Yet Another Salewa

Background is AI generated. Boots are mine

Unfortunately, on the last day of the Rumtse to Tso Moriri trek (August 2025) which was also the longest and the highest day when we crossed a glacial stream innumerable number of times with rocks strewn over all the way, my Salewa developed a small crack in the corner of my left leg. This is not repairable in India. So I went in for another pair of Salewa and placed the order on 13th September 2025 (much against my wishes). The new pair arrived today 16th September, 2025. I paid around Rs 23500 for it. It is a pair of MS Mtn Trainer Mid GTX. I am yet to open the box, meaning to celebrate my 61st birthday tomorrow by unboxing it. As of now the box is lying unopened. These, as my previous ones too, came from Trek Kit in Delhi (or is it Chandigarh?)

Why I chose yet another Salewa when the previous one lasted only four treks, is a legitimate question to ask. There are several reasons. 

A. The choice for high quality international mountain boot brands in India is very limited. Apart from Salewa being sold by Trek Kit one has Columbia but they don't have too many options in high ankle hiking boots. There is Lowa but I am not sure if these are fresh stocks. Exad Sports had imported some Lowa a few years ago which did not do too well in India. I am not too sure if these Lowas now being sold by Adventuras are from that old stock. There is another new online retailer that is selling La Sportiva. But they have limited stock in terms of size. Only 7.5, while I need 8. La Sportiva in any case run a little small and everyone advises you to go half size up. Also I have no idea how trustworthy this new retailer is. They are based in Jammu. 

B. The comfort of Salewa is absolutely top class. I have never lost any toe nail after a trek. Earlier with Meindl and Quechua I would routinely lose the toe nail after any trek - Roopkund and Stok Kangri are two that I remember. I had no such problem with the Salewas. I am not sure if it could be due to my improved firtness. Earlier I used to struggle with descents. Now I am much fitter in that respect. So whether that is the reason for the intact toe nails is something I am not too sure. 

C. I think the Salewas gave way because of poor maintenance in my hands. Last time after Goechala I had cleaned the boots with water but did nothing to soften it up later with some sort of protection. I plan to use Nikwax (they are now available on Amazon) on these new ones after every trek and in fact will have to get them from Amazon. 

Also on the last day of the R2T trek the route was really tough with serious rocks and stream crossings every now and then. So the boots were repeatedly getting wet and dry. The rocky terrain also did not help. 

D. If I did not have this Gaumukh trek coming up so soon, I'd probably consider going to Kathmandu for some other brand like a La Sportiva or North Face etc. But there was no time for that and now going to Nepal after the Gen Z protests, going to Nepal is out of question.

So I settled for Salewas once again.

From the description and photographs - these new boots come with full rand (something that I have never worn), therefore offering better protection from rocks. I don't really know how a Mid GTX is different from Light GTX. Possibly they are supposed to be more robust. Time will tell. My previous boot had only half rand and the leather broke just below the rand. 

This label generally fades out with use

September 17, 2025

I opened the box today. The shoes are in black with a loud orange lace. I can't really remember if this is the colour I wanted. I remember the choice was limited. But I thought I had ordered for the brown one. Anyway, I will not insist on getting this changed. Being superstitious by nature I am hoping these will last a long time as my Quechuas did. They were also black. 

Let me write down the other details about the boot. It is in size UK 8, as all my boots are. The upper material is 1.6 mm suede leather. This is important to know because how you maintain depends on this. One of the reasons why I did not treat my other Salewa with any leather cleaner etc is that I had always thought the upper material was synthetic that needs no cream or special treatment. 

They claim to have an Ortholite midsole that is supposed to offer superior comfort at a reduced weight. I have no idea what that is. Of course Gore-Tex membrane and Vibram sole also as all my boots always have. These are like regulation these days. They also guarantee, albeit for one year that these are blister proof boots. I have never had any blister with any of my mountain boots. Toe nails have been a problem but that did not happen in any of the four treks I did with the Salewas. Namely, Valley of Flowers, Annapurna Base Camp, Goechala and Rumtse to Tso Moriri. The last two were pretty tough ones, though non-technical. 

