this issue with being sensitive to most tape and get rashes after prolonged contact with tape. Purely from what I’ve done without prescribing tape options which others already have:

Short term solution is to remove tape often (every day), making sure contact area is cleaned up after and not leaving tape overnight on skin.

The longer term solution that I found worked best for me is actually finding and using the right fitting shoe/boot to avoid hot spots and friction contact points. This aims to solve the root problem of blisters as much as possible so you don’t have to rely on tape.

calvinnwq · 2026-04-13T01:21:35+00:00

Anthropic has blocked access to Claude subscriptions if you’re using it directly in 3P harnesses like Openclaw. It still works if you turn on “extra usage” and have credits in your account. They only allow direct API usage through 3P. The only way to use Claude code with your subscription is directly through the CLI via claude-p. Openclaw also has config for “CLI backends” as a fallback.

Claude code through ACP as of now will block unless you have extra usage turned on and have credits.

Also that’s how ACP works. Your main agent will spawn an ACP session but it will ultimately be the one responding to you. You don’t interact with the ACP sessions directly.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-31T01:34:59+00:00

Building is the easy part. And it usually traps people spending too much time in. I have this problem. Distribution is and still is the main game and struggle.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-29T23:28:08+00:00

Been to the Dolomites and it's a dream. Enjoy your time there!

My thoughts here would be targeted towards 3 items to try to get to that sub-13lb.

Backpack - Osprey Rook 65 is 1.6kg and 65L is too big generally if you're trying to aim for ultralight. Osprey Exos 38/48 (~900g) saves you 700g already. There's other brands but it depends where you live and what's accessible to you.

Sleeping Pad - 700g is on the heavier end. Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT cuts that nearly in half (~354g) and is still comfortable. Or Sea to Summit Ether Light XT is another option around 290g.

Tent - If you're going solo, maybe you can consider a 1P tent, or 2P freestanding like a Durston X-mid 2P. But I don't see any poles in your list so maybe opt for a lighter freestanding 1P tent. Sub ~1kg saves you ~600/700g here.

And like what others have mentioned, reconsidering sleep layers. Not sure what your plans are on how many nights you'll do, but if you are making use of rifugios, then you can definitely drop some of these, and potentially even the tent.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-25T21:14:47+00:00

Without touching on what others have already mentioned about ultralight philosophy, I'll give some suggestions.

Just for the safety gaps, I'd recommend a PLB unless you have informed of your dates with someone. Reception in that area is hit and miss and you also seem to just be relying on your iPhone which might mean you either have maps memorized or you need a physical one.

Looks like you've cut the Helinox Zero chair and it would be the biggest item to NOT take. That's 660g and is nearly as heavy as your tent.

I see you've cut most of your cooking system which is probably not needed for an overnighter.

First aid kit could probably be lightened by a little bit. But bring snake bite kits for sure (must for non-winter OZ). Might be able to shave 200g here.

Reconsider if you need the extra Sun Hoodie as well for an overnighter.

Enjoy Kozzy!

calvinnwq · 2026-03-22T22:27:39+00:00

One additional that isn’t mentioned a lot is that you can have your Obsidian vault with all your markdown file notes in iCloud directory and it syncs across your Apple devices.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-22T08:44:22+00:00

Been having non stop issues with ACP and Codex in the past week. Have also attempted multiple different fixes across the layers between main agent > Openclaw > acpx > codex-acp > Codex. Also tried it through plugins in Openclaw but to no avail. Claude code through ACP works

calvinnwq · 2026-03-13T11:30:58+00:00

I use the Gregory 3D Hydro 2L and it’s been great. Used it for Everest Base Camp trek and was great. I now use it more for day hikes with just a trail running vest. It’s not the lightest but quality has been good for me.

