All the Gear a Guy Could Want

Feel free to use my house for overflow storage, I won't charge you a dime ;)

For quite a while I worked to tailor each trip perfectly. I had no where near Ryan's collection, but maybe approached Doug's. I slaved tireless over a multi-parameter spreadsheet. I was forever tweaking the spreadsheet based on what I learned on previous trips. "Ah, this bag + those clothing are good down to temp X so I could leave Y behind." Etc. I would enter expected conditions and it would tell me what to take. Unlikely Ryan… my job has nothing to do with the outdoors… so this fascination was taking away from my vocation.

After several years, I decided that managing all that stuff was taking too much of my energy and my money. I decided it would be OK to carry a light load rather than the absolute lightest load I would be happy with. I decided I wouldn't spend any "new money". Any new things had to be paid for by selling "old stuff" enforced by only buying gear using my paypal credit card that got refilled by my ebay selling. I started doing with my gear collection what I do with my packing list. I started asking "Have I used this in the last appropriate season? If the answer was no, then it was sold on ebay or here in the swap forum. I now do this quarterly. The slight exception is that I maintain a complete "loaner kit" to help introduce friends to a light weight approach.

I struggle taking the minimalist too far as well. I found myself searching for the one perfect X which would work in every condition and situation. For example, I have a Ghost quilt and a WM Versalite. Could I sell both and get the perfect quilt that would be adequate for all 4 seasons. And then I realized I was back to obsessing about gear rather than getting out and enjoying the wonders of the world. I know that I don't have this completely licked… For example, I still feel the drawn to replace my three most commonly used shelters with a MLD DuoMid + inner nest. So far though, I have been able to remember I have much to be thankful for life, to be content with a delightful kit, and to rejoice in the time I spent on the trail.

So now it's easy for me to take those opportunistic trips. I can be out the door in minutes if I learn that I am free for the next period of time.. be it 24 hours, or a week.

–mark

Mark
1000% agree with your comments, taking the same approach on this end as well. My favorite items are the ones that see 4 season use. I as well cannot justify buying somthing new for the sole purpose of it taking 2 oz's off my back. I would rather go for a run and get in better shape to carry what I do have.

FYI, I was starting to feel bad about my tiny gear closet so you guys just made my day!!!!

I might find myself in a similar position, thanks to my gearophilia, but I am forced to keep my gear collection pared down to a minimum — all my permanent belongings including current gear must be transportable by international airplane flight without incurring extra baggage costs.

I have cycled through a lot of different gear, sometimes helping people overseas buy it and thus getting to see a lot of designs. But I must limit myself to just 3 shelters, a few UL backpacks, 2 bags, 3 stoves, etc. that must suffice not only for myself, but for my wife and I as well. This has made me think carefully about which gear is the most versatile and practical. Thanks to the gear forum and eBay, one can try new solutions at relatively low cost (if you sell them back later).

IMO those garages and storage units are just crying out for a garage sale :)

I certainly don't obsess about my polo shirts for work, my tee shirts, or my work slacks. LLBean and Lands End have been reliable sources for the last THIRTY SEVEN years. So I'm not obsessive compulsive.

Except I am about hiking gear.

But I'm not sure whether my obsession is due to me making poor choices, due to technological improvements, manufacturer/designer flaws, due to an evolving market, or due to different ultralight niches.

Examples:

1. Poor choices: not knowing how to layer properly and what layers are ideal. Not knowing how important zippers are vs. how important saving weight is. Thus I have some layers that are too thick and too hot, some that are too thin and too cool, some that are just right but don't have a zipper for fine tuning, some that are just right for heat regulation but DO have a zipper when I don't want one in that particular set-up/combination. Fortunately I can wear the trail cast-offs as casual wear.

2. Technological improvements. Capilene to odor resistant Capilene to wool. Some improvements aren't really improvements, like Patagonia's obsessive changes to the fabric panels on their baselayer. Do we really need different fabric textures on different parts of our upper body?

