What I found to be the single most effective item I used during the 156 mile trek was my INKnBURN 'RocknRoll' buff. Made from a lightweight tech fabric with elastic properties, this simple tube was everything I needed to make it through the black sand beaches, the sea-spraying lava fields, the dusty tundra plains and the bitterly cold glacier lake areas. In fact, it also served as an eye mask for the 20 hour sunlit days and managed to filter some of the stench we competitors increasingly emitted as the days wore on.
The beauty of the buff is that it served several functions that could supplant the need for more numerous and heavier gear. By leaving it around my neck, it also was available for rapid deployment as weather patterns changed without warning. In Iceland, you could be getting a sun-burned neck with temperature of only 34 degrees, and five minutes later be wind-burned and frost-bitten on both cheeks and your forehead.
In all, I am very happy to report that the buff will be the first item I pack for the Atacama Pass in October 2014. I am beyond pleased with how well mine worked and stayed serviceable, even as my waterproof pants ripped from wind gales and shoes dissolved from the pounding sand, sea spray and sharp rocks. My buff is still in perfect condition, and will hopefully be the single item that makes it through all 4 of the desert races in Chile, China, Egypt and Antarctica. We shall certainly see.
