Articles (2020)

As part of our traditional coverage of summer Outdoor Retailer, I would like to summarize our current favorites and discuss some expected changes and new introductions in the backpack category. We currently have lots of excellent choices for built-in internal frame backpacks, convertible packs with a removable frame, and ultralight frameless backpacks. Nevertheless, we always look forward to new products entering the market and upgrades to current models, and we especially enjoy comparing them to our present favorites. For us gearheads, it’s always fun to find out what’s new and cutting edge.

Many larger companies, which are well represented at OR, have a lightweight product line that we focus on at OR, and many new technologies are announced at OR. So we are always there to report on the cutting edge of technology. However, our coverage is not limited to the Outdoor Retailer trade show, because many new lightweight and (especially) ultralight products of interest to us come from small companies who typically are not present at OR. We want our coverage to include some of these products as well.

Built-In Internal Frame Backpacks

This category has a built-in internal frame that the rest of the pack is designed around, and the frame is not removable. A backpack of this type with a volume in the fifty- to sixty-five-liter range is very popular for lightweight backpacking, carrying a total weight of twenty-five to thirty-five pounds. Our weight limit in this category is three and a half pounds. These packs are generally better padded, sturdier, and capable of carrying a heavier load more comfortably.

My current favorites are:

• Granite Gear Vapor Trail (59 L, 37 oz, US$160)
• ULA Equipment Catalyst (75 L, 43 oz, US$225)
• REI Cruise UL 60 (60 L, 50 oz, US$130)
• GoLite Quest (72 L, 51 oz, US$175)
• Gregory Z-55 (55 L, 53 oz, US$199)
• Granite Gear Nimbus Meridian (60 L, 56 oz, US$250)

Please note that total pack volume can be very misleading, because it doesn’t indicate how much of the volume is contained in outside pockets versus the main compartment. The actual pack size/volume can be significantly larger or smaller than expected. I strongly recommend comparing packs in detail before making a purchase. Factors that contribute to weight – but also to comfort – are adjustability and padding. The Granite Gear Nimbus Meridian is the heaviest pack on our favorites list, but it is also the most adjustable and arguably the most comfortable.

Osprey Re-enters the Lightweight Pack Category

A new addition to this category, and one sure to hit our favorites list, is the new Osprey Exos 58 (38.5 ounces, US$199) which will be available in spring 2009. The popular Osprey Aether and Atmos packs have been previous favorites, but their weight increased with each upgrade to push them beyond our weight limit. We are pleased to have Osprey back in the lightweight backpack category with their new Exos pack.

The Exos is a top loader with a full feature set that includes nine pockets, air suspension backpanel, and a “Stow on the Go” trekking pole carrying system. The contoured tubular frame is made of 6061-T6 aluminum for strength and light weight. Weight reduction on the Exos is achieved by using lightweight durable fabrics, mesh pockets, die-cut Biostretch EVA foam in the suspension system, and lightweight straps and connectors. The new AirSpeed backpanel is a trampoline type, but the air gap is reduced from previous versions to reduce its interference with pack volume and put the center of gravity closer to the user.

I have been testing the Exos 58 for a couple of months and have found it fully capable of comfortably carrying loads between twenty-five and thirty-five pounds. With a large main compartment and nine spacious pockets, I found the Exos 58 overly spacious for my gear kit most of the time, so I advise readers to take a good look at the Exos 46 (30 ounces). It may seem to be too small, but it is in fact a very roomy pack for a weekend trip or longer when using lightweight gear. It’s important to purchase a backpack that is properly sized for the volume of gear that will be carried. Most backpacks carry better when they are fully expanded, but not overstuffed. The smallest pack in the new Exos series is thirty-four liters (28 ounces).

Lightwave Introduces a (Nearly) Waterproof Backpack

Although not available in the United States, another internal frame backpack of interest is the new Lightwave Wildtrek (60 liter men’s/55 liter women’s, about 2.3 pounds), available now throughout Europe. Although they are traditional top-loading designs, the distinctive feature of these packs (besides their light weight) is they have welded and taped seams that make the packs mostly waterproof. The backpanel seams are not seam taped, but they are protected to a large extent. The packs have an internal M-frame made of 7001-T6 aluminum.

Gregory Further Expands Their Popular Z-Pack Series

Gregory will be introducing the men’s Z-65/women’s Jade 60 (65/60 liters, sub-4 pounds, US$229) in spring 2009 to provide a larger version of their popular Z-Packs. These packs feature Gregory’s Jet Stream suspension technology, top loading and frontpanel access, and six pockets for convenient access to gear. In addition to these larger Z-Packs, Gregory is also introducing the Z-35/Jade 35 and Z-25/Jade 25.

Updated North Face Skareb Backpacks are Better than Ever

The North Face will have twenty-one new or updated backpacks for spring 2009, and we obviously can’t cover all of them. Lightweight standouts are the Skareb 65 and 50. The name remains the same, but the packs will receive a complete makeover for spring 2009, which will consist of new lightweight durable fabrics, improved X-Radial frame (that weighs only 2.5 ounces!), a fast opening top access, outside access, improved molded EVA padded backpanel and lumbar zones, stretch nylon side pockets, large stretch-woven front pocket, and a lightweight but comfortable suspension system. The wide hipbelt has a pocket on one side and accessory attachment loops on the other. There is even a loop on the left shoulder strap to conveniently carry a water bottle adventure racer style. The Skareb 65 (65 liters, about 54 ounces, US$249) and Skareb 50 (50 liters, 48 ounces, US$219) are cutting edge internal frame backpacks that pack a lot of features and comfort into their sub-3.5-pound weights.

Backpacks with a Removable Frame

These packs are very versatile because they can be used as either an internal frame backpack or frameless pack. The stays or framesheet slip into a sleeve on the backpanel and are easily inserted or removed. I put these packs into a separate category so as to compare apples with apples. These packs are also popular with many lightweight backpackers because they provide the capacity to carry a twenty-five- to thirty-five-pound load when needed. However, they are arguably more comfortable for loads in the twenty- to thirty-pound range. The lightest pack in this category (by Gossamer Gear) is an ultralight frameless pack when the stays are removed.

My current favorites are:

Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus (60 L, 19.3 oz, US$155)
Six Moon Designs Comet (60 L, 29 oz, US$160)
Six Moon Designs Starlite (67 L, 30 oz, US$165)

The weights include the stays. The Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus is made of durable 2.2 oz/yd² coated rip-stop nylon and has straight carbon fiber stays that are not bendable. It replaces the current Mariposa and Miniposa packs (made of silnylon) that are being discontinued. The Six Moon Designs Comet and Starlite differ in volume and design, are constructed of durable 210 denier Dyneema Gridstop, have half-inch wide aluminum stays that can be bent to match the curvature of the user’s back, and are available with different hipbelt sizes and styles (with or without hipbelt pockets).

REI’s New Flash Ultralight Backpacks are Spot On

REI’s in-house gear and apparel development program continues to crank out new well designed, durable products with a great feature set and value pricing. Their new Flash backpack series for spring 2009 will replace their Ultralight series, and includes the Flash 65 (65 liters, 50 ounces, US$149) and Flash 50 (50 liters, 42 ounces, US$129). Their HDPE framesheet and top lid are removable to yield a frameless pack that weighs two pounds or less. These packs feature a wrap-around front kangaroo pocket with its own front zippered compartment, water-resistant zippers, mesh side pockets (four overlapping side pockets on the Flash 65, two on the Flash 50), and a large top lid. The suspension system is well padded and comfortable without being too weighty. The Flash packs have a fixed torso length, so getting a good fit means choosing the correct pack size. Both packs are available in men’s and women’s small, medium, and large.

Six Moon Designs Introduces a Travel Pack

The new Six Moon Designs Traveler (62 liters, 31 ounces, US$180), available now, addresses the needs of backpackers who use public transportation to get to their destination. It’s a panel-loader with a zippered top pocket and zippered front mesh pocket. The other features are basically the same as the Comet (adjustable torso length, hipbelt sizes with optional pockets, one tall mesh pocket on the left side and two mesh pockets on the right side front compression straps).

Although the Traveler has design features to help it survive public transportation abuse, I don’t think I would ship a backpack with gear stuffed into mesh side pockets. I have had much better luck with wrapping my pack in plastic or placing it in a duffle bag to keep it clean and unscathed. Actually, the Traveler is a wonderful design for normal backpacking without using public transportation. Its design borrows a bit from the revised SMD Essence pack, which really works well for comfort and convenience, especially when the pack is fully expanded.

The Super Scrambler from Mountain Hardwear

For spring 2009, Mountain Hardwear will be introducing a larger version of their popular Scrambler backpack, called the Super Scrambler (51 liters, 35 ounces, US$130). Size large bumps the volume up to fifty-six liters and fits torsos longer than 18.5 inches. This pack has a unique corrugated thermofoam framesheet that can be removed, along with a foam back pad and the top cap, allowing the pack to be used as a conventional frameless backpack with top compression strap. Inside there is a large internal sleeve that allows the use of a sleeping pad for additional backpanel cushioning/support.

Frameless Backpacks

These backpacks, as the name implies, have no frame at all. For back padding and to stiffen the pack, it’s standard practice to create a “virtual frame” by placing a closed cell foam pad against the backpanel or coiling it in the main compartment.

My current favorites are:

Mountain Laurel Designs Prophet (2750 cubic inches/45 L, 5.9 oz, US$130)
Six Moon Designs Essence (3100 cubic inches/51 L, 13 oz, US$120
GoLite Jam2 (3100 cubic inches/51 L, 21 oz, US$100)
GoLite Pinnacle (4400 cubic inches/72 L, 25 oz, US$130)

Pack weights vary because of fabrics, features, and size, and do not include accessories, such as a hipbelt and sternum strap. I included the GoLite Pinnacle because it really shines for carrying high volume/moderate weight loads, such as winter backpacking where a bulkier sleeping bag and more insulated clothing are needed.

Gossamer Gear Murmur Replaces the Whisper

Gossamer Gear’s popular Whisper Uberlight pack is being replaced by the Murmur Hyperlight pack (1700 cubic inches/28 liters, 7.5 ounces, US$90). The Murmer is constructed of 1.1 ounce/yd2 spinnaker fabric and has 300 cubic inches less volume than the Whisper. It also gains some features and more than doubles in weight (from 3.5 ounces to a whopping 7.5 ounces!). The additional weight comes from the addition of a waist strap, sternum strap, and two side pockets. The Murmur has a total of three outside pockets – one front mesh pocket and two side spinnaker pockets – while the Whisper only has one front spinnaker pocket. Overall, the Murmur has a feature set that most hikers prefer, and provides more utility in a pack that is still outrageously light. For gram cutters, the waist belt and sternum strap are removable.

GoLite Upgrades the Jam2 and Pinnacle for Spring 2009

More evolution will be taking place in the GoLite line of backpacks. After introducing a completely new backpack line a couple of years ago, the Jam2 and Pinnacle will receive an upgrade and the weights will go up a bit (there appears to be a trend here). The new packs will have a conventional zipper and storm flap on the large front pocket (which is how it was on the original Jam and Gust), spacer-mesh padded backpanel, shoulder straps, hipbelt wings, and larger stretch-woven hipbelt pockets and side pockets. The side compression straps will (finally) mate across the front of the pack to stabilize the load or attach larger items to the front of the pack. And the ComPACKtor system for reducing pack volume has been improved. By now, you are probably wondering what the damages (in weight) are; according to GoLite, a large Pinnacle will gain eight ounces and a large Jam2 will gain two ounces. That’s not too bad, considering the gains in comfort and utility.

Mountain Laurel Designs Replaces the Zip Pack with the Exodus and Arc

The durable Mountain Laurel Designs Zip pack has been replaced by two similar packs that differ in size: the Exodus (3200 cubic inches/52 liters, 11.3 ounces, US$160) and Arc (4200 cubic inches/69 liters, 14.2 ounces, US$170). These packs are constructed of more durable 40 denier silnylon with 210 denier Spectra Gridstop on the backpanel and bottom. Features include three outside mesh pockets, compression straps, top strap, hipbelt, and sternum strap. The main difference between the two packs is their volume, although the larger Arc has wider shoulder straps and hipbelt wings.

Terra Nova Expands Into Backpacks

Terra Nova is well known in the UK for their extremely light double wall tents. Starting in 2009, their products will be available in the U.S. through selected dealers and eventually a distribution center. In spring 2009, Terra Nova will be introducing a new line of ultralight frameless backpacks that are designed for adventure racers and fastpackers. The largest of the series is the Laser 35 (35 liters, 17 ounces, US$100), which is a panel-loading pack made of lightweight fabrics derived from their tent designs, and spacer-mesh padded suspension system. The pack has wide side pockets and a closed-cell foam backpanel that is removable.

