BearVault BV500

“I had some brief thoughts myself from the trip. I went with a much heavier pack owing to some different gear choices, though I was pretty happy with everything I brought. 1. I used an HX pot and wrote about it [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/1mb9cb5/rultralight_the_weekly_week_of_july_28_2025/n63svy1/?context=3). I got a lot of boils out of it! 2. I went with a less dense meal [plan](https://i.imgur.com/CkaBPXr.png). Giant food spread photo [here](https://i.imgur.com/04qAFds.jpeg). I packed a lot of ziploc waste out, some room for improvement there. I also packed a full extra day's worth of food out. I screwed up my math on the dinners/breakfasts and had an extra of each, and I had some extra food left over from the start of the trip when I had some appetite suppression. I really liked my food on this trip, and I'd happily pack like this again. Nearly everything was from Costco too. 3. I used a Lixada solar panel (the small black one that is "rated" for 10W) and an Nitecore NB Air combo to keep my phone and watch charged, and I never even got below 40% on the phone. Some nights I would fall asleep while charging the phone and it wouldn't even matter. It was great not feeling like I had to ration anything, for less weight than a 20k bank (and comparable with a 10k). I generally used the phone just for caltopo nav and a few phone pics though, so not a crazy power user like some other folks seem to be. The whole setup was pretty sturdy and I think it only got unplugged once. 4. I was using a newer version of Jan's framed Bears Ears, which worked wonderfully for me because it moved the extra-heavy food load (25lbs!) just a little high enough so that it wouldn't sag on my back. I have an older version of the framed Bears Ears that I've used successfully with the Bearikade Blazer, but the extra-heavy 18" bear canister would sag and ride below my waist, which would've been quite uncomfortable. My enjoyment of this trip would've been significantly diminished without this pack. 5. I used some CMT ultralight trekking poles and I completely ground up the carbide tips to little nubs, just from this trip! I don't think I was particularly rough , but apparently the way that I use them while navigating on slabs and talus is just extremely hard on those tips, since they only lasted 150 miles. Fortunately, it seems I can just buy some replacement tips online for pretty cheap. It's just not clear to me if this is a carbide tip issue, a me issue, or a CMT-specific issue. 6. Piezo igniters above 10k are useless junk! Skill lessons: 1. I gained a lot of confidence moving on class 2 terrain (especially talus! this whole route was chock full of it). I'm a lot more comfortable on easy class 3 now, considering I've completely avoided it before this trip. I'm used to some of those crappy PNW volcano scree slogs so I thought I could handle class 2 scree sufferfests a little better, but moving up simple shelves with a few class 3 moves is just so”