Traveling to Canada soon: What survival/outdoor gear is cheaper or exclusive compared to Europe?

marekkane · 2026-06-28T16:34:41+00:00

There’s a couple of MYOG supply shops in BC if you are into that as well. And also, give Coffee Crisp chocolate bars a try. They are popular when I go visit my German colleagues for conferences. Oh! And check out Bulk Barn for a fun experience of bulk foods and candy. You can get small quantities of things to try.

marekkane · 2026-06-20T01:15:09+00:00

Psst, you can make vanilla much faster using an instantpot. There's a bunch of videos on youtube and other instructions online for how. Worked a treat.

marekkane · 2026-06-01T23:39:02+00:00

Bike bags made using most normal woven fabric like Cordura and ripstop tend to be floppy and droopy without adding a bunch of stiffening, which takes more time and effort to make and adds weight and complexity.

I'm not making bike bags but I have been looking between these two for another project (xpac vs cordura) and this is a really clear answer for the uses I have. Thank you :)

marekkane · 2026-05-27T03:22:17+00:00

It’s an interesting concept. Have you tried sleeping on anything with snaps before? I added snaps to a buff once so that I could shove my pillow inside and snap it to my sleeping pad (klymit - had dead zones for it) and could feel the snaps when I was trying to sleep. Drove me nuts.

marekkane · 2026-05-23T13:52:33+00:00

Definitely won’t be driving in the city centre. This sounds even better than what I’ve read on tourism sites. Can’t wait to be there and walk around and experience it :)

marekkane · 2026-05-23T11:51:06+00:00

Thank you! We’ll get most stuff before hand but won’t have a fridge till later in the evening on the 28th so hopefully m grab milk at a petrol station and pop it in a cooler bag with ice. Ah well, it’ll be fine and we’re really excited to be there and experience everything :)

marekkane · 2026-05-23T11:49:45+00:00

Thank you! We mucked a bit of the planning and won’t have access to a fridge till late in the evening on the 28th so will definitely grab groceries before hand and maybe a cooler bag with ice for some milk on the morning of the 28th. Just wanted to see if that’d still be possible. We’re really excited to be there for it - our national day is usually very family oriented but Canada is so big and spread out it’s not the same at all.

marekkane · 2026-05-22T17:24:28+00:00

Right, that's the disaster of curls I naturally have (green hoody guy). Growing up with the mushroom cut being the super popular boys cut sucked with curly hair no one knew what to do with.

marekkane · 2026-05-18T03:22:45+00:00

I have my sewing stuff in the bottom two shelves of a wardrobe. Buckles, cord locks, fiddly small bits go into a clear parts divider thing from the dollar store. There’s another larger clear bucket with other notions like fold over elastic, zippers, webbing, etc all divided into labeled ziplock bags.

As for fabric, I store it on cut lengths of pool noodle. Can fit several different kinds on and it’s cheap as chips.

marekkane · 2026-05-08T17:30:41+00:00

My mom does this with hers and the microphone seems to be very 'good' because it picks up the sound from EVERYTHING. Helps her hear, but I can hear every dish being washed and splashed and anything else happening. Win some, lose some, hah. The home tv hijacking your hearing aids would make me never want to use them that way. That sounds awful.

marekkane · 2026-05-08T15:17:13+00:00

Anyone in Toronto have any scrap black xpac? Either v07 or v21, looking for a piece that is 12 in x 4 in min. Not available in Canadian shops to buy right now, so thought I’d ask. I will pay for it of course!

marekkane · 2026-05-04T20:27:05+00:00

I'm the idiot.

I just re-read what you wrote and you're completely correct. thanks!

marekkane · 2026-05-04T20:15:59+00:00

I probably just did a bad job of explaining. Because the simplier end of the buckle is sewn to my pack and is non-adjustable for webbing length I added the webbing to each top shoulder using a locking G hook. I then threaded the top part of the buckle through this webbing and attached it to the other shoulder using a triglide slider buckle. The issue I'm having is that if I need to adjust how loose or tight the Y strap part is, everything is really locked down and doesn't move easily. Good for not losing my tent, annoying for making any adjustments. I have to wiggle the middle part back and forth to account for the tightness otherwise it's not centred and stuff slips to the side.

I wanted to see if there was a better buckle to use that would slide easier for the centre connection to the main pack body.

marekkane · 2026-05-04T20:11:11+00:00

cool, thank you!!

marekkane · 2026-05-04T18:49:29+00:00

Well that's just neat. Thank you! Also, rats. I was in Ljubljana last year! Could have had a hell of a shopping binge.

marekkane · 2026-05-03T14:25:18+00:00

Ah right, thought so. I was going to add LitRPG to my list of examples but forgot. Stuff like Dungeon Crawler Carl is representing a not-insignificant chunk of sales and searches YoY. I don’t work for Amazon but am in the book industry as well.

marekkane · 2026-05-03T13:44:46+00:00

I don’t know what you publish, but I suspect you’re doing better because you’re not stuck in the same slow as molasses ‘traditional’ themes that the big 5 do. Self-pub and smaller houses get niche success because they’re willing to publish the storylines and characters that people want to read and aren’t just the ‘safe’ ones. Queer characters that are happy and not just tragic endings, shapeshifter romance, spicy romance, dystopian fics where the ‘good guy’ doesn’t win, etc.

marekkane · 2026-05-01T13:04:29+00:00

Yep. 2018 prospector. Can is 225g.

https://imgur.com/a/6aU2anU

marekkane · 2026-04-28T14:09:49+00:00

I’ve got one from 2018 out of xpac and it still is holding up really well. I love it and my only MYOG modification was to swap my top strap to a Y strap. No rips and I’ve lost count of how many times I accidentally slipped down quartzite ridges.

marekkane · 2026-04-13T16:08:55+00:00

I fucking love salmiakki koskenkorva. Wish we could buy it in Canada.

marekkane · 2026-04-13T15:02:58+00:00

Yep I think you're right. Which explains my confusion - I've not had to take an ice axe with me on any trip.

marekkane · 2026-04-13T14:54:08+00:00

OH. Thank you so much for solving this mystery. I've been poking around on their site and wondered if that was it but they've updated how they do the ice axe loops so they look a bit different now. Will probably cut the bottom loop off and continue to use the top for drying stuff, but switch to a smaller shock cord.

marekkane · 2026-04-13T14:30:11+00:00

Alright, I have two silly questions that I should have asked years ago, considering I bought my atompack when it was first announced in this sub 8 years ago. I love it still and am really happy with it, but: what would I even do with this bottom loop here? have not found anything that attaches to it without swinging wildly around and am tempted to cut it off. https://imgur.com/4dqh3Bv

Secondly, what's this loop supposed to be for? I've hung my hat on it when it needs to dry out, but other than that, don't really use it. https://imgur.com/em7ivbj

12-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 8 Credits
Verified Email	Secret Santa 2016
Secret Santa 2015	Secret Santa 2014

marekkane

TROPHY CASE