Assessment and Trends

The weight of lightweight fixed internal frame backpacks is steadily declining while their feature set is steadily improving. The Osprey Exos 58 and 46 are standouts for weight reduction while providing plenty of volume, features, and comfort. Every component of the pack has been fine tuned to provide function with minimal weight, and it adds up to a substantial weight savings. A year ago, our lightest internal frame backpacks weighed just over three pounds; the Osprey Exos beats that by nearly a pound.

Backpacks with a removable frame continue to be a viable category, and the selection is expanding. This is perhaps the most versatile type of backpack. While they won’t carry heavier loads as comfortably as the fixed internal frame backpacks, they easily handle moderate lightweight loads or weekend loads. The packs in this category are diverse, and the final choice depends on the volume and weight of your gear kit and trip lengths. While slightly heavier, the new REI Flash backpacks should not be ignored. They have a wonderful feature set, are more versatile than the Exos because of their removable components, and they are an outstanding value. However the Flash packs are about a pound heavier than the Six Moon Designs packs, and almost two pounds heavier than the Gossamer Gear Mariposa. The Flash packs should be considered for purchase alongside the Osprey Exos packs (and other favorites in that category), rather than the SMD and Gossamer Gear packs.

Many of our readers have a gear kit so light that they will only consider a smaller frameless backpack. The trend in this category seems to be toward more durable fabrics, which adds only an ounce or two to the weight of a pack and extends its lifespan considerably. Removable components are also common, so a hiker can customize the pack to the conditions on each trip.

Many tents are touted to be “lightweight” and we even see the word “ultralight” in the name of a tent. There is a lot of misleading information out there, and a lot of heavier shelters (by our standards) are being hyped as “lightweight,” and they win awards from other magazines. So, do you buy it? A five+ pound three-season two-person tent is not ultralight or even lightweight; it’s not even close. There are literally hundreds of shelters on the market, but only a small fraction of them are truly lightweight and well suited for lightweight backpacking. Our interest is in that select few.

To define our standards, I would like to share with you our current weight limits for what we consider to be a lightweight tent:

Double-Wall Tent (Three-Season)

Single-Wall Tent with Floor (Three-Season)

Floorless Shelters

As you can see, a tent has to be very light to meet our standards. The weights above are for a complete tent, including stakes. Many manufacturers specify a “minimum weight” or “trail weight,” but it is not clear what’s included, and it usually omits stakes. The weights listed in this roundup are total weights or “packaged weights,” which include all components. In our reviews, we define our “minimum trail weight” as the weight of a complete tent (with stakes, but minus stuff sacks and other accessories) so we can compare tents on the same basis.

Many larger companies, which are well represented at Outdoor Retailer, have a lightweight product line that we focus on at OR, and many new technologies are announced at OR. So, we are always there to report on the cutting edge of technology. However, our roundups are not limited to the Outdoor Retailer trade show, because many new lightweight and (especially) ultralight products of interest come from small companies who typically are not present at OR.

New Double-Wall Tents

I have some exciting new tents to report on in this category. For a long time, manufacturers were lightening their tents a little and calling them “lightweight” or “ultralight.” Now, they are getting serious, and tents really are getting light. The number of sub-four-pound two-person tents is increasing, and a few are approaching the weight of a single-wall tent.

Terra Nova’s Laser Photon is Claimed to be the Lightest Double-Wall Tent in the World

Europeans prefer double-wall tents, and it seems they have evolved the double-wall tent to extremes. Good! At the extreme lightweight end is the new Terra Nova Laser Photon (1 pound, 12 ounces, US$500), which is claimed to be the lightest double-wall solo tent in the world. The Photon is a “fly first” design, meaning the pole inserts into a sleeve on the fly and the tent body clips to that. The tent can be left assembled and erected as a unit. The new Laser Photon is one step lighter than the Laser Competition, due to the development of stakes weighing just one gram and new lighter weight fabrics. The weight of the Photon will drop to twenty-four ounces in 2009 by incorporating new materials and making the tent slightly smaller.

The Photon is long enough for a person taller than six feet, but headroom diminishes a lot at the ends. Fortunately, the inner tent is made of uncoated nylon and is really distanced away from the fly, so there should be little condensation on the inside.

Terra Nova’s updated Laser tent (2 pounds, 14 ounces, US$420) is similarly claimed to be the lightest two-person double-wall tent available. The design is basically the same as the Photon, with side entry, vestibule, and flow-through ventilation that can be adjusted from the inside.

The Terra Nova tents are a bit spendy, but the distinction of “lightest in the world” comes at a price. Terra Nova products are now available in the United States through four retailers, and they expect to establish a U.S. distribution center in 2009 to expanded the availability of their products.

Believe it – New Ultralight Tents From MSR With Carbon Fiber Poles

More good news in the ultralight double-wall tent category (is that an oxymoron or not?) is the announcement of MSR’s new Carbon Reflex tents, the lightest tents ever from MSR. The Reflex 1 weighs two pounds, ten ounces and retails for US$450, and the Reflex 2 weighs three pounds, four ounces and costs US$500. The low weights are achieved by using lightweight fabrics and mesh, carbon fiber poles, and a unique one-plus pole design consisting of a single hoop plus a top strut. Both tents have one door and one vestibule. Protected area (floor + vestibule) for the Reflex 1 is 17 + 9.5 square feet and the area for the Reflex 2 is 29 + 14 square feet. The floor areas sound small, but the bathtub floor is designed so a sleeper can press it to the sides to create more room. Floor lengths are eighty-six inches for the Reflex 1, and eighty-four inches for the Reflex 2; the fly is 20 denier rip-stop nylon, 1000 millimeter polyurethane and silicone coated, and the floor is 40 denier rip-stop nylon 10,000 millimeter polyurethane coated. Another nice feature is the top strut extends the ridgeline beyond the door opening, so vertical rain will not enter the tent.

This is really significant – ultralight double-wall tents coming from a major manufacturer in the U.S.! Large equipment manufacturers have heretofore only entered the lightweight gear category, which is a much larger market than ultralight gear. They normally avoid the ultralight gear category because they perceive the market to be too small and the gear not durable enough, resulting in unwanted returns and loss of reputation. In response to my inquiry about their rationale behind the Carbon Reflex tent introduction, MSR Brand Manager Chris Parkhurst responded: “Our Fast & Light tent design philosophy is to push the limits of light weight while still achieving the performance people demand and the livability that sets MSR tents apart. These designs are dependent on the right technical materials becoming available at a price that still nets out to be a reasonable investment for the consumer. We believe we’ve achieved this with the Carbon Reflex tents.” Pretty cool, huh?

Big Sky Introduces the Convertible and Montana, Breaks the Three-Pound Barrier

Two new tents now available from Big Sky International are the Convertible and Montana. Both have three-season and four-season configurations. In their four-season configurations they require three heavy duty poles and weigh over four pounds, which is remarkable for a four-season tent. Both tents are a “fly first” design – poles are inserted into sleeves on the fly and the tent is set up as a unit. Read Backpacking Light’s review of the Convertible here. 

What is really remarkable is the summer configuration of the three-season Montana. With two lightweight aluminum poles and lightweight stakes, it weighs just 2 pounds, 10.8 ounces and costs US$347. It gets a half pound lighter with Big Sky’s carbon fiber poles and spinnaker fly options, at a significant cost. The Montana is a tunnel design with two short A-frame shaped poles at the ends. It sets up very quickly and staking just the ends results in a very secure pitch. The interior is mesh and the fly is silnylon. It has a roomy entry vestibule and mesh entry door at the front, and a smaller vestibule at the foot end that is accessible only from the outside. A review of the Montana 2P is in progress.

REI Updates the Quarter Dome

The new REI Quarter Dome T series tents were introduced in spring 2008 and are available now. These freestanding tents feature REI’s “Tension Truss Frame” with DAC Featherlite NSL aluminum poles to reduce weight, convenient side entry, flow-through chimney ventilation, lots of inside pockets, and value pricing. The pole set is hubbed and color coded to assist setup, and once the process is mastered (this is one where you need to read the directions), the tent goes up very quickly. The Quarter Dome comes in three sizes: T1 (3 pounds, 4 ounces; US$179), T2 (4 pounds, 2 ounces; US$259), and T3 (5 pounds, US$289). The T1 model has one side entry door with vestibule and the T2 and T3 models have two doors and two vestibules. These well-designed tents are an excellent balance of lightweight materials, durability, usable space, and cost.

Big Agnes Introduces a 2.25-Pound Double-Wall Solo Tent for 2009

BA’s new Fly Creek Ultralight (2 pounds, 3 ounces, US$300) is their lightest tent ever. It achieves that weight with the lightest DAC poles available, mesh interior, and lightweight fabrics throughout. The floor area is twenty-two square feet, and the front entry vestibule adds five square feet. Floor length is eighty-six inches and front height is thirty-eight inches. A fast fly setup requires a footprint (4 ounces, US$50).

Integral Designs’ New BugDome Converts the SilDome to a Double-Wall Two-Person Tent

With the introduction of the mesh BugDome (1 pound, 10.7 ounces, US$195) for spring 2009, the combination of the BugDome and existing SilDome becomes a double-wall two-person tent weighing 3 pounds, 4.7 ounces. The floor space (96 inches long, 60 inches wide, 40 square feet) is long and roomy. Entry is through a zippered door with no vestibule. If purchased together, the cost is approximately US$350. The components will pitch separately or together, producing three combinations: a bug tent, a floorless single-wall tent, or a double-wall tent.

Nemo Introduces the Go-Go EX for Tall Hikers up to Ten Feet

Ok, you guys keep asking for a tent for tall hikers; is ten feet long enough? The EX’s 119-inch long floor is plenty long for a tall hiker plus gear. The Go-Go EX (2.8 pounds, US$299) is a double-wall tent with a low, flat profile for stability. The fly is asymmetric to provide some extra protected space on one side. It’s a single air beam tent, so a lightweight pump is needed to inflate it (not included in the weight).

Sierra Designs Introduces Seventeen New Tents for Spring 2009

We have always liked Sierra Design’s easy to set up tents, but they have always been a bit on the heavy side by our standards. For spring 2009, SD has re-designed most of their extensive tent line, and six of them now come in under our weight limits. I will highlight two of them.

The Lightning XT 2 (4 pounds, 7 ounces, US$289), a two-person freestanding double-wall tent, has two side entry doors with vestibules, and provides thirty square feet of floor space plus twenty-one square feet in the vestibules. A Lightning XT4 (four-person) is also available. These tents are a “Tunnel-Dome” design which incorporate elements of tunnel tents and dome tents.

The VaporLight 2 (3 pounds, 12 ounces, US$329) is also freestanding and has front entry and vestibule. Floor space is 25.5 square feet, and the front vestibule adds another 8 square feet of protected area.

To save weight, both the Lightning and VaporLight (below) use half poles with “Ballcap” pole ends that clip into the tent and fly to become a structural element, adding strength and headroom. They also use hubs that stay attached to the poles for fast setup, and “Jake’s Feet” to quickly and securely attach the fly to the tieout straps. The poles are DAC Featherlight NSL.

Not to Be Outdone, The North Face Introduces Nineteen New Tents for Spring 2009

Space does not allow me to cover all of the new lightweight tents, so here’s a sampling of the new North Face tents. All use DAC Featherlight poles with struts (half poles with “ballcap” ends) to extend and support the tent with minimum weight. The struts are hubbed to the other color-coded tent pole(s) to facilitate a fast setup.

Mountain Hardwear’s Helion 2 Features Cutting Edge Lightweight Components

The new Helion 2 tent (3 pounds, 5 ounces, US$395), available now, is their lightest two-person double-wall tent, and it’s a freestanding three-pole design. The low weight is made possible by the use of superlight fly and floor fabrics, new Atlas UL poles, 1/4-inch webbing with molded clips, and an all-mesh canopy. Floor area is twenty-eight square feet and the entry vestibule adds 8.5 square feet of protected area. It has a tall front entry with vestibule. It also has a “Pitch Light” option (2 pounds, 11 ounces) consisting of the fly, poles, and a Tyvek footprint.

Trends

Lightweight backpacking is a growing segment in the outdoor industry. Hikers in this category want gear that provides comfort and features, and they want it to be light, too. Lightweight backpackers prefer a double-wall tent because they want a bug-free, secure, roomy, and dry shelter, and they don’t want to deal with the condensation issue of a single-wall tent. More and more people are realizing that a five+ pound two-person backpacking tent is simply too much weight to carry, and manufacturers are getting the message. A five+ pound tent is okay for car camping, but it’s simply not acceptable for backpacking anymore.

Manufacturers now seem to have the will to design lighter tents. With the increased availability of lighter fabrics, poles, and fasteners we are seeing more and more double-wall tents that meet our weight limits. A few years ago, a sub-four-pound two-person tent was rare, and Big Sky International dominated that niche. Now, we have a growing selection of sub-four-pound tents in this category, with many of them coming from major manufacturers like MSR, Sierra Designs, Mountain Hardwear, and The North Face.

