How Many People Can You Outfit?

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I figured I can easily outfit THREE people with everything they need for summer backpacking including packs, tents, sleeping bags, mattresses, water filtration/purification, stoves, cook sets, fuel & containers.

How many of you guys can do the same for exactly the same equipment?

(No, I'm not bragging, just confessing.)

[Mike Barney]

Depends who's reading this thread.
If my dear, sweet wonderful wife is watching, it's 2.5.

If not, it's 5+…
Do I have too much stuff?

[David Noll]

Probably 6 if they go in pairs.

[Adam Rothermich]

Only two at the moment. But I'm working on it. I just need one more quilt/sleeping bag to make it three :P

Adam

[Dondo .]

I'm embarrassed to say. Looks like it's time to haul another load to my local Boy Scout troop.

[Diana R]

I could outfit 3 (including me) if they shared shelters and cooking gear. If you include the gear I've bought my mom that she keeps at her house, it would bump up to 4.

I do use all my gear, though. I just have fine-tuned my system for each season. Some of the stuff I'd lend out might not be the lightest for that season (ie Exped DAM 9 in summer). I couldn't outfit more than myself and one other person per season.

[Michael Crosby]

I will admit to 4, perhaps more if I was to gather all my stuff in one place. I have a summer setup, a winter setup and a very cold setup just for me and my wife that is not included in my estimate.
Is that bad?

[Phil Barton]

In various styles, I can easily handle 7.

[EndoftheTrail]

I'm a gear head, yes, but also a minimalist who hate clutter. I have basically two sets of gear — one light weight for leisurely hikes and one UL for tougher hikes. I'll buy only to replace. Thank heavens for Ebay.

[Lynn Tramper]

It really depends a lot…for instance, if everyone was like me and happy sleeping on torso-sized close cell foam mats, did not treat water, and was willing to at least double up for sleeping/tenting and cooking, then possibly 7 (the limitation being the sleeping bags/quilts). If they're gonna be picky campers, then probably 2 max. To be fair though, half of the gear we own belongs to my better half.

[Joseph Williams]

presently 2 in summer, one in winter. That's less than in previous times, but a low paid job and no access to credit has meant the sale of all gear not presently in use, and a pretty strict 'one in, one out' policy about buying and selling major items. For this, on the whole, I'm thankful.

[Elliott Wolin]

I've been collecting stuff since 1972, and I don't think I've ever thrown anything out. I guess about 12 people, perhaps more (packs, sleeping bags, tents, stoves, pots, flashlights, etc). A lot of my stuff is heavy by today's standards so I only use it for car camping.

Later…did an inventory…make that 15 people, more for certain items, I may be one or two short on pads, though.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Elliot,
FIFTEEN outfits! You DA MAN! I bow before your gear hoard. Bet there's a Svea 123 stove in there too. Maybe a Kelty or Camp Trails frame pack? Or both?

Congrats! You get the BPL Lifetime Achievement Award in the category of GEAR.

Eric
"He who wears out the most gear wins."

[Elliott Wolin]

Ah, my old heavy stuff, much of it from my climbing days in Washington. I don't list all the new lightweight stuff I've purchased over the past years to replace the heavy stuff, and also to outfit our three kids:

Stoves: Svea (my favorite!), an Optimus 8R, 111B, and a OO kerosene, also a Primus, and an MSR XGK. Oh yes, a Coleman as well.

External frame packs: Two REI and a very nice Alpine Designs.

Bags: Two REI 5 3/4 lb winter bags, two REI 3 1/2 lb 3-season sewn-through duck-down (yes, sewn-through). Some Kelty too.

Pads: Many Thermarest, a black Ensolite, and some blue foam. Also some really thick, heavy, and comfortable ones, I forget the brand names. I recall now that the white Ensolite dried out and I actually threw them out.

Internal frame: Wilderness Experience, a few Lowe, a Jansport, a North Face, and a Gregory Snow Creek. Also, a heavy Millet rucksack, and an REI as well. And many, many day packs.

Tents: REI double A-frame, Sierra Designs Dome, Eureka 5-person, Kelty 4-person.

Sadly, the list goes on and on…

[EndoftheTrail]

Heaven forbid, but should disaster strike and FEMA runs out, we now know where to go. Thanks in advance, Elliot! :)

[P. P.]

Besides us, we could outfit 6 comfortably, including pads, packs, sleeping bags, tents, water treatment, stoves, cookware, etc.
Uncomfortably, we could outfit 11.
And, since we do this on a regular basis, I have no shame in hanging on to all this gear. :-)

[Denis Hazlewood]

Mattresses limit it to 4
Cook sets make it 6
Backpacks make it 7
Tents make it 7 (9 if you count bivies)
Sleeping bags make it 9
Stoves make at least 15 (I got tired of counting)

Can you tell I'm single?

P.S. Just read Elliott's post. I'm only a poor excuse for an outfitter.

[P. P.]

Oh Yeah! I forgot hammocks. 2 more!

[Mark Verber]

Using "my gear", I can equip two people on a three season trip. A guest would use a combination of winter items, items which I take on group trips rather than solo trips. There are also a few items I haven't ebayed because it's been really handy to be able to equip friends who are new to backpacking with loaner gear.

Using all of our 3 person's family gear (assuming some sharing of shelters), my family can equip 3 adults and two kids.

Guest would get: Osprey Ather 60 (loaner), tarptent squall2 (loaner), wm versalite (winter), foam pad (winter), aqua mira (extra), snowpeak gigi power stove (group), evenew 1.3l pot (group)

My gear: Granite Gear Vapor Trail, spinnshelter (solo) or tarptent double rainbow (if sharing with someone, down quilt, BA insulated aircore, aqua mira, ion alcohol stove, evernew .9l pot

[Kyle Hetzer]

Too many. Ahhh, if I had to choose, probly 3-5 people depending on shared gear, like cooking systems and shelters.

[Tom Clark]

2-3 people. Of course that is only because I have gear for my kids to use when we go backpacking (I sure hope they grow into it soon).

Maybe I should get that Miniposa I've had my eye on for my 9 yr. old daughter.

[Philip Werner]

Probably 4 at this point. It looks like this is an epidemic. Someone call the CDC.

[Donald Browning]

I feel so much better. I thought I alone was the Emelda Marcos of the camping world, and I frequently put 50% up for sale and then re-accumulate.
Don

[Matthew Swierkowski]

I'd say about 3. I was all excited thinking I was one of the bigger pack rats of gear, but after reading Elliott's post I feel inferior.

Eric wrote "I bow before your gear hoard."

Man Eric, that has got to be one of the funniest replies I have read in a while. I hope there is not a copy write on that quote cause I'd like to use it sometime.

[David Harwood]

I went into a small camping gear shop in Sonora, CA a few years back and saw I had more Dana packs hanging in my storage shed than they had in their store. I immediately sought help. Between not throwing anything out and Ebay, I could probably oufit the Danish army, well not quite. Fortunately over the years I have lent out a lot of gear of which a fair quantity does not get returned. After reading the postings, I am headed over to my local Pathfinders club and donating as much stuff as I can part with or at least enough so I can stop renting the storage shed at $100 a month. Hey more $$ for gear!

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