Today being a Wednesday I chose not to wear the new boots. My mother used to say Budhera Saat Bhai Nyangta - Wednesdays are all seven brothers naked. That is, don't wear something new on a Wednesday. It's inaspicious for any new wearable. On the other hand Wednesday is supposed to be a very auspicious day for undertaking any journey. Mangale usha Budhe paa, jatha ichcha tatha jaa. That is also there. 

All I want for my boots to do is last for a long time. Not because I am miserly. But I like my things to last for a long time. I get attached to my things and don't like discarding them. 

September 18, 2025 

Yesterday, after writing the above I used the "Wednesday is an auspicious day" logic to try the new boots on inside the house. I used my thick Adidas socks to wear and took a few trial strides in the room. My first impression is that there is less flex in the sole as compared to my previous Salewas. It felt a little hard. While this may not translate into a softer and more cushioned walk, it might add more life to the boots when used in harsh Himalayan conditions. My previous boot was probably not meant for those hard long walks. 

And this less flex is probably what they mean by Mid rather than Lite. These boots are more mountain and less sneaker like. 

I felt the front of the boot was a little tight around the base of the toe, particularly on the right foot. I will need to wear them for a few kilometers to break them in. I might even go for the extra Bata insole that I had put in my other pair. The previous boot also had a similar issue initially and soon turned into a very comfortable pair to wear. I guess they take a little bit of walking in for the insole to take the shape of the wearer's feet.

Let me see how they shape up and how long they last. 

About the photograph

Last night I took a few photographs of the boot and today created the image above with AI. The original photo has the boots placed on the boring striped bed sheet on the divan in our living room. I am not too sure if this is ethical but I have declared the AI help in the caption. Looks very realistic though.

The lacing holes

These boots have three different types of holes through which the laces run. The toe area has a few grommets, the area above the toes where the foot goes up in an arch has soft loops through which the lace goes, then comes the top ankle portion where there are metallic hooks. This is something unique that I have never seen before. I will have to see how this translates into extra comfort or control. 

The background is AI generated

Sea to Summit Gear

28th August, 2025

Testing it out at Thupwang Homestay before the trek

In the recent past I bought a few gear from Sea to Summit India. They are a poncho (this was bought before the Goechala trek but never got a chance to use it before R2T), an air mattress and a two-person tent. These were all bought before the epic Rumtse to Tso Moriri (R2T) trek in Ladakh in August 2025. I call it epic (I normally never describe my own achievement with such self congratulating adjectives) because it is by far the longest trek in my life and also perhaps the toughest for me so far and I was very unsure before the trek if it would be completed. 

I used all these items during the trek and was reasonably happy with their performance. I will first come to the most expensive and the most favourite of my gears so far. The Telos TR2 Plus tent. I used it on the trail on all the six nights when we camped. I will describe the set up first. 

Incidentally I sold my Marmot tent to one Indrajit Basu of Howrah on 13th September, 2025 at Rs 5000. I shall write about that tent later in a different post.

Here is a little walkaround of the tent

First you lay out the ground sheet on the floor and peg the six corners lightly. The Big Foot covers even the vestibule areas on either side of the tent in a triangle. So you need six pegs. The pegs that S2S gives with the tent look very dainty (in fact in Leh I borrowed a few robust pegs from Tashi just in case but they were never really necessary) but as I discovered in the field they are pretty competent. Of course the ground I pitched the tent every afternoon was soft and not rocky. 

Next you lay the actual tent on the ground sheet in proper alignment with the ground sheet. The tent is broader at the head end compared to the leg end and so is the ground sheet. So you have to align properly - broad to broad and narrow to narrow. You place the hooks with the green tabs at the narrower end and the grey ones at the broader side (that is where I keep my head because I need the extra space nex to me for all my this and that like the spects or watch etc). 

