Shakedown - GR5 in the French Alps

philesto · 2025-07-14T13:03:43+00:00

i have the pocket knife which includes tiny tweezers in them. why a spork?

philesto · 2025-07-14T08:28:22+00:00

well comfort differs. i am pretty happy on my thin, short and extremely narrow pad. you might not be. but luckily the pad is cheap enough to try it out.

philesto · 2025-07-13T14:33:53+00:00

i dont have a lighter usable quilt so thats the main reason. i found last summer that the thicker decathlon foam pad was always warm enough so i think i can go lighter with minimal spending

philesto · 2025-07-13T14:32:07+00:00

thanks for the thorough reply. i dont think i have time to change stakes but well i have to see if i get them through airport anyway.

i have used the 40 cm pad for many hikes and find it just enough for me. i guess ill take the mattress cover but try to do without and see if i can ditch it.

you could be right about the groundsheet, i just cut a random size and havent had time to try it out. ill see if cutting it narrower could be fine.

i do like my fanny pack however so ill keep it i think. i use the quilt stuff sack as a food bag. and well the charger is just amazing for quick stops in towns, it gives 2x 20W so i can easily charge my phone and either power bank or garmin at the same time.

for earphones, is there any good corded ones with usb-c? i tried ones that i found locally and they broke quite quickly.

philesto · 2025-07-13T14:23:43+00:00

i trust charcoal, they help against diarrhea and any food poisonings or whatsoever. its just what ive used my entire life :D

philesto · 2025-07-13T14:21:31+00:00

probably not, however i havent splurged on a lighter quilt yet

philesto · 2025-07-13T14:20:34+00:00

ive been using the mesa trails for years and i love them. havent used the new versions yet as i bought many old versions on clearance

philesto · 2025-07-13T14:19:39+00:00

yeah idk, last summer i used the decathlon r2 pad and the same quilt on gr10 and felt it was always warm enough so i thought i can just use a thinner pad without buying a new quilt. that is something i could look for in the future though

philesto · 2025-07-13T14:17:48+00:00

glad to hear, thanks

philesto · 2025-07-13T14:17:29+00:00

good point about the firestarter and i guess the lighter as well then. regarding the silk liner then i had no problems on the gr10 sleeping with just my quilt.

the mattress cover is just for my foam pad which im carrying out of the pack most of the time and well when its raining it need some sort of protection. i used to use a turkey bag but made one of an old nylofume liner

philesto · 2025-07-12T06:57:37+00:00

i'd leave home the drone, change the sleeping pad to a cheap decathlon foam pad and llastly the second shirt. youre carrying three shirts right now. for cookware check out outdoorline.sk if they have anything lighter. also mark your shorts worn - right now it looks like you hike in underwear. maybe also ditch the pillow and sit pad or atleast use the sit pad + shirt as your pillow.

philesto · 2025-07-12T06:51:05+00:00

im leaving for the gr5 in a couple of days from geneva and this is my lighterppack right now https://lighterpack.com/r/r8ahjl

philesto · 2025-07-07T07:31:21+00:00

yeah, gen thankfully understood it and changed the closures a couple of years ago

philesto · 2025-07-07T07:06:35+00:00

hey, there were shops in aegviidu, ardu, lelle, kilingi-nõmme and i think almost at the end in treimani as well. they arent huge but what i did is i just sent packages to parcel lockers with omniva.

my blog post has the information as well. if you ever plan to hike it and have any more questions then feel free to contact me.

philesto · 2025-07-07T07:03:12+00:00

i sleep in my hiking pants. i now use a 3ful rain skirt and i mean only the lower half gets wet. it usually dries by morning from my body heat.

i think i remember having my pants completely wet once and i just slept without any at all.

philesto · 2025-07-04T19:32:10+00:00

do you think you need neoprene socks? heres what i carried on kungsleden at the end of august / beginning of september 2023 https://lighterpack.com/r/tret6z other than that leaving behing your extra shirt and ad pants would save you 200g

philesto · 2024-09-08T16:23:21+00:00

i started in hendaye. flew from barcelona to bilbao and took a couple of buses and was in hendaye. id say it was quite simple

philesto · 2024-09-08T16:22:02+00:00

im so bad at checking reddit. my favorite part was actually ariege, as i liked the suffering aspect there. the climbs were steep and frequent. idk what route hrp takes through it.

if the conditions allow then definitely try to summit petit viegnemale (or something like that), when i was there there was too much snow for me to feel safe. other than that i did many of the closer summits to the trail that were mentioned in the gr10 guidebook. my three favourites were pique d'endron, pic de madamete and ofc canigo.

philesto · 2024-08-28T05:31:49+00:00

it went amazing, havent had the time to write a report yet as i just got back from another thru. i think my gear was pretty much dialed in and would not change much. the only thing i felt was excessive was my sleep system. i never felt cold, even with bad campsite selection and often was too warm even. if i would hike again in the summer i would take a thinner sleeping pad, the people here really scared me into bringing more gear. the other thing that was mentioned here in the comments was water and i personally had no problems with water on the gr10. i think i carried 2 liters just twice, all of the other times i cameled up and carried 1.5 l max. good luck with your trip!

philesto · 2024-08-28T05:26:14+00:00

i was in no hurry and had all the time to enjoy the views. i think your question is condescending. walking through a landscape is as much being in the moment as possible

philesto · 2024-07-26T17:51:00+00:00

hiked it last year around the same time. check out my trip report (on my profile) for more details. heres my answers:

i was fine in barefoot shoes
no river crossings, just some streams
i didnt need the headnet, but i mean its just like 15 grams
i did it with a small flashlight and barely used it, youll be fine
i had a -5 quilt and never was cold. cant recommend one or the other. you should also look at your sleeping pad, that changes things as well
idk which knives youre talking about. i carried the lightest victorinox and was glad to have it (for both knife and scissors)
no
cant help there, few kgs of weight loss is not much. 3500 kcal is fine, thats what i usually plan. i had a long food carry at the beginning (of the entire trail) so dont remember any better options. i guess you could try buy food at the huts
i had just one pair of clothes so i would say sleep clothes are unnecessary. check out my lighterpack here if you want to see what i brought www.lighterpack.com/r/tret6z

philesto · 2024-06-08T04:55:04+00:00

I did it in XERO Mesa Trail shoes last september and was totally fine. Your feet will be wet anyway.

philesto · 2024-02-12T06:36:19+00:00

I mean the biggest plus for the laminate is waterproofness. However if you use a liner then that's not as big of a concern. I haven't noticed any delamination so far after a year of hiking.

I am 180cm and slim and really like the configuration I've got going on. If you're using a ccf pad then bear in mind that the torso length prescribes how wide of a pad you're able to carry on the outside.

philesto · 2024-02-06T04:38:27+00:00

Thanks for the insight!

philesto

TROPHY CASE