If my numbers are correct, two tents in this roundup break the three-pound barrier for a two-person double-wall tent. The Terra Nova Laser weighs two pounds, fourteen ounces, and is claimed to be the lightest two-person double-wall tent in the world. However, the Big Sky international Montana 2P weighs 2 pounds, 10.8 ounces. That’s 3.3 ounces lighter; do we have a new world record?

New Single-Wall Tents

Using a single-wall tent has been considered a lightweight backpacking technique (base pack weight under twenty pounds), but some of the newest single wall tents like the Gossamer Gear The One, Six Moon Designs Refuge X, and Tarptent Sublite) are so light they can fit into an ultralight gear kit (base pack weight under ten pounds).

In this roundup I have several innovative and exciting single wall tents to report on. Each one is unique and remarkable in its own right, and together they represent some real progress in making the single-wall tent lighter and more user-friendly.

The Gossamer Gear The One is as Light as a Tarp

We recently reviewed the new Gossamer Gear The One, and found it to be amazingly user-friendly and protective for its minimal weight. The One uses two trekking poles for setup, has a protective vestibule on the front, large zippered entry door, and good ventilation. Why use a tarp when you can get an 18.5 ounce solo tent? Available now, but a shortage of spinnaker fabric makes it hard for Gossamer Gear to keep up with the demand for this tent.

Tarptent Introduces the Sublite, a Nineteen-Ounce Solo Tyvek Tent

The new one-person Tarptent Sublite tents are equally exciting. The Sublite is available now in a Tyvek version (19 ounces, US$179) and will be available soon in a silnylon version. The Sublite is the first use of Tyvek in a tent. The specific Tyvek is Type 1443R “soft structure” Tyvek, which is also used for disposable clothing. This type of Tyvek is soft, lightweight, highly water-resistant, very durable, and highly breathable. Technically, this is the world’s lightest breathable fabric tent. The Sublite uses two trekking poles in an A-shape for support and has a side entry sans vestibule. The floor is silnylon. I am currently testing the Sublite and will publish a full review in late summer.

New Six Moon Designs Refuge X Weighs just 17.5 Ounces, and It’s a Two-Person Tent!

The new two-person Six Moon Designs Refuge tent comes in two versions, the Refuge X (about 17.5 ounces, US$400) made of cuben fiber, and the Refuge (about 28.5 ounces, US$260) made of silnylon. The Refuge X sets a new lightweight standard for a two-person single-wall tent, but requires special care because of its thin 0.6 ounce/yd² cuben fabric. The refuge is similar to the Lunar Duo in design and uses two trekking poles for support, but does not have entry vestibules. Both tents have ample room for two people and flow-through chimney ventilation with two top vents. A review of the Refuge X is in progress and will be published soon.

Big Sky International Introduces a Lightweight Single-Wall Tent

The two-person California (2 pounds, 5 ounces, US$310) is Big Sky International’s first single-wall tent. The dimensions are the same as the Montana, except it is single-wall rather than double-wall. It’s basically a tunnel tent design supported by A-shaped aluminum poles at the front and rear. Silnylon is used for the canopy and floor; flow-through ventilation is provided by vestibules at both ends. The front entry is through a large vestibule and zippered mesh door. There is a small vestibule for gear storage at the foot end, accessible from the outside only. The California sets up very quickly, and two six- or nine-inch Easton stakes will provide a very secure pitch. Expect a Backpacking Light review of the California this fall.

The New AntiGravityGear O2 Tent has Cross Ventilation and Loads of Floor Space

Another very interesting new two-person tent is the AntiGravityGear O2 (28 ounces, US$279). The O2 was created in response to our review of the AntiGravityGear Tarptent, and incorporates some solid refinements and functionality enhancements. The unique feature of this tent is its large protected area, a whopping forty-six square feet, including the entry vestibule. The O2 sets up with two trekking poles and has pull outs on the sides and rear to maximize inside volume. Backpacking Light will also publish a review of the O2 this fall.

The North Face Flight Series Tents

Among The North Face’s rollout of new tents for spring 2009, the Flight Series of single-wall tents are the lightest. The lightest in the Flight Series are the Dyad 22 (3 pounds, 9 ounces) for two people and the Solo 12 (2 pounds, 10 ounces) for one person. The Dyad has a floor area of 36 square feet plus 4.5 square feet in the vestibule, lots of headroom at the front, and a good high/low ventilation system. The Solo 12 has 24.5 square feet of floor area plus three square feet in the front vestibule. North Face claims this tent has withstood ninety-five mph winds in their wind tests.

Is the eVENT Tent Really Gone? The Code Name is Rab Summit Mountain Bivi

It’s not eVENT, but the new Rab is made of Exchange Lite, a ePTFE fabric without a protective polyurethane layer, so it is very breathable. The Summit Mountain “Bivi” (4 pounds, 7 ounces, US$500) is 86 inches long x 47 inches wide x 39.4 inches high, which is cozy. It’s designed as a mountaineering tent, with nine sturdy tieouts that allow the tent to be clipped in so it will withstand extreme winds. The tent has a zippered door and does not have any vestibules. There are four mesh pockets inside. This mountaineering tent is overkill for backpacking, but if you want a truly breathable fabric tent, this is it.

Trends

Overall, single-wall tents are getting more refined and lighter. In fact, they are getting so light that they present a decision challenge between the diminishing weight advantage of a tarp versus the full weather and bug protection of a single-wall tent. The latest designs set up quickly, are easy to enter and exit, and have adequate space and headroom inside.

However, one thing that won’t go away is condensation. Using a single wall tent means living with condensation on the inside walls. To understand why, read my article on Condensation in Single-walled Shelters: Contributing Factors and Tips for Reduction. You can’t escape condensation inside a single-wall tent, but you can manage it effectively.

We also have more choices of single-wall tents as far as design, size, and features. Most are made of silnylon, with a few made of spinnaker fabric, and now one made of cuben fiber. Ten years ago, silnylon was a breakthrough technology for lightweight and ultralight backpacking gear. Now it is commonplace and cheap. Today, silnylon seems heavy, and we are looking for even lighter fabrics to use for shelters that will reduce weight some more, while retaining adequate strength and storm resistance.

Tyvek has emerged as a tent fabric. It’s strong, light, breathable, and cheap, but it will require some time and testing to determine how suitable it is for shelters and how well hikers will accept it.

Besides tents, soft structure Tyvek can also be used for tarps and other floorless shelters, and as a groundsheet or bivy. It’s easy to make your own Tyvek bivy: just go to http://ecom.citystar.com/hang-em-high/, order Part TYVEK-60 – Tyvek #14 White – Soft, and sew it on two sides like an envelope with one end open.

Tarps

The new for spring 2009 Terra Nova Bivy Tarp (25.7 ounces, US$200) is a cross between a tarp and a single wall tent. It comes with two poles, tarp style flysheet, mesh inner, and fully seam sealed groundsheet. The protected area is eight-five inches long x fifty-nine inches wide, so it’s large enough for two hikers.

Bivies

Coming Soon: Backpacking Light’s 2008 Single-Wall Tent State of the Market Report

This is a good time to announce that a new State Of The Market report on single-wall tents is in the works, and will be published in the late fall at Backpackinglight.com. Our last report back in 2003 has become one of our most popular articles – it looks like a lot of our readers are interested in single-wall tents! A lot has changed since then, and Chris Townsend and I will document the evolution, provide specifications on tents that meet our selection criteria, and rate the tents on their performance for different applications. Judging from the innovations in this lightweight shelters update, we will have a lot to say in the new SOTM report.

Integral Designs Bag Coupler

This unnamed prototype from Integral Designs is an innovative way to reduce weight for couples and very focused climbers. The wedge-shaped panel zips into any of Integral Designs’ bags and allows two persons to share a footbox while each having an individual hood. The top and bottom of the panel connect at the shoulder area to reduce drafts. The concept certainly represents out-of-the-(foot)box thinking. For two people who could actually sleep in this configuration, the weight savings due to shared warmth and reduced total bag surface area could be considerable. This version made from Pertex Microlight and five-ounce Primaloft Sport weighs 20 ounces (566 grams). No MSRP or delivery date has been set. Contact Integral Designs if you’d like to see the concept developed further.

Montbell U.L. Spiral Down Huggers

For Spring 2009, Montbell is introducing a new series of down bags called Ultra Light Spiral Down Huggers. The bags feature a slight mechanical stretch in the 12 denier nylon shell plus diagonal baffling. The combination is claimed to allow the bag to snug around the sleeper without the elastic weight and construction complications of their Super Stretch bags. The “snugging” effect is not as pronounced as in the older bags, but the Spiral bags are about 4 ounces lighter than the corresponding Super Stretch ones, giving them impressively low (claimed) weight for their temperature ratings. The 800 fill-power U. L. Spiral Down Hugger bags will be available in Montbell’s #0, #1, and #3 weights, corresponding to 0 F, 15 F, and 30 F temperature ratings, respectively. MSRP: $390 (#0), $299 (#1), and $229 (#3). Claimed weights: 41 ounces (#0), 32 ounces (#1), and 18 ounces (#3).

Exped Swift and Wallcreeper

The Exped Swift is a versatile new bag that doubles as a quilt and triples as an insulated poncho. The Swift uses 250 grams of Primaloft Sport insulation to achieve a EN 13537 men’s comfort rating of 48 F. The two-way, full-length zipper allows the bag to be opened into a quilt, while a side slit forms a head opening for use as an in-camp poncho. Finally, the rectangular cut is roomy enough to use as an overbag to extend the temperature range of another bag or quilt. The Swift certainly deserves points for flexibility, though this comes with somewhat of a weight penalty. Weight: 26 ounces (740 grams). Available March 2009. MSRP: $135 regular, $145 long.

Also from Exped is a warmer, 20 F version of their wearable Wallcreeper. The Wallcreeper 650g contains 650 grams of 750-fill down and weighs a claimed 39 ounces (1100 grams). Available March, 2009. MSRP: $310 for the regular size in 20 F down version.

Jacks ‘R’ Better Winter Nest Under Quilt and Mt. Washington Under Quilt

Rivaling the versatility of the Exped Swift are products from Virginia-based Jacks ‘R’ Better. Wizards with Omni-Tape (hermaphroditic Velcro), JRB has been building highly versatile down quilts for the past five years that can be worn as ponchos, used as sleeping quilts, or attached to the bottom of hammocks as underquilts. Their No Sniveller was the top-ranked bag in our 2006 Unconventional Sleep Systems Review Summary and Gear Guide Overview.

Keeping away from the bleeding edge of ultralight materials, Jacks ‘R’ Better has instead focused on competitive pricing on products that tend to run a few ounces heavier than those from specialized, semi-custom gear makers. This philosophy has enabled them to be one of the few lightweight, cottage manufacturers that has grown enough to warrant their own booth at Outdoor Retailer.

New this year is their Winter Nest Under Quilt, a 10-15 F rated down quilt with 3-inch baffles stuffed to 3.5 inches of loft. The Winter Nest Under Quilt is designed to accommodate bottom-entry hammocks such as those made by Hennessy Hammock, but is claimed to also fit other lightweight camping hammocks. As with most JRB quilt products, it can also be used as an over-quilt or bag. Incorporating 800+ fill down and 1.1 ounce rip-stop nylon shells, it has a claimed weight of 26 ounces. MSRP: $349.95

Also new from JRB is the Mt. Washington Under Quilt. Lacking the bottom-entry slit of the Winter Nest, the Mt. Washington instead features an aggressive differential cut with radial baffles. A differential cut is where the outer shell material is cut to a larger diameter than the inner one. It results in a more body-contoured design with less material and better drape than flat construction. It is generally more important on high-loft bags than on thinner ones. Featuring the same three-inch baffle height as the Winter Nest, the differential cut and additional down fill of the Mt. Washington allow it to achieve a claimed 0-10 F temperature rating in a 30-ounce package. According to Jack Tier, this makes it the warmest commercially available hammock under quilt. Contact JRB for pricing, availability, and options.

Mountain Hardwear UltraLamina 0°

BackpackingLight Senior Editor Don Wilson and I both chose the 15 F version of the Mountain Hardwear UltraLamina bag to use on the Wilderness Trekking III Course last October. The roomy cut that allows layering over high-loft clothing, synthetic insulation welded to the shell, and dual side zips that allow the user to sit up and use their hands while wearing the bag were key features that drove our choice. This year, Mountain Hardwear is expanding the UltraLamina line to include a 0 F version. The UltraLamina 0 F features a 20 denier micro ripstop shell and taffeta liner and weighs a claimed 53 ounces. MSRP $220.

REI Halo Bags

Outdoor Retailer juggernaut REI is expanding further into the lightweight market sector with the introduction of their in-house designed Halo down bags. Using lightweight (but not too light) materials, and with sparse (but not too sparse) features, the new bags are aimed at the mainstream lightweight hiker looking for solid performance in an upper-end but still value oriented product. While these are not the lightest bags available, REI’s move to embrace the lightweight market bodes well for making lightweight products, and therefore techniques, available to more of the traditional hiking community.