Then comes the task of setting up the poles. The entire pole set is integrated into one piece, unlike other dome tents that have two main poles that you keep in an X orientation and hook up from the corners. This makes managing the S2S pole sections a bit tricky. There are three hubs from where the poles go out in different directions. The tent poles are also colour coordinated. You match the green to green and grey to grey and then insert the ends into the grommets. You might need to bend the poles here and think it might break but no. They don't break.

Next you hold the central ridge line (it has some other technical word) pole in a Y shape looking upwards and hook the two sides of the tent body. This Y shape gives the tent extra head room inside. This hooking up is a bloody heavy duty task. You have to pull the loops really hard to engage them. And do it before hooking the tent body up to the poles. Once the central ridge line is set then you can hook up the tent to the poles. Now the tent body is up. 

The bare body tent only before putting the rain fly.

Next you lay the fly sheet over keeping the colour-coded alignment in mind. Again you have to hook the two sides of the tent to the central ridge line. Yet another tough task. But pull really hard and it will engage. There is one other step that I did only once. Engage the velcro tabs to the pole and then engage the four corners to the tent body - again colour coordinated. 

Now peg the corners properly and you are set. If you have never set up the Telos tent this may not make any sense to you. Actually I wrote this out for myself, lest I forget. There is a good video from S2S that I saw several times before the first set up. 

I will perhaps do a video of the set up later. Meanwhile here is a link to a video of the tent set up on the Rumtse Tso Moriri trail. 

Headline Features 

The main thing that strikes you about the tent is its compact size and light weight. They pack the tent in two main stuff sacks. One for the fly and another for the main tent. Yes you do stuff the tent and the fly in, which can be tricky to do with frozen fingers in the morning. It is doubly tough if the fly is wet from the previous night's rain.  If you count the ground sheet that is a third packet and the poles go in one other nylon tube. Apparently this can be hung up with your head torch inside to light up the tent. But I have a Black Diamond torch for that which is quite adequate. And I never used the pole bag as a light. 

And of course there is the small pouch for the tent pegs. These weigh around 2 Kg and you can distribute the weight in two backpacks for a fair share of the load. I kept them all in the duffel bag and off loaded it for the mules to carry. But I am an old man. If I was younger I'd carry it in my sack. On a bike packing trip you can tie them up on the two forks of the bike (but careful about the road dirt). 

I am glad that I was carrying a very thin dry sack (again S2S). I used it for storing the rain fly and the ground sheet when they were wet in the morning, so that they wouldn't make my other stuff in the duffel wet. 

There is a zipped vent in the ceiling for letting the heat out. I used it while making tea inside the tent (it is a very unsafe practice and one should use extreme caution while doing it, if at all).

My verdict

If you can afford it just go for it. The space inside is fabulous, particularly the vertical space. The tent was tested in high wind and heavy downpour. It held out fine against them. The Plus version has a heavier duty floor for better water resistance. 

The pitching might seem a bit intimidating at first but it's okay. If I can do it in less than ten minutes you should be able to do it in five perhaps. In fact by the fifth day I got better and faster at it. But the main clincher is its packability and light weight. I also love the understated green colour. It merges so well with the green environment that you find in most camp sites.

One last word about Sea to Summit and their customer service. I had bought a dry sack from Amsterdam some seven years ago when S2S was not even available in India. Recently I found its seam tape inside had come unstuck and its waterproofness was gone. I asked S2S if they could help me repair it. They said send it to our Delhi office and we will see what we can do about it. Within a week they sent me a new dry sack, which is actually better than the original I had. Completely free of charge.

I was simply dumbfounded by this kind gesture. They have replaced another dry back pack when its seam tape came loose after one trek. In fact they gave me a much more expensive bag as a replacement without any extra charge. 

