Bushwalk Australia

Informative interview with Aarn Tate here :
http://www.hikinginfinland.com/
This is a quick introduction on how the packs came about and Aarn's take on gear.
Since I like his packs and he is a nice guy anyway I thought some may like to know a bit more about them...
Franco

Thanks for the link - the Aarn packs *are* brilliant .
This comment really interested me in him talking about boots/footwear

"One kilo on the foot is (sic) uses equivalent to 6.4 kilos on the back, according to the latest research by the US army."

That's quite phenomenal

That sounds a lot and it has been often dismissed, but a couple of years ago I did find the original study by the US Army that stated something along those lines.
This from a more recent study :
The perceived exertion was shown to be greatly dependent on the oxygen uptake. From the results a regression formula was calculated predicting the oxygen uptake depending on the mass of the footwear, walking speed and body mass. It was concluded that the mass of footwear resulted in an increase in the energy expenditure which was a factor 1.9–4.7 times greater than that of a kilogram of body mass, depending on sex and walking speed.http://www.springerlink.com/content/u18032vm25770745/

Note the recumbent bike in the "studio" pics. Aarn builds and races those too.
Same thing there. People laugh at them till they try one...
(I have a trike)
Recumbents have been banned by the cycling federation since 1930, because they are faster.. (less energy expenditure)
Currently the highest speed attained (on flat ground) is 135 KMPH , try doing that on a standard bike.
The point here is that Aarn is not stuck on conventional thinking .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recumbent_bicycle
Franco

This foot wear ratio is often quoted but have the USA Army actually changed foot wear approach?

When looking at Army boots they are extremely long and lacing them up must be a nightmare. Though they appear reasonably light given their size. The pair I looked at were sold as Australian Army ones in a disposal shop so might be toy solider ones rather than the real deal.

Curious thing with packs is many innovative ideas do not get adopted by Armies so I wonder if other reasons (yes cost a bigger) means they cling to more tradditional designs with footwear and packs. Be curious if the NZ army picks up on the concept as despite its small size it prides itself on its infantary.

Cheers Brett

NZ army chooses macpac. They also use a unusual SMU (special make up) for a modular solution.

blacksheep wrote:..also use a unusual SMU (special make up) for a modular solution.

My partner uses special make up for a presentational solution.