3. Manufacturer/designer flaws. The biggest was years of short shirt tails from Patagonia, forcing me to buy one size larger so they wouldn't pop out of my pants, until finally they made the base layer shirt tails long enough. Also, light wind jackets with extra long "cylist" style rear tails, making them goofy for casual wear. The soft-shell craze in general.

4. Evolving market. Let's face it, a lot of us have a lot of ultra-light gear because it is a new niche and manufacturers and users are feeling their way into what works and what doesn't.

5. Ultralight niches. Divide weather into 30 degree niches and you will probably pack different kits for each temperature range. It isn't as simple as just summer and winter. Factor in likelihood of wind (and its chill); allow for rain while hiking vs. rain at camp; sun; camping without a tent; with a tarp; in a tent-cabin (High Sierra camps). There are a lot of factors and while everything may fit in a 30 liter pack, it requires careful forethought to choose the right items. To a bystander the items we choose may look remarkably similar, but to us we know how each item works together and whether the situation we anticipate is the one we bought it for, or not.

So my sympathy to those with big inventories that get whittled down to 30 liter bags.

And one tip: it's impossible to remember what you have. Make a master list on the computer by reasonable categories and use key words so you can use a simple word processing search function to find stuff. Otherwise, like me, you may spend more time sorting out the stuff you need – and still miss some items – than the drive to your trail head.

I love all of this light gear and it is as much fun for me to fiddle around at home with it as it is to go out and use it.

I'm 63 years old and told myself years ago that I had to go lighter in order to keep going out at all and the new technology has made that possible in spades!

But one question that comes to me as I'm standing out in the wilderness is what would my camp look like if there were no petroleum based products in it. At least the barest minimum of them. Like trade in my polypro stuff for wool, use a wood burner or no stove at all?? Down is not petro, but mostly everything else is.

I guess if you ride in on horse it would not be a problem.

How much of all of our gear could evolve into non-petroleum based????? Would it be too heavy or not??

I could never hold down that much gear. I have to make a lot of gear decisions based on reviews since I really don't have too much extra room for unused/ "tinkering" gear. The whole single guy in the Army thing puts a hurt on me for space.

Out of curiosity wasn't this "Ultralight Economies of Scale" run as a featured article? (http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/ul_economies_scale.html)

Kinda interesting to see the highbrow vs lowbrow ultralight gear fanatics go at it, makes for some fireworks at times.

~Peace

Many of the synthetics are now being made from, or partialy made from, recycled products which is a good thing. You can hold your head high knowing you are doing your part.

I live in a small house – 750 square feet – so my limitation of storage space demands that I make my purchases with a lot of forethought. I spend time looking for things that will each serve several purposes. I guess that's in keeping with the lightweight philosophy. My space is devoted to music, books/movies, and the outdoors: my piano and harpsichord, my DVDs/CDs, books and my outdoor gear (backpacking, xc skis, and a mountain bike). Feeding my soul is more important to me than keeping up with the Joneses or trying to see how much stuff I can accumulate.

Just my own personal philosophy.

Thank you, Tom – you, too! :)

When I moved I was confronted with a blend of gearfrom 28 years of outdoor hobbies, military equipment, outdoor education and Scout leading.

The Scout gear went to the troop, gave away a few things, and yes even tossed a few things. The system I have now is putting all equipment into a series of covered Home Depot buckets.

Bucket 1- Has everything for a trailhead camp in 3 season weather supported by my Subaru including spares and repair tools including fuel

Bucket 2-Has everything less food, water, and sleeping bag for backpacking that will be transfered from the bucket into my pack.

On most trips I throw both buckets in the back, select a sleeping bag and a pad, pack some food and a small cooler and steer the Subaru to the trailhead.

When I get back to the car, the two empty buckets filled with nearby stream or lake water hopefully near where I parked make a serviceable dump shower before getting into the car.