The new Halo bags are offered in a staggering twelve different sizes and temperature ratings. Offered in men’s and women’s versions in regular and long sizes, the bags will be made in 10 F, 25 F, and 40 F varieties. The Halo bags will feature 750-fill down, and will incorporate EN 13537 standards in their temperature ratings. MSRP’s will range from $149 for a women’s regular 40 F version to $309 for a men’s 10 F long. Available Spring 2009.

A number of new and light clothing pieces debuted at Outdoor Retailer this year. As Backpackinglight covered rainwear separately in Lightweight Rainwear 2008: Current Favorites, New Introductions, and New Technologies by Will Reitveld, this article will instead focus on other clothing categories. As the clothing landscape at the show is vast, we’ll take a look at a few of the standout new pieces and technologies. Read on for details on a two-ounce windshirt, a nine-ounce hooded down jacket, lightweight softshell pieces, and exciting new clothing technology.

Rab

The Rab Vapor-Rise series of clothing, with a microfleece wicking liner and Pertex Equilibrium shell fabric have been solid-performing winter layers for several years. For spring 2009, they are introducing a new piece called the Vapor-Rise Lite Jacket constructed of a lighter version of the denier-gradient Equilibrium shell and a Powerdry liner. The hoodless jacket features a full zip for ventilation, long sleeves with thumb loops, two chest pockets, and a drop tail. While likely too heavy and warm for summer use, this looks like a fine piece for ski and snowshoe tours. MSRP $125. Weight: 14 ounces.

First shown at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2008, the five down jackets in the Rab Microlight range are made with Pertex Microlight fabric. The warmest of the group is the Microlight Alpine Jacket, which has 140 grams of European 700+ goose down, weighs thirteen ounces, and costs $200. The down is stabilized by horizontal sewn through stitching. The jacket has an attached hood and two side pockets. The Microlight (11 ounces) contains 125 grams of down and costs $180. There is also a Microlight Vest (8 ounces) with 80 grams of down for $175. The Microlights will be available in fall 2008.

Patagonia

Patagonia has released a new series of lightweight, stretch, soft shells – the Traverse series. These are light, tough garments aimed at high speed mountain pursuits. The fabric is 93% polyester (100% recycled) and 7% spandex. The men’s line has pants, a jacket, and a pullover. The women’s has pants and a jacket. The pants and pullover are particularly attractive as UL garments. The pants are claimed to weigh 8.6 ounces in size men’s medium. The pullover is claimed at 9.2 ounces and the jacket is 9.9 ounces, also in men’s medium. MSRP: $100 (jacket) and $75 (pullover). Available in January 2009.

Backpacking Light

Yes, you read that right. Backpacking Light is expanding our own line of hiking clothing. This year, the Thorofare Trekking Shirt and Pants join our lightweight Merino Wool baselayer and Cocoon insulated shell garments. The Thorofare pieces are constructed from a durable but very light nylon fabric that balances moisture transportation, wind resistance, and drizzle protection. Intended to be worn as a sole layer in warm weather, the Thorofare Trekking Shirt and Pants can also be layered over wool or synthetic base layers for colder conditions. Weight: 4.6 ounces (130 grams) size medium shirt, 4.0 ounces (113 grams) size medium pants. MSRP: $76.99, shirt or pants. Available August 2008.

Etowah Gear

Etowah Gear is launching what may be the lightest commercially available windshirt in spring 2009. The Ultra Light Wind Shirt is made from .8 ounces untreated sailcloth that is highly breathable. Intended for summer use, it features an eight-inch neck zip for ventilation, elastic cuffs, and drawstring bottom. The claimed weight is a scant 1.8 ounces (51 grams) in a men’s size large. MSRP: $50.

Western Mountaineering

Western Mountaineering adds a hooded jacket to complement their Flash Vest. The Flash Jacket saves weight by using stitched-through construction and simple elastic trim on the cuffs, hem, and hood. Still, unlike its extremely spartan sister vest, the new Flash Jacket features an insulated hood and handwarmer pockets. In my opinion, Western Mountaineering makes some of the best handwarmer pockets in the industry – generously down filled on both the inner and outer layers, with no zippers to snag. Garments like their classic Flight Vest are almost worth their weight as handwarmers alone. Stuffed with 3.25 ounces of down, the Flash Jacket still weighs a Backpacking Light verified 8.8 ounces (252 grams) in men’s size medium. MSRP: $260. Available January 2009.

Outdoor Research

Sun hat design is a tricky business. For the, shall we say, follicly challenged, a light colored, breathable crown is a crucial design feature to protect the scalp from sunburn. But, for those who have never considered asking their doctor about Rogaine, a visor-style hat can be much cooler. Yet visors typically don’t provide much side or back coverage.

Enter the Outdoor Research Chameleon Sombrero. Featuring a full 360° stiffened brim, vented UPF 50+ Supplex nylon crown, and removable chin cord, the Chameleon Sombrero appears at first glance to be a pretty competent but typical sun hat. However, one feature sets it apart from its competitors: the crown unsnaps and stows in a pocket located in the rear of the brim, turning the hat into a full-brimmed visor. This lets the user adjust the warmth, ventilation, and sun protection as conditions dictate. It’s on my “must have” list for next summer. Claimed Weight: 2.4 ounces. MSRP $36. Available February 2009.

Lorpen

I like wool socks. They provide just the right coefficient of friction against my skin to avoid blisters, a natural anti-funk property to improve my social interaction with fellow hikers, and an absorbency that buffers moisture dissipation from my sweaty feet. But wool has its drawbacks: it’s not as durable as the best synthetic materials, such as nylon; it can be itchy; and it is not well tolerated by persons with a sensitivity to lanolin. Conventional synthetic socks can improve all three of these drawbacks, but typically trade off on durability versus wicking performance and offer little absorbency.

The new “Tri Layer” sock line from Lorpen knits three different types of yarns together to offer wicking, absorbency, and durability. The next-to-skin layer is made from highly surface-wicking Coolmax. The inner layer is made from a natural absorbent fiber called Tencel that is derived from Eucalyptus wood pulp. The exterior layer is made from abrasion-resistant nylon and is concentrated in high-wear areas such as the toe, heel, and shin. The combination of materials potentially promises to be a viable alternative to wool for hiker’s feet. MSRP: $14.99 to $16.99 depending on style. Available spring 2009.

Schoeller Textiles

Anyone who has spent time hiking in bright sunlight on a hot day knows the benefit of light-colored clothing. Surfaces with a high albedo reflect a greater percentage of incoming solar radiation and, as such, absorb less heat energy. For a hiker in the sun, this means that a white hat or shirt is going to be cooler than a black one.

Swiss textile manufacturer Shoeller is introducing a new fabric finish called ColdBlack that while absorbent (dark) in the visible light portion of the spectrum, is reflective in the non-visible infrared portion. Shoeller claims that their new ColdBlack finish on a dark fabric reflects up to 80% of all incoming electromagnetic energy. The ColdBlack finish is planned to be available on their Dryskin and Dynamic fabrics.

Mammut is the first adopter of the new fabric in their Dryskin line of clothing for spring 2009. The Mammut pieces are not particularly lightweight, but the ColdBlack technology has the potential to trickle down to lighter fabrics. In a year or two, you may be able to hike comfortably in the sun while wearing dark clothing instead of white.

Klymit

I met with Utah-based startup company Klymit at Outdoor Retailer to get a glimpse of their vision of the future of insulation. Klymit has developed a technology based on filling a flexible bladder with noble gases such as Argon. Their system is claimed to be more compressible and provide a higher warmth per thickness ratio than conventional fiber insulations, while allowing the user to adjust the volume of insulation and therefore warmth on the fly.

It varies somewhat with thickness due to the boundary layers and convection cell size, but Argon gas has approximately two-thirds the thermal conductivity of air for a given thickness. Krypton and Xenon have even less. This has been exploited for years in the building market where premium multi-pane windows have been filled with Argon to improve their R-values over air-filled ones. The Klymit gas bladder system is adjustable over a typical thickness range of 0.5 to 10 mm and is claimed to provide two to three times the thermal resistance as an equivalent thickness of conventional high-loft insulation.

Their system uses small gas canisters similar to the carbon dioxide ones used to inflate bicycle tires. This type of canister is already commercially available filled with Argon in the $4 to $5 range for use in the wine market, where partially filled wine bottles can be injected with Argon to reduce oxidation. One of these canisters only provides enough gas to inflate a jacket once or twice, so Klymit is working to produce higher pressure cartridges that will be sufficient for eight to ten inflations. I measured the weight of a prototype valve assembly and Argon cartridge at 3.4 ounces (96 grams). Note that depending on the final application, this weight does not necessarily have to be carried by the user – for example a detachable inflator could be used to pump up a jacket prior to a trip. Once inflated, a jacket is claimed to retain the gas for up to two months.

Klymit plans to license their technology to apparel partners and supply canisters, connectors, and valves to them. They hope to see ultimate end products of footwear, gloves, and jackets. They say that the bladders can be made from a wide array of materials including waterproof/breathable fabrics. Their bladders in the prototype jacket they showed me were RF welded from a material with a PU/ePTFE membrane to provide breathability.

Going into the meeting with Klymit, I had a number of reservations about their technology:

• How could it be breathable and still retain the gas filling?
• Is it going to be heavy with the bladder, valve, and canister components?
• What about punctures?
• How long would a canister last in typical use?
• Why not just use air or inexpensive CO2?

I came away from the meeting much more impressed with the viability of their system. I’m still concerned about the breathability of garments, as even if WPB membranes were used in the bladder fabrics, moisture would still need to pass through two membranes, presumably reducing breathability. Still, I see great potential when used in a variable-insulation vapor barrier garment.

The system was not nearly as heavy as I thought. The inflator assembly weighs only 3.4 ounces, and as mentioned, can be removed in some applications. Even the prototype jacket I saw weighed only 17 ounces (490 grams) despite its bomber, non-lightweight construction. Conceivably, this technology could be used to build a variable insulation lightweight jacket in the twelve-ounce range.

Punctures remain an issue. However, products could be built with well-protected internal bladders and/or have patch kits similar to inflatable sleeping pads. Time will tell if Klymit can develop their technology, establish partnerships, and gain market acceptance. Their core ideas look promising, and I wish them success. I’d be very pleased to be winter hiking in 2010 with a fourteen-ounce Klymit parka that I could hike in all day, then pump up to keep me warm in camp.

New footwear always abounds at Outdoor Retailer, and it’s a challenge to decide what to highlight in our coverage. Every hiker has individual needs and preferences for backpacking footwear, and the bottom line for all of us is the “best” footwear is what fits our unique feet and is comfortable to wear in rough terrain day after day. Many of us have found a particular brand or type of footwear and stick with it because it works.

Considerations for Choosing Footwear for Fast and Light Backpacking

This article will be focused on footwear for fast and light backpacking, which is the core activity of our magazine. We fundamentally subscribe to the philosophy that when you carry a light pack, you don’t need traditional (heavy) boots to insulate your feet from the trail. Lightweight trail running shoes are just fine and are our preference. They provide plenty of support and protection from the rocks, and they literally take the load off your feet. According to U.S. Army research, taking one pound off your feet is equivalent to taking 6.4 pounds off your back.

In fact, low-cut trail running shoes are now the “in” thing. The current market trend is toward lightweight mid- and low-cut trail runners and light hikers, rather than the two-pound clunkers of yesteryear. Some manufacturers and many retailers still adhere to the notion that a taller, stiffer boot is necessary for ankle support and foot protection while backpacking. Granted, taller boots do provide more stability, especially for traversing, but a good fitting and supportive heel cup also gives a lot of stability in a low-cut trail runner. Taller boots may actually cause atrophy of the foot muscles and tendons, while trail runners actually strengthen them. However, if you do have a problem with weak ankles, you should follow the advice of your podiatrist.

So, what specific types of shoes are we talking about? It depends a lot on individual preferences and specific footwear needs. Many hikers have special needs because of wide or narrow feet, under- or over-pronation, and low or high arches. A good description of specific footwear to address those needs is found in the September 2008 issue of Runner’s World, along with their fall 2008 shoe guide. However, fast and light backpacking is different from running on relatively smooth trails, and pronation and other issues may be moot when hiking on rough trails or off-trail, where your ankles are bent at forty-five-degree angles.

When searching for shoes suitable for fast and light backpacking, the choices become mind-boggling. Every manufacturer has a zillion models with similar descriptions, and it’s hard to choose a model that’s right for you. Add to that the fact that shoes are becoming ever more specialized: trail running, cross-training, off-trail, adventure racing, fell (hill) running, approach shoes, etc. No one seems to slice and dice them the same either, so we have a lot of overlapping categories.

In footwear for fast and light backpacking, some hikers really like the ultra lightweight neutral trail runners such as the Inov-8 shoes, which are the lightest to be found, provide good traction, and give a good feel of the terrain. These shoes require some adaptation to get accustomed to the softer soles and reduced rock protection. Other hikers (me included) prefer a more supportive trail runner with moderate stiffness, torsional stability, and an aggressive tread. These shoes are a few ounces heavier per shoe, but they provide a lot more support and reduce foot fatigue at the end of the day, especially on trails.