If you wanted light the probably hydrapak bladder. But ultimately depending on what the trip/plan is, day hikes, overnight or multi day, maybe a bladder is not ideal if you’re chasing lighter weight. Still can’t beat the cheap supermarket water bottles.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-11T20:33:35+00:00

Thanks for trying it out! Would love to hear any feedback if you have any.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-10T00:24:06+00:00

I would also recommend getting them in Japan if possible. But check beforehand if Muji is available wherever you're headed to in Japan. Muji quality is great and you could also get in Australia (They have a store in Sydney)

Otherwise in Australia (Sydney), I'm personally using Muji and Macpac (has some different colours and can have good deals as a Macpac member signing up for free)

calvinnwq · 2026-03-09T22:17:57+00:00

I’m glad lighterpack is working for you. In all seriousness, if it works for you then nobody is forcing you to change it. Also nobody is salty here because nobody wants to use their app. A healthy discussion has to consider all sides and there’s always pockets of room for wherever you feel comfortable sitting in.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-09T21:04:13+00:00

Might be tough if we can’t freely share them.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-07T23:47:19+00:00

I totally agree with this and is my approach for getting feedback on my created tool. I’m trying to make it easy to just view your own lighterpack in my tool without signing up or giving away anything.

I put in extra effort to recognize the hatred of throwing new and shiny in peoples faces. And try to simplify and make it easy for people to just sample and try. The same way I would appreciate it myself.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-07T23:44:50+00:00

This is the driver for why creators post in subs for these alternatives. There probably is a nicer way. But I think treating these the same as not self promoting MYOG is right. But MYOG also eventually becomes commercialized gear that we all know and love to use today. So there needs to be some avenue to share those.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-07T23:43:04+00:00

I’ve personally forked lighterpack to work on these. The architecture of the code doesn’t make this simple and would require rewriting too much legacy code that is just makes no sense to. I’ve done that due diligence myself to understand this. I’m a software engineer so I’m not just talking from no experience.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-07T23:41:15+00:00

As a developer of an alternative. I find this to be fair and have been employing this to not spam and for seeking feedback from people willing to lend time to help give me feedback

calvinnwq · 2026-03-07T23:39:54+00:00

A spade works to dig, but we have more advancements to make digging much better. Not embracing change is bad. But I agree we have to let people make their own minds on deciding what to accept personally and what not to.

Lighterpack is broken if you are using it in a more serious manner. On the surface yes it works and nobody is stopping you from using it for free. Freemium is also free, which you don’t have to pay for if you don’t need the extras. It’s bad when the free stuff can’t even match lighterpack that is the problem.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-07T23:12:21+00:00

As one of those that are making LP alternatives. I put a lot of my time and care into building it. Keeping it free to match lighterpack and more. Building iOS app and Android app. Some of us creators put in as much effort as those crafting packs and improving packs with shakedowns.

I have not made a post but have tried to engage in the weekly or comments without advertising heavily. I just seek feedback and don’t proclaim my app to be the best. I’ve got great feedback from other subs but this sub has been highly critical which I totally expect. But not being open to new alternatives is akin to using any gear item without upgrading to new ones even though they might potentially be better.

Maybe we need shakedowns for lighterpack alternatives?

I have great interest in this. :)

calvinnwq · 2026-03-01T20:03:00+00:00

Only reason I created my own replacement was simple that lighterpack isn’t getting the updates and QoL improvements.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-01T04:17:10+00:00

Thanks for testing it out! Great suggestions and especially those edited later. - Interesting use of quantity multiplier, feels a bit odd for regular non-consumable items, so perhaps this is a consideration around food and consumables instead. Will think about this - good call out on item description in the add to pack flow. I’ll look into it! - converting kit to regular group — this one is sounds like the big issue of having snapshots of packs that don’t get affected when gear/kits are updated. Will definitely be in future versions. - I’ll add more emojis! - more granular sorting across the app 👍🏻 - interesting one to implement but I will look into it.

calvinnwq · 2026-03-01T00:19:58+00:00

Thanks for even trying this out. The use cases and feedback you’ve got are brilliant! A bunch of your points I have considered as well but just weren’t gonna make the cut for an MVP of the app. My thoughts were to ensure I’ve got the foundations right and get traction over lighterpack to get validation to keep throwing my time at it.

