Doing a tour of Ben Nevis (for want of a better title) in September, taking 2 days & stopping overnight at Luibielt/Meannanach. i've got a Vau De tent that weighs 1.6 kilos but would I be better off with a bivvy bag? Never used one before.

I wouldn't go for a bivvy bag for the kind of trip you're doing. If it rains you'll be miserable – you'll have to leave your gear outside and will have no space to move around in while you wait out the rain. But you can get a sub-kilo tent if you want to spend £250 – or you can buy other light weight stuff to keep the weight down – or you can spend the money on a B&B.

Your current tent at 1.6 Kilos sounds lite enough. Its only 1 night… how heavy is a litre of water?

Your'e probably right Pieface, I just dunno how heavy bivvy bags are! If we get to Meannanach early enough & it's not occupied then we'll bothy, but you never know, & as for B&B….well there aren't any round there unfortunately.

You say "we" – if there's 2 of you to split the weight of the tent then even less reason to buy a bivvy. A good GoreTex bivvy probably weighs half a kilo.

it depends on how many in the party as rprt states, that tent between two is spot on.

alpkit hunka clicky

above weighs 388 grams but does not offer full outdoor protection in wild weather, I use mine for protecting my down bag.

My advice is to pre prepare your food, portion it out (I pre cook and freeze stuff like chicken pilaf)and seriously think about what you rarely need.

Consider buying a 'Travel Tap' water filter instead, costs abuot the same as a bivi (30 quid) and will save you a ton of weight. You can ride with the bare minimum in your camelbak (500ml?) and fill up as you need.

There is always room in a bothy! There is however Steinage (sp) bothy which is massive between Meannanach and the loch. I wouldn't bother with a bivvy.

I'd look at super light weight tents before bivis.

There's the Terra Nova Laser super duper lightweight one at 720g for a complete proper double skin tent.. it is pricey but there are cheaper versions of it. Much better than a bivi imo.

The advantage ofa bivi though is that you don't need flat ground – you can just curl up behind a rock/under a tree wherever you want.

My advice re food is take dried food – no point in carrying out extra heavy water in your food when you don't need to. There are some good ranges of complete dehydrated meals, or there's noodles, pasta n sauce etc. It's only one night after all 🙂

You can find water in the mountains easy enough, and it's clean enough to sterilise with tablets. For tabs get Puritabs – silver based so completely tasteless, but they are more expensive than chlorine ones.

It is definitely worth paying a lot of attention to weight when you plan a trip – struggling around with 12kg on your back will most likely impact your enjoyment a lot more than say, 5kg.

Edit: Oops, got carried away with the advice there.. sorry.

>There is always room in a bothy!<

Absolutely – except Corrour perhaps 😉

Meannanach is one bleak hooch of a place for a bivvy if its raining. I'd be think Bothy, whisky and fuel for the fire myself…

Water filters completely unnecessary up there – few drops of iodine if you're that paranoid

I used to take dried food but am getting a bit "nesh"

Good hill food need not be heavy, pre cooked rice needs only be warmed up thus saving weight in gas.

Bothies have more space than you think, I was in Bob Scott's a few years ago and it was like a sardine packers outing.

5 kg pack is good advise though

Whats all this about carrying water and filtering it? Fresh highland water is available everywhere – it falls from the sky and runs down the hills and is the best water you will ever have

always dried food for me to save weight – why carry water ( even in food) when there is water where you stop.

I wouldn't use a bivvy bag for your trip – save 1/2 a kilo or so for much less comfort. Think about what you would do if it rains?

heather bash: at least when corrour is full it is warm at last!

Pie, in answer to your question: – 1 litre of fluid = 1 kilo in weight.

IMHO Wayfarer foods are way better than dehydrated, may be a bit heavier.

Spending £250 on a tent that is only 1kg lighter than what you already have seems an expensive way of doing it if you ask me.

Whats all this about carrying water and filtering it?

Surely we are talking about carrying water OR filtering it? As I said use Puritabs not Iodine – tastes much better. Not worth filtering mountain water.

Spending £250 on a tent that is only 1kg lighter than what you already have seems an expensive way of doing it if you ask me.

Well he was talking about bivis which aren't cheap either.

Molgrips – no need to either carry water or to filer it or use puritabs round there. Its the purest water you can find – filtered thru peat bogs.

Mmm, flavoured with the odd dead sheep here and there.

I've drunk from many mountain streams, but I prefer to use a tab just in case. I have actually walked up streams and seen dead animals in them, or found they originate in lakes with all sorts lurking at the bottom.

its day ride. 😀 if you must dilly dally stay in a bothy and drink the water from the river.

How on earth did our ancestors survive without puritabs I ask myself 😉

Been drinking from Highland burns and rivers for nearly half a century – you're more likely to fall ill from drinking dodgy tap water imho.

2nd heather bash

How on earth did our ancestors survive without puritabs I ask myself

They didn't. Their average life expectancy was less than 40, and there was this thing called cholera that was quite big for a while. Just cos they put up with the risk of occasional bout of the sh*ts even from mountain streams doesn't mean I have to! (if you think mountain water is always safe, just ask the folk who went to the Western Lakes Polaris a few years back.)

In any case – our ancestors used to make beer/whiskey/tea to make the water safe to drink.. that's how they got by. Like I say I have drunk and would drink if I had to untreated mountain streams, but there's no harm in sticking a few puritabs in the bag if you're going to rely on it. No biggie.

I've drunk water from Highland Streams for over 400 Munros and never had a stomach upset yet. There really isn't a problem.

Stay in a bothy – it's much better than bivvying.

What are these 'streams' 'lakes' and 'whiskey' you speak of?

😉

This is a question of what we define as a mountain and more importantly where it is.

I wouldn't drink from low streams in the Dales, lakes or Peaks because of sheep and human "interaction"

But the highlands is a different matter, burn water is sweet and goes well with a dram in any bothy

You're not often on the side of a Munro when you're camping, are you? You'll be in a valley, hence the puritabs idea.

Duw, there's some smart-arsed buggers on here, aye.

Molgrips – yes but the water has come off the mountain. 40+ yrs of drinking mountain water on occasion for me with never an upset tummy to worry about.

erm yes I tend to camp on the side of the hill, hence what I do.

Of course each to their own and as I said it depends where you take your water from relative to how high you are and where you are

Listen, hairy arsed bothy goers dont do puritabs – end of!

how did this change from Bivvies to Water?

Bivvie bag all the way for me, nothing worse then getting to a bothy and having other folk about to disrupt your "wilds" trip. imho.

Rule of thumb: don't drink from static water. Tarns, Lochs etc.

If you want to drink wild, do so from running water which is usually fine, but consider Puri Tabs which you can buy from Boots.
Or, if you buy a tiny bottle of iodene + a "tab" that takes the taste away back to water, do so. Cotswold Camping, Snow & Rock etc .

You have the ideal tent. Use it. What a blo3dy expensive trip otherwise!

Dear me! Thanks everyone, really, but I should've said that i'm not a novice in this stuff, only in bivvy bags! I/we'll be taking a 750ml frame mounted bottle with some nice peachy flavoured water to start with & some 'energy type' powder for later. I/we'll be taking dried pasta & using the 'best' water we can find, of which I'm sure there'll be no shortage. There's gonna be 3 of us, the other 2 are COMPLETE novices at this type of thing (but fit/keen/crackers, one of them actually ate a dandelion & 1/4 of a bar of prison soap last week)
I've never ever used Iodine or puritabs, even on a winter Polaris so I won't be starting now.
In fact **** it, I'll take the tent.
Really though, thanks everyone!