MEC

I went to MEC in Ottawa yes­ter­day and made my first few gear pur­chas­es; the most impor­tant pieces actu­al­ly, my pack and sleep­ing bag. Orig­i­nal­ly, I was look­ing at the MEC brand Ibex 80, but they were out, so I end­ed up with the Gre­go­ry Pal­isade, a 91L expe­di­tion pack for $255. The reviews at Back­pack Gear Test seemed to be pret­ty good.

My sleep­ing bag of choice was the MEC Raven [$145], a three-sea­son bag rat­ed to ‑7°C, which made me, in Megan’s immor­tal words, “look like a cater­pil­lar.” I also got the MEC Hydro­foil hard shell jack­et [$100] which weighs only 420g. I also picked up a first aid bag, for build­ing my own first aid kit. Here is a pic­ture.

Today we’ve spent some time orga­niz­ing things and adjust­ing pack straps and such, but we’re going to go watch the Notre Dame game in a bit.