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Does anyone like to pack ultralight when going outdoors.
- Thread starter dd61999
- Start date
I think that you have had some bad experiences with the wrong people who were probably just trying to start out doing ultralight, possibly they made their own gear. For someone who calls themself an Ultralight hiker, weight is everything more specifically ounces are everything so if your carrying a knife that is heavier than the backpack and tent combined it might be a little heavy.
As was said before using things for multiple purposes is extermely helpful in getting the weight down. Also using strong but light weight materials is helpful too. I doubt anyone wants to be out there carrying around a canvas tent when a 1.1 ounce Silnylon ripstop one protects from rain just as well.
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I find that I bounce back and forth between minimalist and kitchen sink. It all depends what mood I'm in, the weather and where I'm going. Sometimes I bring a tarp/hammock and somtime I bring a full tent. Same goes with the cooking stuff, I bring either my MSR ti kettle or my new folding wok(its new and I cant wait to stir fry a woodland creature). I do however always bring to many knives(about 2 backups is the norm) plus and axe/saw.
After doing both I don't think that I say I favor one over the other but I'm sure to keep my total weight with food and water under 45lbs. I hiked once witha 55lb pack on 10 hr days and while manageable when I got to camp I was to tired to really sit around and enjoy the reason I was out there, the scenery.
After doing both I don't think that I say I favor one over the other but I'm sure to keep my total weight with food and water under 45lbs. I hiked once witha 55lb pack on 10 hr days and while manageable when I got to camp I was to tired to really sit around and enjoy the reason I was out there, the scenery.
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A couple of good books that I've come across that I use are:
Trail Food: Drying and Cooking Food for Backpackers and Paddlers by Alan S, Kesselheim
Simple Foods for the Pack: More than 200 All-Natural Trail-Tested Recipes by Claudia Axcell, V.K. Kath and Diana Cooke.
Both should get you started.
If you are more of the "practical application" type and need hands on time than look into classes at REI, Sierra Club (Westerners) and of course NOLs. They all offer courses in outdoor cooking as well as feature it in their other outdoor classes.
I find it to be a much tastier and obviously healthier (sodium is a bitch in store bought freeze dried food) option.
Anyways, get those books and experiment.
Rata
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I (we) backpack ultralight. A day hike might or might not include the kitchen sink complete with camera and tripod.
I have been backpacking now for over 45 years. I was doing it when it wasn't even very popular at the time. Yep, I remember the canvas backpacks with heavy external frames, and the "light weight" backpacking tents that weighed 9-pounds. The heavy weight list goes on. We thought we were doing well when our packs weighed less than 40-pounds at the time. Technology has made some wonderful improvements since those days.
Without question, it takes more basic outdoor skills to go ultralight. Too, one has to be more cautious about his gear selection (not too difficult). Last year, we hiked 400 miles of the PCT with packs that never weighed more than 15-pounds. Yes, you do have to count ounces! Our longest trip was over 1200-miles with packs that weighed slightly more (depending on water locations).
I backpack with essentially a family (brothers) medical staff (doc and paramedic). We all agree, there are much less injuries on the trail with ultralight gear (our backpacking club concurs). We comfortably put more miles behind us, see more of nature and the trail since the spine and head relationship is much more vertical, joints and feet are in great shape at the end of the day, we are a "good tired" (not worn out from packing) at days end, etc. Can't count the times that we came to the medical rescue of backpackers on the trail that were over-burdened with heavy weight equipment that contributed to injury. Most of time, that heavy weight equipment wasn't needed, or even used throughout their trip. They carried it "just in case." Well, there are often very good ultralight alternatives to "just in case" if one is willing to do his/her research.
What has always amazed me was, all of the expensive equipment that is found along the first few miles of the PCT, Appalachian Trail, and many of the longer trails that we have backpacked around the globe. These days, there are organizations close to the trail heads that will allow you to donate that unneeded "just in case" equipment, or some will purchase it from you for a humble price for resale. Fortunately, some of these clubs will coach or offer cogent advice to novice hikers who are out to destroy their bodies with weight only a mule should be carrying.
Lessons learned backpacking can greatly help the packer on shorter trips, too. The evolution of equipment and its use is an ongoing activity in both my backpacks and daypacks.
I am sure that Brian and some other folks here who do any kind of climbing/mountaineering will agree with me when I say that lighter means faster... and faster means usually safer. The less time you spend in the line of avalanches, rock falls, comming storms and alike... the more chances you have to come back in one piece.
I have done a lot of summer camping with scout-alike troops and I was usually the one with the heavier pack (and I was very proud of it let me say!). Time has gone by and now I see things in a differente way. If I can go just with a Camelback and some Powerbars... I do.