Things you should look for in a trail runner or light hiker for fast and light backpacking are good torsional stability (grab the shoe and twist it, there should be good resistance to the twisting), heel support (pinch the heel cup area, it should feel stiff, and the heel cup should fit your heel like a glove), flex (bend the shoe longitudinally, it should have a medium flex to it – not too stiff and not too soft – and the flex point should line up with where your foot flexes), and outsole grip (that’s the tread; it should be grippy and sticky so you don’t easily slip). Many shoes nowadays have a fairly shallow tread; the outsole adds a lot of weight, so manufacturers make them thinner to save weight. They also save weight in the tread design and materials. That’s not a problem because modern outsole materials are grippy, sticky, and durable and often outlast the upper.

Backpacking Light Staff Footwear Preferences

Many of the Backpacking Light staffers’ choices have evolved with the lightweight backpacking revolution since it started about ten years ago, so I thought it would be informative to get their individual opinions and preferences for fast and light footwear. Here is a collation of their input.

Ryan Jordan writes: The context of what I’ll present here is off-trail on Yellowstone tundra – rock, tundra grass, and scree. I want good lateral stability for traversing steep slopes, so a higher top is better for me; if the trip involves minimal traversing, then a lower top. I prefer a shoe with minimal longitudinal (midsole) resistance so the foot can do its natural thing when walking. Minimally supportive trail runners are my favorite. On hardpack (trail), I prefer a more supportive shoe to prevent foot fatigue over long distances. Trails are actually hard on feet! For cross-country: Inov-8 330 and Inov-8 370 (boot type); for snow: Inov-8 390 GTX; for trail: Montrail Vitesse.

Sam Haraldson writes: When hiking in the summer, I spend most of my time on trails ranging in quality from well-maintained to barely there. I connect these trails with off-trail jaunts over trail-less mountain passes and summits. I also take a few winter snowshoe backpacking trips in which the conditions range from icy hardpack trails shared by snowmobiles to fluffy, deep woods powder.

For all my hiking I’ve taken to wearing Inov-8 brand shoes. I hiked the 1,100-mile Pacific Northwest Trail wearing the Inov-8 Flyroc 310 and Terroc 330. I found the 330 to have amazing traction, almost akin to an approach shoe on slippery rocks. They performed excellently as well in terms of stability and grip for steep off-trail sidehills through brushy canyons. For on-trail sections, both the 310 and 330 performed perfectly.

My choice in winter hiking footwear is something waterproof designed to keep melting snow from soaking my feet. The Inov-8 390 GTX boot combined with a gaiter is my current hiking combination. The gaiter keeps snow from falling into the top of the boot and the Gore-Tex fabric keeps melting snow from penetrating the boot from above and from the side. Although the 390 GTX is cut higher than a trail running shoe, my opinion is I would do just as well with a Gore-Tex shoe as I do a boot, so long as the right gaiter was used for the application.

Roger Caffin writes: I backpack in local harsh sandstone country with ironstone, Australian alpine country, European alpine tracks, and on snow in the Australian Alps.

For harsh sandstone country: Dunlop KT-26 – an ultralight low-cut fabric shoe, high-friction carbon rubber layer with radial lugs over an EVA foam sole. The soft sole allows almost prehensile grip on rock, the design was created at least twenty years before Inov-8, about US$30/pair. The thinner and softer sole wears faster than joggers with their Vibram-class soles. Another key feature is the soft upper which adapts so nicely to my foot shape. In the Australian Alpine: usually KT-26, for similar reasons. Even in light snow falls, but only UNplanned. European tracks: typical good light low-cut joggers with FLAT footbeds. We will NOT buy shoes with pronounced “arch supports” (like some Nike models). The soft flexible sole of the KT-26 has had trouble on mud and snow on the tracks.

Snowshoeing: this year we (Sue and I) used New Balance MT1110GT shoes in a wide EEEE width. The ones they supplied were a size too large for my feet in summer, but this allowed me to wear a second layer of thick socks in the snow on my Yowies. The sole was stiff enough to take the bindings easily without pressure on my foot. The Gore-Tex membrane kept my feet dry, and hence, warm. I used one pair of Gobi Wigwam liner socks, then a layer of Darn Tough Vermont Boot socks (wool), then a layer of Ultimax wool blend socks on the outside. Comfy!

Don Wilson writes: I hike in both mountains and desert, and lots of it is off-trail. My preference is low-top trail runners. In summer, I don’t care if my feet get wet. I’d rather dry quickly than attempt to stay dry in the first place. Montrail shoes are my favorite for my narrow feet. I’m still using pairs from 2006. I like both the Hardrock and Continental Divide models.

Carol Crooker writes: I usually hike on rocky trails and like a lightweight, low-cut trail runner. My favorite shoe for backpacking is the GoLite Sun Dragon. The shoe is a recent innovation from the Timberland Invention Factory and has “Trail Claws” that retract individually in response to terrain features. It also has a nice wide toe box. When I wear Sun Dragons, my feet don’t get that hamburger feel after a long day of hiking up and down uneven, rocky trails. The brand has just been bought by New England Footwear, a new company headed by Doug Clark of the Invention Factory. Since the purchase included the existing shoe designs, I’m looking forward to even more models in this line.

Alan Dixon writes: I generally prefer the lightest and most flexible trail runners available. I hike pretty much everywhere (Appalachians, western mountains, canyons, and Pacific Northwest as well as winter/snow travel) but do not vary my shoe choice that much. On most trips I wear the Invo-8 Roclite 285 or F-Lite 250.

For desert travel, mesh shoes in fine desert sand can take on so much sand you can’t walk. This can happen in as little as five minutes and usually doesn’t take longer than ten to fifteen minutes. Then you have to stop, take off both shoes, and work the sand out. It is incredibly debilitating. But with hot weather your shoes need to breathe, and with wading they need to drain well. So shoes need to breathe well, drain well, and stop the entry of fine sand.

Alison and I took two softshell trail runners to Utah for a week. Mine were Salomon Softshell Walkers, and Alison’s were the Keen Shellrock. Both did great at stopping sand entry and were reasonably breathable and quick drying. The Salomon adventure race shoes are always a consistent good bet; Alison and I still use them (Alison actually gets the US$80 version). Alison’s Keens get a slight nod for their more breathable fabric. Even the Salomons were fine for breathability and water draining and are overall a better constructed shoe with an excellent sole. It would have been nice to have the same fabric on a lighter and more flexible Inov-8 chassis because their mesh is a bit too open to stop fine sand, and nobody wants to take GTX shoes to the desert! Another desert/canyoneering rat friend of ours tried the Keens, and he loves them as well.

For rugged trail travel in western mountains, I prefer the Inov-8 Terroc because they are very durable and have a well lugged sole. These shoes stand up to abuse without being too rigid or heavy. They have a roomier last than the F-Lite, which gives more room for heavier socks, a light orthopedic insole, or foot swelling on long days,.

For general trail travel and moderate off-trail travel, I prefer the Inov-8 F-Lite 300. It’s lighter and more flexible than the Terrocs with a shallower lugged sole that is quite pleasant on a trail, especially when traveling very fast and light with thin socks. It has a bit tighter last than the Terrocs. The Roclite 315 is maybe the best all round trail shoe, with the roomier, more comfortable “Terroc last” and a lighter “Roclite” sole.

For serious snow travel I prefer the Inov-8 Roclite 390 GTX boots with thick wool socks (possibly with a liner). For intermittent to moderate snow travel I like the Inov-8 Roclite 318 GTX shoes with a single pair of medium to thick wool socks.

Mike Martin writes: For three-season, on-trail hiking, I usually hike in Brooks Adrenaline running shoes. I’m a fairly serious runner, and the excellent fit trumps most other considerations for me. They are a “stability” running shoe with lots of cool, quick-draining mesh on the upper. Their major drawbacks are that they lack a very aggressive sole, and the mesh material is open enough to collect prickly seeds and other debris.

For more rugged terrain, I go to a pair of mid-height Merrell Moab Ventilators. These also fit my particular feet well and provide additional stability and a rugged sole. They are not particularly light. But again, fit is everything for me.

For snow travel in warmer weather (25-40 °F), I like the Merrell Moabs so much that I also have a pair of the Gore-Tex version of them for these conditions. With a pair of wool socks and a short gaiter to seal the top, I’m all set for early and late season mixed terrain hiking.

Finally, for winter snowshoeing, I use a pair of waterproof-breathable, insulated Keen Growlers. For me, they hit the sweet spot of breathability, water-resistance, and warmth for use in snow from 10-30 °F.

Will Rietveld writes: Most of my hiking and backpacking is in the southern Rockies and southern Utah, where I typically hike on trails to get into more remote areas, then explore off-trail over steep, rocky, rough terrain. I love to find new routes, which involves steep uphills and downhills, some traversing on steep slopes and scree, and some scrambling. I have wide feet, so my choice of footwear is more limited. I prefer trail runners with a wide toe box, lots of support and torsional stability, and a snug heel cup. My favorite backpacking shoe right now is the Vasque Velocity, which is available in wide. Other wide shoes that have served me well with are the New Balance 872 (which evolve to the 875 for spring 2009), Montrail Hardrock Wide, GoLite Storm Dragon, Keen Wasatch Crest, and Salomon XT Wings. I always wear short gaiters with trail runners to exclude snow, water, and debris. I only wear waterproof shoes when I expect wet conditions; otherwise I prefer a more breathable upper so my feet stay dryer and dry out fast if they do get wet.

Janet Reichl writes: I hike with Will in the southern Rockies and southern Utah, and we make an annual trip to the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming. My preference is to stay on trails as much as possible, and I like to wear lightweight low-cut trail runners with a mesh upper so they breathe well and dry out fast. Shoes I use a lot are the New Balance 872 and Keen Wasatch Crest. Both are excellent for mountain trails, but not for southern Utah sand, because the sand comes in through the mesh. There I prefer to use the Salomon XT Wings or Vasque Velocity. I always wear short gaiters, like the Montbell Stretch Gaiter, to keep debris out of my shoes. In winter, my favorite footwear is the Keen Growler with heavy wool socks.

(Photo not available.) Rick Dreher writes: My typical trail is steep, rocky, and rubble-strewn, often over a loose base of sand and silt. As someone with bad ankles, I’m always looking for a “perfect” pair of shoes and always falling short of the mark. The last several years, I guess “supportive trail runners” is where I’ve been shopping, although I’m not too cognizant of the differences among the many categories. I require torsional stiffness, a fairly wide toe, a straight last, and reasonably aggressive soles of hydrophilic rubber.

I’ve been using New Balance 810 ATs this season and have discovered that they, for whatever reason, now give me blisters on the balls of both feet. I have to fire them and find something else, as I’ve tried other insoles, double socks, etc. Too bad, because they’re otherwise comfortable and perform well, but with an overnight load on steep terrain something happens to upset the fit.

Last two seasons I used Montrail Hardrocks, but kept losing the nail on middle toe, left foot, so I’ve had to fire them as well. I just can’t tweak the fit; the left shoe is just a hair too short (interesting, as my right foot is a bit larger).

Other than outright fit, it’s impossible to figure out in the store what’s going to perform on the trail. (e.g., nobody can tell you which shoes are hydrophilic.) Every shoe is a basket of disappointments just waiting to be unveiled.

The crux is this: my daily hiking mileage is limited by my wheels (feet) more than my energy. It generally starts and ends there.

New Lightweight Footwear Standouts

The summer 2008 Outdoor Retailer Show provided us with an opportunity to search for new lightweight footwear that appear to stand out from the crowd. Please note that we have not tested these footwear models, so we are not recommending them; rather most are recent introductions or new footwear for spring 2009 that we perceive to be particularly suited for fast and light backpacking and worthy of consideration. Also note that our coverage does not include all manufacturers; there are many, many shoe manufacturers, and there simply was not enough time for us to visit every one of them at Outdoor Retailer to look at their shoes.

Space does not allow an in-depth description of each shoe, so I have provided basic information in the caption for each one. Note that shoe weights are for a men’s size 9, and all shoe models are available for both men and women unless stated otherwise.

Footwear Trends

Trail runners have evolved to the point where one is amazed at the amount of technology that is packed into a shoe, and they are remarkably light. It’s no wonder we prefer trail runners: they give us what we want – comfort, light weight, support, and stability. Overall it seems that the concepts and technologies embodied in trail runners have matured, and what we are seeing is new materials (fabrics, foams, rubbers, etc.) incorporated into trail runners to make them better, and shoes designed for more specialized applications (adventure racing, fell running, approaching, mountain biking, etc.). One wonders if the construction is really that different, or if it’s just re-packaging.