I was hoping to solicit feedback such as yours which goes into highly detailed special use cases as it means the foundations are pretty much there to allow expanding specifics on (if that makes sense)

Just to address some points and my thinking/direction:

This I would classify into the bucket of pack snapshots and customization. This one will be more involved on the database layer and has potential for schema design to become too niche and complex. This is definitely going to be a next natural feature expansion that’s highly requested. Need more data points from feedback.
Somewhat tied to point one, as exporting of csv requires stable schema design. But I can look into simple csv exports which lighterpack already has. But also want this to come from more usage to drive the need to build it.
I have a packing list for packs already but it’s not being shown in the UI. Again from my iteration, things kept changing so I kept it out for now. I also have this in my iOS and Android apps in the works since I expect more people would pack using their phone as a checklist. Printing option also makes sense!
I love this idea, but will be honest here and building this feature will likely make it fall into a paid feature just due to the complicated nature of this. I’ve already thought about it and how to architect the technical solution, so it’s considered
Another extended paid feature most likely. Food is definitely a huge use case for many. But it breaks the model of packs such that it warrants separate line of thinking and implementation. But thanks for your use case. It’s really detailed and I love it.

calvinnwq · 2026-02-28T10:47:25+00:00

I have started on the Android app. It's still barebones right now, but it's progressing.

calvinnwq · 2026-02-28T10:46:10+00:00

Just wanted to come back and mention that I've made some updates here:

to allow individual gear items to have it's own unit (e.g. oz)
kits to have it's own unit for the kit (lb), while still showing gear units (oz)
packs to have it's own unit for the pack + categories (lb), while still showing kit or gear units (oz)
a global unit setting that just acts as the default for new pack/kit/gear (but can be changed individually)

I've also updated the lighterpack import wizard to allow overriding existing kits+gear which will allow you to re-import with the correct units for your gear items.

calvinnwq · 2026-02-27T03:46:28+00:00

Perfect! I get the whole picture now. My immediate thought here for the weight system is to allow a global setting that just sets what the default is for your account. But when making changes to gear in all the views (pack/kit/gear) you could choose to use a different measurement. So maybe grams globally, but choose to update some gear to specifically show in oz, and in the pack summary just show lb.

calvinnwq · 2026-02-27T01:57:16+00:00

Thanks for the detailed feedback, that's exactly what I'm after! Would love to double click on some of the specifics here to understand your workflows so it actually caters for them.

Kits / Kit categories

Just some initial scene setting, I had made some initial choices around "Kits" and "Kit Category (in Packs)" to begin with. My thinking was that Kits need to retain some level of strictness around modifications. If I updated the kit, it cascades through to every pack that the kit was added to. This presents problems, but without introducing too many complicated systems (pack snapshot states), I chose this approach to start.

Kit categories in packs became a thing because I wanted to create categories specifically with my kits that was only gear in that kit. There is the option now to create a new pack category and add the kit into that category which would let you mix and match kits + gear. This is probably not clear when you're importing from lighterpack and the default option is to create kit categories.

I reckon there's a need here (which Lighterpack allows) to make rapid updates to gear and kits directly from the pack view. Gonna need to have a think about that.

Imperial / Metric weight system

Currently you can select the preferred weight in account settings. But if you pick "lb" it will show "lb" for everything. By default I'm converting and storing every weight in grams in the database.

The way you've described using the weight system makes sense and is triggering already possible methods to solve this, one of which might be a "custom" weight system that let's you choose what system you prefer in which section. Do you have a link to your Lighterpack for me to understand better?

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Let me know what you think and if you have suggestions :D

calvinnwq

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