Let It Snow! (I Need to Test My Gear)

It doesn't snow very often here in the South, so I was nearly giddy when I woke up this morning to see the white stuff coming down. And come down it did -- nearly five inches of it, and all wet and sloppy to boot.



And speaking of boots, wintry weather like this is perfect for checking out gear -- like my footwear and waterproof jacket. One of my biggest concerns for this trip is my new(ish) pair of boots. My old pair, while still decent, have had quite a few miles put on them (Nepal, Russia, New Zealand!), and they weigh a bleedin' ton.

So I took the plunge and bought a new pair of Tecnica boots earlier this year before Mrs. Lt. Dan and I went to Peru. They held up pretty well tromping around Machu Picchu, but I can't help but wonder how they will fare in the extremes of Tanzania. Nothing sucks more than a bad pair of footwear and no REI store within 15,000 miles.

Anyway. Today's snow gave me an opportunity to try out the Tecnicas in snow for the first time. Their Gore-Tex shell shed the moisture pretty well, and I think they'll hold up OK in Africa. On the other hand, I can't say the same for my jacket (which also is supposed to be Gore-Tex'd): it soaked clear through in a number of places. This isn't a surprise; the jacket succumbed to the rainforest of the Milford Track in New Zealand three years ago, but it was a good reminder that I've still got some work to do to get my gear up to snuff.

I'm not looking forward to accumulating all the necessary gear for this trip. We'll be spending time in the buggy heat of the Serengeti, the cold of Kilimanjaro and the tropics of Zanzibar. Seems to me like we need to pack for every conceivable climate -- and that sounds like a lot of crap to hump halfway around the planet.