In contrast, it seems like light hikers are stuck in a time warp – traditional styles with leather and fabric uppers, lots of padding, a deep traction outsole, and weight of one to one-and-a-quarter pounds per boot. We looked hard for light hikers under sixteen ounces per boot and found a few, but they were generally unremarkable. The Montrail Hardrock 09 Mid (12.6 ounces/boot) and Inov-8 Rocklite 370 (13 ounces/boot) are exceptions; why don’t we have more of these?

Instead, it seems that manufacturers are afraid to depart from leather construction and traditional styles for fear that retailers and consumers won’t accept anything else. Apparently there are a lot of occasional hikers who walk into an outdoor store to buy hiking boots and walk out with a pair of light hikers of the type I described above, and most likely they will have a Gore-Tex lining because people don’t want to get their feet wet. That’s all fine, and I recognize that occasional hikers are a big part of the market, but why don’t they have more high performance mid-height lightweight hikers for people like us? I personally feel that most of us would buy mid-height boots if they were truly lightweight, highly supportive, and highly breathable.

Trail runners have become high-tech, and we are seeing trail running shoe technologies starting to migrate to light hikers to make them lighter, better cushioned, and more stable and supportive. The new La Sportive Flex Control boots are a hybrid, but they are still on the heavy side. The Montrail Hardrock Mid and Inov-8 Roclite 370 (pictured above) are good examples of what we are really looking for. Basically these shoes are just taller trail runners. Perhaps we have the beginning of a new footwear category – mid-height trail runners, or better yet – fastpackers. We do deserve to have our own footwear category don’t we?

New Footwear Technologies

In terms of the concept and potential, the new Ion Mask technology developed by P2i Ltd. in England is the most exciting development to come along for some time. Ion Mask is a patented plasma-based technology that permanently alters the surface of a fabric at a molecular level to repel water and other liquids – which are forced to bead and simply run off (see photo at the top of this article). As a surface enhancement technology, it works by invisibly binding polymers to each individual fiber. When a shoe is treated, for example, every fiber inside and out is coated with a fluorocarbon polymer. If the benefits of Ion Mask (minimum consumption of materials, durable long-lasting water-repellency, no effects on breathability and other fabric properties) are fully realized, Ion Mask enhancement represents a quantum leap in footwear and fabric treatment technology, and it could make shoe/boot waterproof-breathable membranes obsolete.

Here’s how the process works:

1. The item is put in a chamber within the machine.
2. Air is removed from the chamber to create a vacuum.
3. The machine generates a plasma to activate the surface of the item.
4. The chamber injects a fluorocarbon monomer which penetrates every fiber of the item.
5. After the finished treatment, every surface of the item is coated with a polymer layer only nanometers thick (1000 times thinner than a human hair) that is not visible to the eye.

Click here to download a pdf of the image below. (Adobe PDF File, 444k).

In the United States, Hi-Tec Sports is the first to use the technology on their shoes, and will be rolling out a total of nine models with Ion Mask treatment in spring 2009 (I highlighted two of them in our roundup). Regatta, a European outdoor brand, will feature Ion Mask on selected products in their Spring/Summer 2009 footwear ranges. P2i’s Business Development Director Dr. Ian Robins stated in a press release: “Since we won an Innovation Award last year at the ISPO Show and signed up our first high street brand, the phones haven’t stopped ringing. There’s no better way for us to showcase the amazing benefits of Ion Mask enhancement than by being able to demonstrate the technology on a variety of applications from the industry’s leading manufacturers. Interest has come from a wide range of markets, including companies involved in performance textiles, bio-consumables, and electronics, proving that the potential of this technology is almost infinite.”

Another noteworthy technology advancement is Vibram’s IdroGrip rubber compound, which is a very sticky rubber that is also firm and temperature stable. It’s a spin-off from their ExcessGrip developed for climbing shoes. This new compound is 30% stickier on wet surfaces and will be incorporated into various shoe models targeted to situations where extra dry and wet traction are needed.

Black Diamond Releases New Lantern

Rainwear is one of the most popular subjects among lightweight backpackers. That’s easy to understand, because we are dependent on our rainwear to keep us dry and warm when the weather turns wet. Plus, rainwear has multiple uses; it also serves as windwear and as an outer shell layer in camp. We are always looking for the most performance and dependability for the least amount of weight.

I am writing this rainwear update as part of Backpacking Light’s summer 2008 Outdoor Retailer coverage. My purposes are to summarize Backpacking Light’s current favorite lightweight rainwear in several categories and to highlight emerging new technologies and product introductions we found at the summer 2008 Outdoor Retailer trade show. This update is not meant to be comprehensive, like our Rainwear State of the Market Reports, the last of which was our 2005 Lightweight Rainwear Review Summary and Gear Guide Overview by Don Wilson. Rather, it will concentrate only on rainwear that we consider to be the lightweight standouts for backpacking. In doing so, I will incorporate some favorites and tips from the Backpacking Light staff on rainwear selection and use.

The categories I will be covering are eVENT, Gore-Tex, polyurethane laminates, Propore, Tyvek, and silnylon. Each (except silnylon) is a different waterproof/breathable technology. For a thorough description of these technologies, I recommend reading Waterproof Breathable Fabric Technologies: A Comprehensive Primer and State of the Market Technology Review by Alan Dixon and The Science of Breathability and Its Impact on Raingear Selection and Use by Ryan Jordan and Stuart Bilby. These articles by our Backpacking Light founding gurus provide a solid foundation for understanding waterproof-breathable technologies and garment physics as a basis for selecting rainwear.

Our arbitrary weight limit is eight ounces for a waterproof/breathable rain jacket with a hood. That reduces the field a lot, which is our purpose in this article. In order to include eVENT and Gore-Tex Pro Shell jackets in our selections, we had to raise the limit a bit. All weights are for a size medium, unless stated otherwise.

Some Realities

Although all of the rainwear discussed in this article is “waterproof-breathable,” there are definite limits to their breathability. Here are a few rainwear facts to keep in mind:

• While many WP/B garments will be comfortable at lower activity levels and cool/overcast/breezy conditions, all of them will be a sauna inside if you wear them while hiking uphill carrying a pack in warmer temperatures.
• PTFE laminates (like eVENT and Gore-Tex) breathe better than most other technologies, which means garments have a wider comfort range before they get steamy inside.
• Ventilation is more important than fabric breathability. Opening pit zips, core vents, and a full front zipper make a huge difference in maintaining comfort.
• Carrying a backpack interferes with fabric breathability and garment ventilation a lot.
• We perspire a lot more from our torso area than from our legs. Therefore, we can be comfortable with less breathable (and cheaper) rain pants.
• PTFE laminates (Gore-Tex and eVENT) require maintenance (cleaning and restoration of the surface DWR) to keep them waterproof.
• When only showers are expected, a highly water-resistant windshirt is much more breathable than any WP/B rainwear that has a membrane.

The bottom line is that “highly breathable” rainwear is not a silver bullet. Any highly breathable jacket with minimal ventilation options will easily be overwhelmed by perspiration at higher exertion levels. Ventilation is critical to making a jacket comfortable, especially when hiking uphill carrying a backpack. Carrying a backpack on top of a rain jacket interferes with breathability and ventilation because it covers your backside, the hipbelt seals the bottom, and the sternum strap reduces the effectiveness of opening the front zipper (I usually don’t use the sternum strap when I’m wearing a rain jacket so I can get more ventilation when I need it). The situation is exacerbated by the fact that rainwear manufacturers rely on fabric breathability too much and remove ventilation options like pit zips and core vents to save weight and money. Ideally, what we really need is rainwear made of highly breathable fabric, plus several effective ventilation options that work with a backpack, with minimal weight.

eVENT

eVENT fabric (an ePTFE laminate) is the gold standard for breathability and (along with Gore-Tex rainwear) is the most expensive. Unfortunately, not much has changed in this category. Most eVENT fabric in current jackets is a three-layer construction with a nylon face around 30 denier, resulting in a heavier, stiffer garment. Consequently, the weight of the lightest eVENT jackets is still in the ten- to thirteen-ounce range.

This begs the question: Why has the weight of eVENT jackets stalled? We have Gore-Tex PacLite jackets in the six- to eight-ounce range (see below), so why not an eVENT jacket in the same range? Many of the PacLite jackets (see below) have a 15 denier face fabric and an essential feature set and come in under eight ounces, so why is eVENT lagging behind? In Europe, Crux and CAMP are now using a two-layer eVENT sleeping bag shell that is very soft and light – it has to be for a sleeping bag shell. So, we know they can do it, but why don’t we have lighter eVENT constructions for rainwear? Is the demand not there?

To find answers to these questions, I visited the eVENT booth at Outdoor Retailer and got the following response from eVENT representative Anna McCormack (paraphrased): “Manufacturers are already using face fabrics down to 20 denier (in Japan), and eVENT’s new factory in Shanghai is open to laminating the ePTFE membrane to nearly any fabric, so lighter eVENT fabrics are readily available and can go lighter. The need is for manufacturers to take the initiative to construct a lighter eVENT jacket; it’s in their ball park. They need to select lighter fabric constructions, garment designs, and features to pare the weight down. A sub-eight-ounce eVENT jacket is easily attainable, if manufacturers want to do it.”

So apparel manufacturers, we’re issuing the sub-eight-ounce eVENT jacket challenge: give us a really light eVENT jacket with an essential feature set, and we will pounce on it! We want to see some movement in the development of lighter eVENT fabrics and garments.

Speaking of improved eVENT technology, the word on the street is that the new lamination factory General Electric built for eVENT fabric production frees eVENT from a third party producer (and its preference to use in-house face fabrics) and opens the door to the use of a wide array of face fabrics with eVENT. So, look for a greater variety of fabric constructions in the future. Also, eVENT has an improved process to apply their proprietary oligophobic coating on the ePTFE membrane that will result in increased breathability of garments produced after summer 2009. We don’t have any information on the actual percentage increase at this time.

The current lightest and still our favorite is the Integral Designs eVENT Rain Jacket (8.9 ounces, US$240). Mike Martin notes: “My favorite for bushwhacking, skiing, and guaranteed sloppy conditions; 10.2 ounces in XL.” It’s my favorite too, because of its light weight and simplicity. The non-adjustable unbrimmed hood has an elastic hem that fits just fine. Hikers who don’t like the shorter body length can opt for the Integral Designs eVENT Thru Hiker Jacket (11.9 ounces, US$260) which is three inches longer.

A close contender that we found at summer OR is the CAMP A-Event Anorak (9.6 ounces), which is now available throughout Europe, but won’t be available in the U.S. until 2010, when CAMP plans to introduce more of their products. The anorak has an angled zipper to the left side of the hood to prevent chin chafing, a kangaroo front pocket, a sleeve pocket, and drawcord adjustors on the hood, cuffs, and hem. A full-zip jacket and pant will also be available.

A new addition to the Rab line of eVENT clothing is the Momentum Jacket (12 ounces, US$285), made of soft three-layer eVENT and featuring two zippered chest pockets and a wire brimmed helmet-compatible hood. The popular Drillium (13 ounces, US$275) will be updated for spring 2009 with a softer/lighter eVENT fabric, some changes to the roll-away hood, and the addition of an internal pocket, all of which increase the weight by one ounce. They also added a women’s version of the Drillium jacket and unisex Drillium pants (10 ounces, US$175).

Doug Johnson’s favorite jacket is the Montane Quick Fire (11 ounces, about US$348) which has a stow-away hood and seems to be very similar to the Rab Drillium. Some really good news is that Montane gear is coming to the U.S. in spring 2009 through an exclusive dealership with Backcountry.com. Montane has a wide range of really light apparel of interest for lightweight backpacking, so we welcome their arrival with open arms.

Another significant event (so to speak) is that eVENT is coming to an REI store near you.

REI and eVENT have announced a new partnership to launch a technical, high-end, REI-branded outerwear collection made with eVENT fabrics. The first products to be introduced in fall 2008 are the Shuksan and Kulshan jacket and pants. The feature-rich jacket in men’s large isn’t the lightest (17.8 ounces), but it is full featured and really nice. The companion pant weighs a whopping 22.7 ounces and (in my opinion) is only really useful as a ski pant. Planned MSRPs are US$289 for the jacket and US$229 for the pant.

The Montane Atomic DT Jacket (8 oz, US$179) is made of a fabric called Entrant DT, which, according to Toray America, is a hydrophobic microporous membrane with a 15 denier nylon face fabric. The Atomic DT is one of Chris Townsend’s favorites. Chris notes: “I like the Atomic DT because it is a lightweight rain jacket suitable for severe conditions, as it has a big hood with a wired brim that gives full protection, and it has a double flap over the front zip. Ventilation is good too, as the cuffs are wide for good airflow in the sleeves and the big chest pockets are mesh-lined and so act as vents when open”. According to Alan Dixon’s article on waterproof-breathable fabric technologies (referenced above), test data show that Entrant is more breathable than Gore-Tex, but not quite as breathable as eVENT. Its flat line of breathability versus relative humidity is similar to that of eVENT. Entrant fabrics are more common in Europe (especially the UK) but nearly unknown in the U.S. It has the potential to bring eVENT-like performance into lighter, less expensive garments – if it can penetrate the U.S. market dominated by Gore-Tex.