The Poncho

Sea to Summit has two ponchos. I bought the cheaper one. This is a poncho cum tarp. I have used it only as a poncho during the R2T trek. It proved to be very competent. I did not sweat at all and was totally dry. It is large enough to accomodate my backpack. I have yet to use it as a tarp. I have seen several videos and am reasonably sure I can quite use it as one. But I will need shorter guy lines for it. I have to do a few trials before trying to use it on the field. Problem is if I wear it as a poncho I cannot have the guylines hanging from the guy out points. I will look a bit crazy and funny with guy lines hanging out from various corners of the tarp.

I have stored it spread out in a plastic sheet, hoping to add more life to it. This I am doing with my tent, rainfly and sleeping mat also. They are all spread out inside transparent plastic sheets (essentially plastic tubes).

The Sleeping Mat

The sleeping mat. A luxury I thought I would gift myself

I bought the lightest sleeping mat from S2S (Ultralight Air Sleeping Mat). It is a beautiful lemony yellow mat (though in the picture it looks almost orange). It packs into the size of a 1 litre water bottle or perhaps smaller. It does not offer much thermal insulation, which is fine. The light weight is a priority and so is the relatively chepaer price. They have a more thermal version of this same model but it is heavier with a larger pack size.

The mat is inflated by its own stuf sac/bag which you have to blow into a baloon like thing and then the air is routed into the bag. It takes a few blows into the bag to fill it up and then three or four bag full of air to pump up the mat properly. I was not too sure how I would do it at high altitude and that too after a long trek. But it was not a problem at all. It takes a few minutes only and does not leave me tired. 

I will make a video of it later explaining how it is done. Very simple. 

The cushy feeling of the bag is very nice to sleep or sit on. It is an expensive option, relative to the other cheaper options that are there for spreading on the floor but packability is the main reason why I bought it for more than 12K. The other options are much bulkier. I felt extremely cold one night while sleeping on it on the R2T trail. But at that particular camp site we were very close to the river and there was water almost two feet below the ground. So we were all virtually sleeping on water. This mat is not equipped to handle that kind of cold, which is fine. The ones that offer good thermal insulation cost upwards of Rs 20K and pack much larger than my bag. 

If I ever have to sleep regularly on glaciers or snow then this bag will of course not be of much help. But I don't foresee too much of that in the foreseeable future. If I have to, I will put a foam sheet (borrowed from the agency) below this mat. That should suffice.

Packing the mat is also quite easy. The folds are quite prominent and it's easy to fold it up along the lines. I don't think it can be randomly stuffed. I folded it every day and rolled it in. It was very easy to do it. Quite happy with this purchase though it is quite expensive. 

Sea to Summit also has a luxury pillow to go with this mat. In fact they have several models. But I gave it a miss. A because of its price and B because of the extra space and weight it will take in my bag. I keep my under wear and other hosiery items in a very thin S2S dry bag which doubles up as my pillow. And I have never had a problem sleeping with this. If necessary I also put my down jacket in that to make it even more comfortable. You might think that's a negligible space or weight. But such small items add up. 

I have often wondered if at home I should sleep in the tent. Because on treks I sleep a lot more peacefully than at home. Every morning I wake up feeling fresh and ready for the day from the word go. That is hardly ever the case at home. So I wonder .....

Salewa Hiking Boots

My Meindl suddenly crumbled a few months ago. I had bought it off the Kathmandu store in Amsterdam. The sole came off and the mid sole became brittle and became dust. Very unfortunate that it didn't survive more than five years of very light use. Perhaps that was what did it in. Covid kept us home bound for a long time.

After that I started wearing the Timberland more extensively. It had already gone to Mr Mochi once. But after the North Bengal bird festival it gave in completely. The pasting came off once again. I somehow managed to finish the trek but the shoe will obviously have to be retired off. While I will take it to Mr Mochi once again, I cannot depend on it for long hikes on rough roads. It can at best serve as a motorcycle riding boot where long walks will not be involved. The shoes served me well for about eight years and I am very happy with them.