When you are high up in the mountains there is no need for any kind of fire kits, knives (other than a Spyderco Rescue for rope cutting and openning packages), fishing kits, shelter making things and stuff like that. A space blanket and a few first aid supplies is all you will need. Above the tree line there is nothing to fish, nothing to hunt, nothing to burn and nothing to make a shelter out of (but snow, ice and rocks).
Mikel
I have done a lot of summer camping with scout-alike troops and I was usually the one with the heavier pack (and I was very proud of it let me say!). Time has gone by and now I see things in a differente way. If I can go just with a Camelback and some Powerbars... I do.
When you are high up in the mountains there is no need for any kind of fire kits, knives (other than a Spyderco Rescue for rope cutting and openning packages), fishing kits, shelter making things and stuff like that. A space blanket and a few first aid supplies is all you will need. Above the tree line there is nothing to fish, nothing to hunt, nothing to burn and nothing to make a shelter out of (but snow, ice and rocks).
Mikel
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Yup I hear ya.
Actually back in the day....most of the early lightweight gear came from the European alpine/mountaineering community.
H
Brian Jones
Moderator
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Just breaking in here to throw a personal note out to dd61999:
DD, if you look at your profile, that "sassin' the mods" infraction has been reversed. The moderator who did that was clearly in the wrong.
I asked Spark to do it because I felt strongly, and he agreed, that you definitely did not deserve it.
So, just a heads up, and glad to have you here, mate.
Cheers,
Brian.
DD, if you look at your profile, that "sassin' the mods" infraction has been reversed. The moderator who did that was clearly in the wrong.
I asked Spark to do it because I felt strongly, and he agreed, that you definitely did not deserve it.
So, just a heads up, and glad to have you here, mate.
Cheers,
Brian.
Brian
That is greatly appreciated, I appreciate your help on that. I even had more historical documents regarding that thread but decided not to post it due to the infraction.
Brian Jones
Moderator
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You are very welcome. I'm not the only one on the mod staff who stood up for you. You did absolutely nothing that would even deserve so much as even a warning, and I posted this publicly so there would be no question as to your good reputation and history here. The infraction was simply uncalled-for.
Edit: And nowwwwwwwwwwwww, back to an ultralight adventure near you!
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My summer base weight is 12 pounds-- a couple more for winter with a heavier bag and more insulation. I could get lighter, but it isn't very comfortable and is more expensive.
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I have a question: When yall are saying you pack weighs XXlbs, how long of a trip is this for? Is there a assume length of time that is for?
It would seem to me that some of the differences in the weight discussed in this thread would be easier to compare if weight and duration were known, IMO.
It would seem to me that some of the differences in the weight discussed in this thread would be easier to compare if weight and duration were known, IMO.
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For me, when I say base weight, that is for everything from a 3 day to the PCT. In UL backpacking, generally food and water weight is excluded when talking base weight for that reason. So for me, my base weight is a s low as 7lbs. which I can use for a summer outing in the SW for a month + if I can carry that much food or get re-supplied.
H
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Base weight is everything except consumables: food, water, and fuel. Some folk will mention "skin out weight" which includes what they are wearing, trekking poles, and items in their pockets, as well as their pack. I don't need any more gear for a week long trip than I do for a weekend except for food, fuel. Check the forums at http://www.backpackinglight.com if you really want to see how it works. There is a gear list forum that gives many good examples of gear lists and weights.
My 12 pound base weight turns into 20 pounds with a full load of water, fuel and food for a weekend. I could do an overnight trip in summer weather with half that if I wanted to cut back on some creature comforts.
Many lists are based on "3 season weight" and will cover temperatures that you might find in spring through fall. You can get away with a lot in August and that weight might triple or more for a winter trip. My base weight covers to 32F.
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Great question. The equipment in my (our) ultralight packs never changes. Short trips, long trips, the equipment is always the same. The only thing that does change is the amount or type of food and water carried. On the longer backpacking trips, we make and deposit either caches of food and water along the trail heads, or we simply have it waiting in the next town at the post office. Nice thing about taking advantage of the post offices along the route is, you can change out worn or damaged clothing, equipment, etc., return items back home that you are not using (small as they might be).
Number one, you already have a BIG strike against you if you start off with an empty pack weighing 5 or 6 pounds. For me, that is almost half the weight of my entire loaded pack! My current backpack weighs about 2 pounds empty. With daypacks and short trips, the weight is not that critical. We also canoe camp with canvas packs weighing 40 - 50 pounds a piece loaded. During the short portages, this weight is tolerable. Different equipment, different type of camping from backpacking, different world.
