My best sample bag split open on a shale slope in the Adirondacks

I was about 200 feet up this steep shale face near Lake Placid, carefully collecting some really nice pyrite nodules. The heavy canvas bag I've used for ten years just ripped along the seam, sending about 15 pounds of rock clattering down the slope. I had to scramble down and pick through the scree for twenty minutes to salvage what I could. Half the pieces were lost or too scratched up to keep. I ended up using my rain jacket as a makeshift sack to haul the rest out. Anyone have a go-to bag brand that can handle sharp, heavy samples without falling apart?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaronlee1mo ago

That shale near Lake Placid is brutal on gear. Did you find any of the pyrite nodules intact after the tumble?

colesanchez1mo ago

Feel your pain, that's the worst. @aaronlee, I've had better luck catching falling rocks than my own dignity on those slopes.