Incidentally I am keeping the Meindls with me for now. In case I go to England or the US I intend to try and get them repaired. They have highly professional repair shops there, which we don't have here. In fact Meindl itself repairs them - one has to send them through the dealer - but it costs 110 pounds or more. I shall see how to deal with it.

I knew I would buy the Salwa but was keeping it pending. But finally after coming home from Lepchakha I pulled the trigger on the Salewa MS MTN Trainer Lite Mid GTX. The colour is called Brown Bungee Cord and the size I chose is 8. I placed the order on 11th March, 2023.

The listed price is Rs 14000. But it would've worked out cheaper by tweleve hundred bucks due to all the cash back schemes. 

Salewa is a German/Italian company that is based in Tirol. Officially the company is Italian but I guess the owners are German. Tirol is in the Italian-German-Austrian border and home to most of the legendary mountain boot manufacturers for more than a hundred years. This area has also produced many legendary mountaineers like Reinhold Messner or Peter Habeler. So mountain and skiing boot makers with any pedigree are all based here. That way Salewa ticks a major box off. Incidentally, designed as they are in Tirol, the boots are manufactured in Vietnam.

The box was delieverd in a day. I had ordered it on a Saturday (I had come backon Friday) and it came home on Sunday. Well packed in the original Salewa box. The first visual imprssion was it looks a tad narrow. I put them on and it fitted just fine. No problem whatsoever. My feet are slightly broad in the front but fit was not a problem for me. I felt a small hump under the bridge/arch of my left foot. Only on the left foot. I will come to that later.

I walked a few steps inside the house on the tiled floor of my flat to check for the basic fit and feel. The sole felt almost sticky. I am hoping the grip would be very good on mountain trails. These are not Vibram soles. They have used soles from a company called Pomoca. This is one of their group companies and perhaps explains why the boot is cheaper. This is my first pair of mountain boots that do not have Vibram soles. Many other companies too do not use Vibram any more, perhaps for their price. 

My Salewa came with Goretex lining though. This is a major requirement for me while buying mountain boots. I think Goretex is worth the price you pay. It makes your boots absolutely water proof (unless of course water sips in throug the top, in which case even a gumboot is not waterproof). Some companies like Columbia have ditched GTX for their inhouse material but I have no experience with them. Not using GTX certainly makes anything significantly cheaper.

On Monday I went for my maiden walk in them. I had a haircut to take and I decided to walk it out and chose the Salewa as my boot. I added it to my gear list on Garmin Connect and made it the default shoe for any recorded walking activity. This means every time I walk with the Garmin on, these shoes will be added to the activity and I can see how many kilometers it has covered. I hope to get at least a couple of thousand kilometers out of them with a good part of that being in the mountains. However, with my current condition of the knees I don't know for how long I will be able to nurture the dreams of walking in the mountains. 

I intend to use these as my main shoes for any walk. Be it in the city, jungles or mountains. That's the best way to keep a pair of boots happy. They are not happy to be kept in shoe racks. This is also true for most things like a car, motorcycle, camera, recorder, computer. Anything that stays idle for a long time develops problems. 

Out on the street I could feel that hump under the bridge of my left foot. I once had plantar fascitiis and this happened. Even the softest and the most comfortable pair of sports shoes were hurting me under the bridge as if the sole had bulged up. So I realised may be my sole is not in best shape after the walks in Lepchakha. But after some time, perhaps less than a kilometer, the hump started to become less pronounced. By the end of the day that feeling was gone. 

I don't know if the shape of the boot adjusted to my feet but it's okay now.

The boots also felt a little warmer than usual. Goretex certainly makes anything warmer. But this particular warmth is perhaps to do with the boots' material and how it is sealed. I am okay with it. Even in Calcutta this was fine for me.