A maverick in this category is Montbell’s Breeze Dry-Tec technology. Montbell headquarters won’t let out what it is exactly, but it is claimed to be air permeable, so we suspect it is one of the Entrant technologies. Users have consistently praised its breathability. Montbell’s lightest jacket with this technology is the new for spring 2009 Outpace Parka (9.4 ounces, US$249), which sports a basic feature set and core-vent hand pockets for extra ventilation.

Gore-Tex

Gore-Tex (an ePTFE-PU laminate) is the self-appointed Holy Grail of WP/B rainwear; their marketing machine has convinced many people that Gore-Tex is the “best” technology available with their “Guaranteed to keep you dry” tagline. Granted, it’s waterproof and durable, but it’s not as breathable as eVENT. The cost is about the same as eVENT rainwear.

As you probably know, standard Gore-Tex and Gore-Tex XCR have been replaced by Gore-Tex Pro Shell and Performance Shell, and Gore-Tex PacLite continues as the lightweight, more packable version. Pro Shell is more durable and breathable than PacLite, but most Pro Shell jackets are on the heavy side. However, the Montbell Thunderhead is an exception (12.1 ounces, US$298). It reduces weight and cost by incorporating panels of PacLite on the shoulders, has an essential feature set, and performs well because its large pit zips provide good supplemental ventilation. The Arc’Teryx Alpha LT (11 ounces, US$499) is entirely made of Pro Shell and aces the Montbell Thunderhead on weight, but it is very expensive.

The really lightweight Gore-Tex jackets use PacLite for the entire garment. The lightest is Haglofs OZ Pullover (6.2 ounces) which uses a 15 denier nylon face fabric. Unfortunately, Haglofs does not have any U.S. dealers, but it is available in several European countries. In the U.S., the Outdoor Research Zealot (7.2 ounces, US$199) is the lightest PacLite Jacket, which also has a 15 denier face fabric and a full front zipper. Sorry, no pit zips on either jacket. Alan Dixon comments: “My favorite for cooler trips (e.g., the wet fjord-land coast of New Zealand’s South Island) in minimalist style is the Zealot.”

Polyurethane Laminates

Nearly every manufacturer has its own proprietary polyurethane laminate based waterproof/breathable rainwear. These constructions (a hydrophilic monolithic polyurethane laminate or coating on a face fabric) are less expensive to produce, garments are softer and more stuffable than ePTFE laminates, and they don’t require any particular maintenance. Another advantage of PU laminates (and PTFE laminates) is durability; even the thinnest constructions are adequately durable for backpacking.

Manufacturers are pushing the limits of lightness with very thin face fabrics and PU coatings, which also increases their breathability to some extent. Even so, the breathability of polyurethane laminates is limited by the technology itself – water must pass through the polyurethane layer by solid state diffusion, then evaporate from the outside surface, which is a slow process. The key to comfort with these jackets (or any rain jacket) is ventilation. However, many manufacturers cut ventilation features (like pit zips) to save weight, which is a clear tradeoff. The very lightest jacket may not be the most comfortable. The challenge is to retain ventilation options AND reduce weight, so theoretically there is a happy medium.

Unfortunately, we have lost some of the lighter rainwear in this category; the Patagonia Specter Pullover (6.5 ounces, US$225) is discontinued, the Montane 180 Pullover (7.1 ounces size L, US$167) is gone, and the current Sierra Designs Isotope (5.4 ounces in size L, US$90) will get a makeover and gain some weight in spring 2009 (more on that below). Things are constantly changing, and good gear comes and goes. Ryan Jordan’s comment: “My favorite is the Patagonia Specter. Old habits die young. I’m on my last one!”

The title of the lightest truly waterproof nylon-faced rain jacket goes to The North Face Triumph Anorak (5.4 ounces, US$179). Its thin, 15 denier HyVent DT fabric has an excellent DWR, holds up to prolonged rain, and is adequately durable. To achieve that weight, it’s mostly Spartan, but it does have a drawcord adjustable hood and hem and has one small chest pocket. The North Face Diad Jacket (7.8 ounces, US$199) is made of the same 15 denier HyVent DT fabric and kicks it up a notch. To achieve these low weights while retaining features, North Face has made an extraordinary effort to reduce weight by using thinner elastic drawcords, fewer adjustors, fewer seams, and narrow seam tape. Don Wilson really likes the Diad “because it has a great feature set for such a light jacket – full zip, eight-inch pit zips, chest pocket, two hand pockets, good cuffs, and nice hood with a lot of flexibility.” Alan Dixon adds: “I prefer the Diad for warmer trips where I want the pockets, ventilation, and features. The Diad is a more flexible jacket adaptable to many conditions and needs, with a ton of features for the weight. It has a full zip (I’m not a big fan of pullover rain jackets like the Specter, although they are certainly appealing to some.”

The Sierra Designs Isotope (5.4 ounces size L, US$90) ties The North Face Triumph on weight and exceeds it on features, but trails it on performance. The current Isotope will handle light showers okay, but wets through in prolonged rain. The Isotope Pant is different, as it’s made of a slightly heavier fabric than the jacket and its 5.6-ounce weight includes a zippered fly (men’s model), elastic waist drawcord, zippered rear pocket, and fourteen-inch ankle zips with Velcro closures. They have more features for the weight and cost US$70 (the same as the GoLite Reed pant), so the current Isotope Pant is a good value.

Sierra Design’s Isotope Jacket will receive a makeover for spring 2009. The new jacket will incorporate an improved Nanolite fabric with better breathability and Sierra Design’s Condor construction, a new pattern that increases freedom of movement. The downside is the weight will increase to eight ounces. Bummer on the weight increase, but the bright side may be better storm worthiness. We tried on the new Isotope at Outdoor Retailer, and found the men’s version to have a trimmer fit and the women’s model to have a looser fit. Overall, both jackets fit better than the previous version. The internal drop pockets are gone.

The Mountain Hardwear Quark jacket (available now, 9.2 ounces in size L, US$200) is above our weight limit, but it has a significant redeeming factor – pit zips. This is the lightest rain jacket we know of that has full-length pit zips, fourteen inches long with double sliders (the pit zips on the North Face Diad are only eight inches long). Its 1.7 oz/yd² Incite fabric, consisting of a Conduit membrane laminated to a printed brushed tricot, is a step forward in lightweight fabric technology. It’s like a really light mosquito netting with a thin waterproof-breathable membrane attached to it. The resulting fabric is very light and breathable, and Mountain Hardwear’s Z-Weld stitchless construction reduces garment weight. My only complaint is the heavier elastic cord used in the hood and hem drawcords; simply going to thinner elastic cords with fewer/lighter adjustors would get this jacket down near our eight ounce limit, which would be an excellent balance of light weight, breathability, ventilation options, and features. With a little weight reduction, it could easily challenge The North Face Diad jacket and the new Marmot Mica Jacket (see below).

In contrast, the spring 2009 Marmot Mica (men’s) and Crystalline (women’s) Jacket (6.5 ounces, US$130) seem to get it right, both in weight and price. They use Marmot’s new MemBrain Strata, in which the half-layer (the .5 protective layer) is printed on the inside of the membrane. The fabric is less expensive to produce, yet it provides the same performance of a conventional 2.5 layer PU laminate. It’s claimed to be less clammy inside and weighs significantly less. The Mica/Crystalline has a basic feature set consisting of two hidden hand pockets and full front water-resistant zip, plus adjustable hood, cuffs, and hem.

The best buys in this category are the GoLite Virga Jacket (8 ounces, US$80) and companion Reed Pant (6 ounces, US$70), and the upcoming Marmot Mica Jacket. The Virga jacket fits well and has a pair of hand pockets. The Reed rain pant is a good choice to go with most any type of rain jacket. As mentioned above, a less breathable rain pant is sufficient because our legs perspire less, and the Reed is as light as they come. Their ankle zips allow them to be pulled on over hiking boots, as long as your feet are not larger than a size twelve. Carol Crooker’s favorite rainwear is “A GoLite Virga prototype – before they added pockets – that’s six ounces. The GoLite Virga kept me warm and dry enough recently on the CDT in Colorado. I hiked in a light rain with the hood over my head and the jacket draped over my shoulders. Tying the sleeves in front of me kept the jacket in place even in breezy conditions and kept my shoulders dry.”

Overall, we’re seeing a trend in this category away from minimum weight/Spartan rain jackets and toward jackets in the eight-ounce range with an essential feature set. The original Spartan GoLite Virga jacket we saw at summer 2006 weighed just six ounces, but hand pockets were added in the production version to bring the weight up to eight ounces. The original full-featured Sierra Designs Isotope jacket weighed just 4.4 ounces, but it wasn’t storm worthy enough; the current version weighs 5.4 ounces, and it still isn’t storm worthy enough, and the new spring 2009 upgrade will weigh eight ounces. The North Face Diad, our favorite lightweight full-featured jacket in this category, weighs (you guessed it) eight ounces. Eight ounces seems to be the magic number for an adequately durable, storm worthy, ventilated, nicely featured polyurethane laminate rain jacket. If you cut features, including ventilation options, we have The North Face Triumph Anorak (5.4 ounces) as our lightweight favorite.

Propore

Rainwear made of 3M Propore (a microporous polypropylene membrane laminated to a nonwoven polypropylene face fabric) is light, inexpensive, baggy, and fragile. Propore is more breathable than Gore-Tex, but not as breathable as eVENT.

The lightest are the RainShield O2 jacket (5.5 ounces, US$30) and the DriDucks jacket (5.2 ounces in large, about US$15). Both garments can be found at substantial discounts online. Frogg Toggs (a three-layer construction of the same components) tends to be heavier and more expensive. An advantage of the RainShield and DriDucks rainwear is they have a slick surface finish that acts like a DWR to shed water, while Frogg Toggs have a fuzzy surface that retains water.

A distinct disadvantage of Propore is its lack of durability. Janet Reichl finds a new tear in her RainShield jacket after nearly every use. Fortunately it patches easily with duct tape or any type of cloth tape, and with reasonable care a RainShield jacket can last for years. Besides, a rain jacket with lots of patches is really cool! Our experience with Propore pants is they don’t last very long. The knees and seat blow out fairly quickly from kneeling down and from sitting on rough logs and rocks. I recommend using a lightweight nylon rain pant instead, such as the GoLite Reed or Sierra Designs Isotope pant.

Tyvek

The use of Tyvek clothing for rainwear was first brought to my attention by reader John McKay. The specific Tyvek (a spunbonded olefin) I am referring to is type 1443R “soft structure” Tyvek that is used for disposable clothing. This type of Tyvek is soft, waterproof, very durable, highly breathable, and cheap. According to industry information, this type of Tyvek is “six times more breathable than microporous film garment materials.” That may be a bit of an overstatement, but Tyvek clothing can be called a “poor man’s eVENT.” A hooded full zip Tyvek “jacket” (see below) can weigh as little as three ounces and cost US$5; pants weigh 2.2 ounces and cost about US$2.25. An entire rainsuit can weigh a little over five ounces and cost only a few dollars. I have seam sealed Tyvek clothing (with silicone) and used it for windwear and rainwear with good results.

However, there are some drawbacks. While Tyvek pants can be used without modification, the only way to get a hooded full zip Tyvek jacket is to cut the top off of hooded coveralls. All you have to do is cut the coveralls below the zipper; you don’t need to hem the cut edge because Tyvek doesn’t unravel. Since the zipper doesn’t separate at the bottom, you need to don your new full zip hooded jacket as a pullover. The legs can be converted to rain chaps. A Tyvek shirt and lab coat (which is longer) are available, but they have a snap closure and no hood. They could be used as is for windwear but some modifications would be needed to convert them to decent rainwear. Also, Tyvek clothing needs to be seam sealed to make it waterproof, and the zippers are not the water-resistant type.

It’s hard to find a source of Tyvek clothing that sells it by the piece; most dealers sell it by the case. A good source is MPE Safety Apparel (www.disposable-garments.com), who sell recycled Tyvek clothing by the piece at discount prices.

With some flexibility and creativity, Tyvek clothing can easily be put to use for ultralight backpacking, especially by readers who love a challenge and an opportunity to save some money. I am looking forward to seeing some interesting forum exchanges when readers take this idea and run with it.

Silnylon

Silnylon (silicone impregnated rip-stop nylon) can be effectively used for lightweight rainwear, if the “garment” provides lots of ventilation. Silnylon weighs 1.3 oz/yd² and is totally waterproof and non-breathable. Thus, any rainwear made of silnylon (or spinnaker cloth) has to be well ventilated.

