Hi Kyley,
Just
got back from an epic trip to Mt Everest Base Camp. In all my years of
hunting, fishing and camping I’ve never experienced such harsh
conditions. Extreme cold, no vegetation, just ice, rock and snow, with
50% less oxygen than at sea level it was a battle just to breathe at
times.
While
we might have struggled at 1800ft, the CKC I carried with me (everyday
for 22days), didn’t even flinch. The awesome blade was beautiful just to
hold and admire. The Sherpa guides were certainly
impressed with this ‘little’ blade even in comparison to their massive
Kukris especially after we cut through enumerable zip ties and after a
few strops on my compound loaded leather belt, the blade popped hairs
again, they had never seen anything like it. Although several of them
pointed out that they had cut off the head of a buffalo with one swipe
of their kukri according to ceremonial tradition, something my blade
couldn’t do…
I
didn’t get to use the knife as much as would have liked to up in the
thin air as all the cooking was done for us, there is no wood for fire
making, just dried yak crap and the national park rules meant I couldn’t
build a survival shelter with it and sleep out in -10, something I was
really looking forward to. But being such a solid blade, it gave me
comfort more than anything just knowing it was always within reach
should any situation arise.
I
used it extensively in my kitchen before leaving and despite the thick
stock it worked very well on all sorts of foods, yes even tomatoes. Even
though designed as a combat blade, I would use it and recommend it to
anyone as a general camp knife as it cut so well, but certainly has the
metal to get more ‘serious’ tasks done, should they need doing. It also
excelled at penetration tests on 5cm thick felt pads which I use as
targets for my compound bow. It got well into the target, almost as deep
as my carbon arrows which penetrate a fraction more, despite coming out
of a 75lb weight compound bow. However I did feel that as
combat blade , the tip could have been a little thicker for prying
tasks, yet with that comes reduced penetration efficiency so it’s a hard
call.
The
handle and sheath system was easy to deploy and use even with three
pairs of gloves on, the handle slabs insulated my hands well enough when
not wearing gloves. The only other major recommendation I though of was
a longer finger guard and perhaps a double guard for further hand
protection in extreme thrust and slash cuts, this was seconded by father
and uncle who both served extensively in Angola and Rhodesia with the
South African Army.
I’ve
included some pics of the knife, including a few of it buried in the
Khumbu Icefall at Everest Base Camp, surrounded by the iconic summit
tents and standing on the ice flow at the foot of Mt Ama Dablam.
I’m
fairly certain it is now officially the highest a CKC has ever been
carried? It was a pleasure to take with me and I’m very sad to part with
it having had it with me for so long in such an extreme place.
Great knife Kyley
Matt - Australia