I couldn't feel that grippy stickiness of the sole I felt off the box at home any more on the street. And the boots had no signs of any stiff new boot. It didn't require any breaking in unless that left foot issue was about breaking in. If it is so, then it got broken in within a kilometer. 

The shoes, I must say, are not as comfortable as my Meindls. That sole in my Meindl had a midsole which was quite soft and gave great cushioning. But that is the part that crumbled like dry leaves or cookies and made it unrepairable in India. 

The lace is slightly shorter than I have seen in my other hiking boots. That is not a problem for me though. It's just an observation.

Among other things, the boots have rand around the toes only. Not a full rand. That's fine for me, given that I am not into heavy mountaineering. They also have two loops in the back to hang them, if necessary. They have some technical name that I forget now. I think bootstrap. They have no practical utility except that they give the boots a professional look.

I am hoping  that these boots will serve me for at least a couple of thousand kilometers or more over the next at least 8/10 years. Let me see if they live up to my expectations. I am going to keep a tab. 

Time to retire after eight years

Adventures With The Salewa

May 2023 - Calcutta to Sandakphu driving trip. Combination of self drive (to and from Manebhanjang) and Land Rover taxi. 

Bought a pair of Bata in-soles for Rs 500 before the VoF trek. Improved comfort considerably. 

July 2023 - Valley of Flowers 21st to 26th July, 2023. The boots performed pretty well on wet rocks while going downhill with a 5/6 kg load on back. Not as comfortable as the Meindls but has a good grip. Perhaps better grip than the Meindls. 

At VoF with the Salewas on

October 24 - Annapurna Base Camp - Completed the six day ABC trek in Nepal in these boots. They performed just fine. No problem. The toe nails are intact. They both fell off after VOF.

At MBC 

April 18 to 27 2025 - Goechala Trek

Went wearing these shoes to Goechala in Sikkim. Nice performance, as expected. The trail had lots of mud sections and rocky stretches. Performed flawlessly. Crossed small streams too without a hassle. Cleaned immediately upon arrival back to Calcutta. 

 

Somewhere on the Goechala trail. Possibly Tsokha

August 11 to 17, 2025 Rumtse to Tso Moriri

Very long and tiring trek over rocky and hard terrain. Lots of river and stream crossings too. Every day crossed one or two high passes. The left foot unfortunately developed a small crack just where the rand starts near the little toe. Let me see if Mr Mochi can fix it.

Mr Mochi said it is not repairable by them. I tried stuffing it with rubber glue bought from Padmapukur. But it did not quite work. As of now, 6th September 2025, the plan is to buy another new pair and later see if this pair is repairable. Perhaps abroad.

I should have Nikwaxed it regularly, which I will do now. These boots are excellent otherwise. I never lost any toe nail with them, which I regularly lost after my treks with the other boots like after the Roopkund or Stok Kangri trek.

Sea to Summit Nylon Tarp Poncho

 Sea to Summit has two ponchos. One is the Ultrasil - costing upwards of Rs 9,000. The other is a nylon poncho at 6K plus. While Ultrasil is very light and thin the nylon tarp is thicker. After much research I settled for the cheaper one. My main objective is to have it during trek and take it out during a big shower. Because it covers both the man and the backpack.  

I am afraid I didn't find too many online reviews for it. Almost all the reviews are about its usefulness as a tarp (Americanese for tarpaulin). There is this growing trend among western hikers to ditch the tent and go more minimalistic with just a tarp that you can pitch as a shelter with your walking stick for support etc. or by tying it to two trees with a rope. I don't see myself doing that in the near future. 

I wanted to see comments about its usefulness as a poncho. People say you are likely to sweat a lot in it. More than in the Ultrsil. That is true for all rain protection gear. I have a Colombia rain jacket that makes me sweat. I get so wet that sometimes I wonder if it would've been better to get drenched in rain water than in salty sweat. But that which cannot be cured must be endured.

I am yet to unpack the poncho. It looks barely larger than a cricket ball. It is so well packed that I am afraid I might not be able to pack it back. But I have to do it before my trip because  discovering it in the trail can have catastrophic effect on my comfort. 