:thumbup: Haha, yeah, not much point in carrying a huge fixed blade or a pile of firekits and fishing instruments to the mountains if there's nothing to chop, burn or fish. In that type of surrounding, a lot of things a normal backpacker might benefit from are just excess weight.
Personally, I consider backpacking separate from mountaineering and such things. Backpacking (I often say just hiking, since it's the same here) to me is, well, putting on the pack and walking out into the wild - but not to climb sheer cliff faces or to canoe. Those things would be different. Also, I don't consider it backpacking to walk by roads or near roads from one town to the next, as many people do. There's that cultural thing again - people over here have different definitions for things than people do elsewhere.
Elen, you are right. I guess we should make a difference between backpacking and climbing/mountaineering.
According to that definitions... I guess that the few times that I did some backpacking was when I went to some summer camps. We usually travelled long distances across forest, crossing streams and stuff like that. Kind of miss it now...
Mikel
According to that definitions... I guess that the few times that I did some backpacking was when I went to some summer camps. We usually travelled long distances across forest, crossing streams and stuff like that. Kind of miss it now...
Mikel
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Two years ago I took a pack that weighed 48 pounds on the trail.
I was out for ten days, no food resupply of course (this is the Canadian bush after all) but plenty of water so I never carried more than 2 liters.
On that pack was an axe. Not very ultralight!
Shelter was a silnylon tarp. Very ultralight!
Pack was probably seven pounds empty. Not very ultralight!
Food was all stuff I dehydrated beforehand, and cooked up on a fire with a single lightweight pot, and ate out of the pot. Ultralight again!
I don't go out and buy stuff that won't last just because it's lighter. I buy good stuff and take little of it (unless I am truck camping with the GF who unsurprisingly likes to bring a lot of comforts.)
I also don't have a problem doing twenty miles a day with my loads. With the 48 pound pack mentioned above, I did three summits in a day, roughly 12 miles horizontally and two vertically (two up two down.)
Took a similar load out to Cape Scott, 20 miles in, twenty miles out, two days total. That pack was more like forty pounds due to less food, but a random quixotic decision to bring only cast iron cooking gear. Weather was all out howling gale the whole way, and all wood up there is permanently soaked from the constant severe weather. Fire tools like an axe were mandatory.
Am I an ultralight hiker? Not at all. Do I take lighter loads than most? Often. Heavier loads? Sometimes. Do I cover ground like an ultralighter? Pretty near. Am I prepared for severe conditions and bush emergencies? Totally. Is my habit of posing rhetorical questions and then immediately answering them annoying? Probably.
I like some aspects of ultralight camping, but if I was looking to shave a few grams off my load I would start with myself. I am plenty big enough and strong enough to haul around a forty to sixty pound pack at a fast walking pace, as Elen says - over most ground. It's alsotrue, though, that I live in the Coast Mountain Range, one of the steepest in the world, and I do get my pack lighter for climbing. Just not at the expense of safety or durability.
I was out for ten days, no food resupply of course (this is the Canadian bush after all) but plenty of water so I never carried more than 2 liters.
On that pack was an axe. Not very ultralight!
Shelter was a silnylon tarp. Very ultralight!
Pack was probably seven pounds empty. Not very ultralight!
Food was all stuff I dehydrated beforehand, and cooked up on a fire with a single lightweight pot, and ate out of the pot. Ultralight again!
I don't go out and buy stuff that won't last just because it's lighter. I buy good stuff and take little of it (unless I am truck camping with the GF who unsurprisingly likes to bring a lot of comforts.)
I also don't have a problem doing twenty miles a day with my loads. With the 48 pound pack mentioned above, I did three summits in a day, roughly 12 miles horizontally and two vertically (two up two down.)
Took a similar load out to Cape Scott, 20 miles in, twenty miles out, two days total. That pack was more like forty pounds due to less food, but a random quixotic decision to bring only cast iron cooking gear. Weather was all out howling gale the whole way, and all wood up there is permanently soaked from the constant severe weather. Fire tools like an axe were mandatory.
Am I an ultralight hiker? Not at all. Do I take lighter loads than most? Often. Heavier loads? Sometimes. Do I cover ground like an ultralighter? Pretty near. Am I prepared for severe conditions and bush emergencies? Totally. Is my habit of posing rhetorical questions and then immediately answering them annoying? Probably.
I like some aspects of ultralight camping, but if I was looking to shave a few grams off my load I would start with myself. I am plenty big enough and strong enough to haul around a forty to sixty pound pack at a fast walking pace, as Elen says - over most ground. It's alsotrue, though, that I live in the Coast Mountain Range, one of the steepest in the world, and I do get my pack lighter for climbing. Just not at the expense of safety or durability.