Shaving the handle of your toothbrush, cutting your hair, leaving your watchstraps at home, eliminating a tiny plastic whistle, stripping paint and coatings off items, and dozens more similar things is extreme. These are not made up things. People really do this and they really believe that it has a functional purpose. That blows my mind that any sane person could buy that. I don't see how that can be described as anything other than a game or competition. I've seen those folks say, 'Every little bit helps'. That's true when your talking about making changes that could mean even eliminating a pound or two or three. But all these things added together barely save an ounce, certainly not two or three. You could take two dozen of those 'changes' and they wouldn't even add up to a quarter pound.
So if you are in that crowd, there's nothing wrong with that IF you admit that it's a game and competition to see who can go lightest. If you like playing that game, then fine.
Though most consider me to be an 'extremely experienced' ultralight backpacker, I don't go to the extremes described above. However, I know other ultralight backpackers who do go to those extremes and none of them consider it a "game", "competition", or anything of that nature. This is not to say that some don't have these feelings, but I myself have never had any exposure to those people. The backpacking club that we belong to has many hundreds of members (many ultralight backpackers) and all take their trail time very seriously. No competitions exist here. We have a mentality of "coaching" in the club, not comparing and competing. Those who would desire to compete with me will need several thousands of miles and decades of experience under their backpacking feet and, would find a very disinterested party to begin with. I don't compete and I thank God for every step he allows me to take on the open trail.
To answer one other observation above: Backpacking is about *OUNCES*, not pounds. Once the basic equipment pounds are put into perspective, shaving ounces begins. Any experienced backpacker knows that ounces add up real fast and are happy and quick to turn into pounds. There can be an obsession with the ounces and, if there is not, you will wish you obsessed after just 40 miles down the trail! The long distance trails are LITTERED with EXPENSIVE ounces that folks decided they didn't want to haul another step after all. The item was just not all that necessary to begin with.
We live almost on top of the famous Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Occasionally we will put some of the thru-hikers up for a couple of days of rest and reorganization here on the ranch (this is done everywhere along the major trails). All types will roll in here - traditional to ultralight backpackers. All have been VERY polite, respectful, helpful, thoughtful, interesting, and all have the same desire - to get down the trail in good health and happiness. None really pay attention to what sort of pack the other is carrying, cause it just don't matter!
Ultralight backpacking, in this country, has it roots deeply tied to Ray Jardine (I have exchanged emails and phone calls with Ray often since we both lived in the same town for the express purpose of being close to the major trail). Ray is the author of;
Beyond Backpacking, Ray Jardine's Guide To Lightweight Hiking. It is an enormously popular book with backpackers...traditional or ultralight.
One must read Ray's incredible accomplishments, around the world, to understand the 'why' behind ultralight backpacking
http://www.rayjardine.com/index.shtml. Once one understands the 'why', everything else will fall into place for those seeking to understand.
One other thing; All of the major backpack manufacturers do their best to lighten up their packs as technology evolves. They are looking for a blend of both durability and lighter weight. This will never cease to be their desire. We knew the Kelty family (Kelty packs) and Dick Kelty was always pushing the bar higher with regards to materials and designs. The lighter it was, the happier he was. He knew that the development of lighter weight equipment would bring more wilderness appreciation and exposure to families who were not necessarily 'explorers' by nature or opportunity. Obviously Kelty was very successful with his thinking and business.
Most people don't really know what ultralight or long-distance backpacking is about and, I suspect that has been some of the issues here. All experienced long-distance backpackers can easily do what short-distance backpackers do. The situation is very different when the person who has always hiked short distances now wants to increase his distance significantly. Intense trail training, more careful gear selection, diligent planning, etc., now becomes the focus. No one likes to be hundreds (or even 50) of miles down the trail and decide that they made the wrong choices.
I'm curious; what sort of distances are most of you hiking? Backpacking?
, eat, and enjoy the fire,,,,,and swim, if it is the right place for that.