Like my S2S Sprint bag this is also going to go on my cycling trips. 

 

Sea to Summit Sprint

 Last evening (30th March, 2025) my latest gear arrived by post. A 20-lit backpack from Sea To Summit. The model name is Sprint. It costs upward of Rs 9000. But I organised a six month EMI scheme with S2S India. I intend to pay for it from my monthly pension. And thanks to them for trusting me in good faith.

The bag is supposed to be water proof and extremely light. It has a roll top closure that requires 4 folds minimum to make it waterproof. I bought it with a view to take on treks where I personally carry only small items that's needed on the trail. Rest I outsource to porters/mules. I have so far been using the larger Deuter backpack for this purpose. This S2S is much lighter and water proof which are two very major plus points. 

But it has a few disadvantages too. It does not have any waist belt and there is no external pockets for water bottles. The model that has these things (and some other features too like a much firmer back panel) costs Rs 26,000. If I was still in service or if the stock market was booming I would probably buy that :-) But let's get on with what I have and not fret over what I don't have.

Last night, in my excitement to try out this new gear immediately, I went out for a short walk. I loaded it with two fat Dalrymple books and a 1 lit water bottle. So the total weight must have been around 3 kilos. It sat very well on the back. It did not bounce against my back as I suspected and I almost did not feel it was there. I was missing the waist belt but that is perhaps a more psychological requirement than anything real.

It has a thin layer of back panel to sit comfortably on the back. I hope it does not soak in and transfer all my sweat from the back. It also has a string on the outside to stuff a jacket or something. They call it compression system. That is you can pull the string tight to make the bag more compact.

My idea for it is to carry my camera, some dry food, a poncho, a towel and a jacket in it on the trail. And of course water bottles. I usually carry two one litre bottles in my Deuter. One of them is filled with electrolytes. In this I wish to carry two 750 ml cycling bidons because their top closure is a lot more dependable to not leak. I might carry another small bidon in the pocket of my shirt (I have carried 1 lit Kinley bottles in them in the past). I have to put these things for real in the bag and go out a few times to see how it performs. Carrying water bottle and camera side by side does not agree in my mind. I might end up carrying a very thin S2S dry bag - purchased in Amsterdam - as a double protection for the camera. 

Ditching the old trusted Deuter for something this small and thin will take a lot of mental strength. But it's a very handy bag that has another advantage over the Deuter. Suppose I am going from Siliguri to Yuksom in a shared jeep. The large Forclaz duffle will go on top of the jeep. If I have the Deuter the jeep conductor will want to put it on the roof too because it's larger and will not be comfortable to carry on my lap in the jeep. The S2S is small and looks very light and handy. No one will ask me to put it up on the roof. Actually I might even put it in the duffle and put everything up on the roof. My only concern is the camera.

The inside of the bag has a waterproof lining and white. That makes looking inside the bag for things rather easy. The seams are entirely sealed. I hope they stay well for a long time. The Lowe Alpine dry bags I had purchased from Trek Kit did not last for too long. Same with my Marmot tent. They flake off. 

The base of the bag is quite thick. It's a 420D material. But the upper part is really thin that makes it extremely light. They say the buckles are field replaceable. That would imply I carry a star key of the right size and a spare buckle. Good luck with that. But at home I can. 

While I will use it in Goechala for sure, I see myself using it as almost a daily back pack. I was thinking of rucking on a regular basis and this bag would be ideal for that. But I do not want to put iron barbel weights. Concentrated weight may not be good for the fabric. I see it as a must take gear for any cycling trip for sure. Light, form fitting on the back and waterproof. But I guess this is targetted at ultra marathoners - it lacks a hydration pack pouch though. But hydration packs require a hole for the pipe to come out. That would compromise the waterproofness of it. 

I will keep updating the other pros and cons of the bag as I go.