Our favorite rainwear in this category is diverse. I really like the [http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/six_moon_designs_gatewood_cape_review.html Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape] (11 ounces, US$135) because it serves as both shelter and rainwear and does it better than a poncho-tarp. It provides an excellent floorless solo shelter when bugs are not a problem, and it doubles as a poncho and pack cover. The AntiGravityGear Poncho Villa (5.5 ounces, US$79) doubles as a vestibule for their Tarptent shelter and a poncho. The poncho will cover a smaller backpack and is best worn with rain pants. Another innovative silnylon rainwear is the Packa (11 ounces, US$110), but it’s a bit too heavy by our standards. Senior Editor Roger Caffin has created his own design that weighs just 6.7 ounces, and Backpacking Light will be publishing a MYOG article on it soon.

Our final selection in this category is the Etowah Outfitters/ULA Equipment Rain Wrap (2.9-3.2 ounces, US$25), which is basically a rain skirt. It goes on and off very quickly, extends down below the knees, and is easy to walk in. (Ok, let’s not get carried away with jokes about what the thru-hiker is wearing under his Rain Wrap!) It suffices very well for lightweight leg rainwear while hiking on trails in warmer weather.

Ken Knight comments: “I still use an old Montane jacket or even older Stephenson poncho. I suspect that I’m going to give the AGG Poncho Villa a good look along with their shelter. I actually don’t mind a slightly heavier rain jacket, especially if it’s longer in the body and can do double duty as a windshirt without causing me to overheat. This is not something that is easy to achieve, but I don’t like having to carry a windshirt and a raincoat if I can avoid it, more because it’s an extra item to worry about than the weight, which is pretty small.”

Rainwear Comparison

To summarize my discussion of the various rainwear alternatives, I constructed the following table to compare the pros and cons of each rainwear type.

New Rainwear Technologies

New technologies to provide us with lightweight breathable rainwear are emerging, albeit slowly. One of the most exciting is Pertex Shield, a new family of durable waterproof-breathable fabrics from Mitsui (who purchased the Pertex technology from Perseverance Mills in 2006). It is based on a polyurethane membrane technology from Mitsui laminated to Pertex face fabrics. The constructions are Shield 02 (2-layer), Shield DS (2.5 layer), and Shield 03 (3-layer), all waterproof-breathable fabrics with excellent breathability and costs lower than either eVENT or Gore-Tex Pro Shell. The two- and three-layer fabrics will provide about 20,000 g/m²/day breathability levels (according to the JIS 1099 B1 standard). That’s pretty respectable compared to eVENT (~27,000 g/m²/day), Gore-Tex XCR (~21,000 g/m²/day), Entrant (about 21,000 g/m²/day), and most polyurethane coatings (5,000 to 15,000 g/m²/day). The lightest versions of Shield will weigh about 2.0 oz/yd² (two-layer) and 3.0 oz/yd² (three-layer). Pertex Shield won’t be the lightest, most breathable, or cheapest of the waterproof breathable fabrics, but it could be the right balance of breathability, light weight, and price to win a solid position in the market. The same case can be made for the Toray Entrant waterproof-breathable technology.

A new technology called “Ion Mask,” developed by a British company called P2i Ltd, could revolutionize waterproof-breathable clothing and the apparel and footwear industries. The company’s treatment applies a nanotechnology surface treatment to the entire surface of a product which is only nanometers thick. The layer is molecularly bound to the surface of the material and cannot be removed by solvents, chemicals, or “common environmental conditions,” making it incredibly durable. The company claims that treated materials (e.g., a garment) display ultra low surface energy values down to one third of that of PTFE (Teflon), making it ultra-slippery and very water repellent, ideal for the outside of a waterproof jacket.

The beauty of Ion Mask is that it applies a “permanent” waterproofing without altering other qualities of the garment, so for example, breathability remains the same. Entire garments, including the zippers, become highly water-repellent. This breakthrough technology, if it really works and is adopted by the outdoor industry, opens the door to potentially limitless applications. Rainwear seems like an ideal application. A three-ounce hooded windshirt can potentially be treated with Ion Mask to transform it into an effective ultralight rain jacket. The same could be true for gloves, hats, and other apparel.

Current DWR treatments are fairly short-lived: they wear off or wash off in a short while, and the garment “wets out,” meaning the surface fabric becomes saturated, and water weeps through to the inside. A permanent waterproofing treatment that does not affect breathability would be a major breakthrough, making chemical DWR treatments an antiquated technology.

I inquired around at OR for any applications of Ion Mask, and found it already in use to waterproof footwear. Hi-Tech demonstrated the Ion Mask technology at winter 2007 Outdoor Retailer, and will be introducing light hikers with the technology in spring 2009. For more information on the Ion Mask process and its application to footwear, see my article entitled: 2008 Lightweight Footwear Roundup (to be published soon).

Finally, another waterproofing technology that caught our eye is the Dry Freak Dry Prodigy treatment demonstrated at Outdoor Demo. This fluoro-polymer coating creates a surface that is extremely hydrophobic, causing water to bead up and roll off, as shown in the photo. The result is a “waterproof shirt.” Dry Freak claims that the treatment doesn’t modify from outside conditions like a DWR treatment does, and it only loses 10% of its repellency after seventy washings. A “waterproof shirt” is something to ponder; it seems like it would be useful rainwear for light showers in warm weather. The treatment also resists soiling, so the garment stays cleaner. The shirt shown in the photo below weighs about six ounces and costs US$46.

The Envelope Just Got Bigger

As a lightweight, technically minded backpacker, if you were looking to rate the overall performance of a sleeping pad, you might define a “performance envelope” consisting of parameters like warmth, weight, comfort, and packed size. A traditional backpacker might also include durability and ease-of-use, but I’d argue these are less important to lightweight hikers. Tradeoffs among these parameters are unavoidable in any pad technology. For example, closed-cell foam pads are generally lighter, but less comfortable and bulkier than self-inflators.

The new Therm-a-Rest NeoAir pad expands the envelope by offering a 2.5 inch thickness for comfort, an extremely compact stored size, and a claimed R-value of R-2.5 for warmth. The NeoAir achieves the comfort and compact size by virtue of its non-self-inflating construction. This itself is not new in pad designs, as companies such as Big Agnes, Exped, and Pacific Outdoor Equipment have had this type of pad for some time. By eliminating or reducing the thickness of the internal insulation, a non-self-inflator can be blown up to a plush, comfortable thickness, and still be deflated to a compact size for packing. The drawback of this kind of construction is that it is difficult to achieve much thermal insulation. If the pad is constructed with large, empty air chambers like the Big Agnes Clearview Pad, convective air currents in the pad will decrease its insulation dramatically. One way around this is to add some down or synthetic high-loft insulation to the inside of the pad chambers, as is done in the Exped Downmats, Pacific Outdoor Equipment Ether Thermo pads, and Big Agnes Insulated Air Core series. By impeding convective currents, this construction adds substantial warmth. But, it adds weight and increases packed bulk. Plus, if down is used, a pump must be used for inflation to avoid trapping moisture from your breath inside the pad.

The NeoAir promises to deliver the light weight, simplicity, and compactibility of an insulation-less non-self-inflator like the Clearview Air, with the warmth of an insulated pad. It achieves this with a five-layer honeycomb construction that disrupts convective currents and reflects radiant heat.

Producing this honeycomb structure, dubbed “Core Matrix,” required new manufacturing technology. A proprietary machine made in Tacoma, Washington welds the five fabric layers simultaneously. The process is time consuming, requiring up to ten minutes for the machine to complete the discrete welds. Current prototype pads are being made with a prototype welder, but the company has a larger capacity machine in development. Somewhat surprisingly in this day of Asian-produced goods, the production pads will be made in Seattle.

The technology has taken over five years of development. They were initially looking to build a lightweight pad using conventional high loft insulation. This evolved into attempts to achieve semi-self inflation by orienting the matrix vertically. Eventually a horizontal matrix was decided upon to reduce the number of welds needed and improve warmth by reducing the vertical size of the “chimneys” inside each cell.

Materials consist of a 30 denier high tenacity ripstop nylon shell, nylon non-woven inner layers, and a central aluminized, urethane-coated, reflective layer. The layer sandwich is claimed to offer an R-value of R-2.5 at 1.85 inches of inflation. (As with all inflatable pads, the R-value depends on the inflation thickness – more air equals more insulation.)

The technology and design of the pad appear impressive, but as with any potentially revolutionary product, we’ll have to wait and see if production versions live up to the initial promise. A full review of the NeoAir is in the works at BackpackingLight.com. The pad will be available April 2009 in four sizes.

Features of the Small Version:

• Dimensions: 20 x 47 in (51 x 119 cm)
• Claimed Weight: 9 oz (260 g)
• MSRP: US$119.95

What About Conventional Therm-a-Rests?

If the price or new technology of the NeoAir frightens you off, Cascade Designs has completely revamped the rest of the Therm-a-Rest pad line. The existing Prolite 4 series of pads has been updated to increase warmth by a claimed 20% with no additional weight penalty by utilizing a “cross die-cut” foam configuration. Most self-inflating pads punch vertical holes through the foam to reduce weight and stuff size. These holes can create miniature chimneys for convective air currents.

The slanted die-cut foam technology in the new “Prolite Plus” pad is claimed to act as a barrier, slowing down the convective transfer of heat within the cell to the sleeping surface. The claimed weight remains unchanged at one and a half pounds for a regular seventy-two-inch mattress. Prolite Plus pads will be available in three unisex sizes with a claimed R-value of R-3.8, as well as one women’s version rated at R-4.5. MSRP’s range from US$79.95 to US$199.95 for the various sizes. Lengths range from forty-seven to seventy-seven inches. Available March 2009. If the field performance matches the claimed R-values, these pads should all be amply warm as sole pads for winter use.

For thee-season use, Therm-a-Rest has streamlined the shape of their existing Prolite 3 pads and renamed them, simply, “Prolite.” The new pads are tapered slightly more aggressively and feature rounder tops and bottoms. These changes reduce the amount of material used for a given sized pad and result in weight reduction – always a plus for lightweight hikers. The new Prolite pads will be offered in three unisex sizes, plus a women’s size. The smallest and lightest pad in this series is the torso-sized extra-small version, measuring twenty by thirty-six inches, and claiming an eight ounce weight. This makes it one of the lightest self-inflating pads commercially available. MSRP’s range from US$59.95 to US$119.95, depending on size. Available January 2009.

No Oyl Shortage Here

Pacific Outdoor Equipment is going green(er?) this year with the introduction of their Peak Oyl family of pads. The new pads incorporate foam made from palm oil and shells made from recycled PET fabric. The new foam is a polyurethane blend made from 40% palm oil rather than petroleum-based oil. The shell is at least partially made from recycled beverage containers. The first pads in this series are the Peak Oyl Lite and Peak Oyl Aero Mountain, replacing their current AO Lite and AO Aero Mountain pads. Their strategy is to introduce the Peak Oyl materials into these higher end products this year and have it trickle into the rest of their product line in the future. According to company vice president Greg Garrigues, migrating to the new, allegedly more eco-friendly materials required no compromise in weight or performance. The Peak Oyl Lite will be available in five standard and women’s sizes ranging from forty-eight to seventy-eight inches long and thirteen to twenty-one ounces (claimed). MSRP’s from US$70 to US$95. The Peak Oyl Aero Mountain will come in similar sizes with claimed weights from 18 to 29.5 ounces. MSRPs from US$114 to US$139.

Want To Design Your Own Sleeping Pad?

Pacific Outdoor Equipment is starting a new program next year called Über Concepts. They plan to release up to ten design iterations of a new pad throughout the year based on customer feedback. The idea is to produce small batches of pads each month and repeatedly revise the design with a very fast development cycle. Customers will make suggestions for improvements with each version, and the product will evolve throughout the year. Want a four-ounce twenty-four by twelve inch “shoulder blade” pad or extra cushioning for the small of your back? Join the program and become a pad designer.

The World’s Lightest Commercially Available Canister Stove

New from Snow Peak is their GigaPower LiteMax Stove, which is claimed to be the lightest commercially available canister stove in the world with a weight of 1.9 ounces (55 grams). (One should note that savvy BackpackingLight.com readers have been driving product liability lawyers into a frenzy by fabricating their own and/or modifying commercial designs to make lighter stoves for some time.)

The LiteMax is an evolution of the older and heavier GigaPower Micro Max stove that weighs 3.3 ounces (94 grams) in the titanium version and boasts an integrated piezo igniter. Snow Peak has been working for more than a year with Kovea, the LiteMax manufacturer, to reduce the weight. Last summer we reported on the version we dubbed the Micro Giga that eliminated the igniter and substituted some lighter materials to bring the weight down to 2.15 ounces (60 grams). Snow Peak never brought that particular version to market, but instead concentrated on further refining the design to reduce the weight.

The LiteMax eliminates virtually all brass and stainless steel parts from prior versions, and makes extensive use of titanium for the burner and pot support and uses aluminum for the valve and mixing tube. The use of aluminum in the lower portions of the stove presented some engineering challenges, as its high thermal conductivity heated the valve seat excessively.

The solution was to incorporate an insulating gasket at the bottom of the burner to keep the aluminum parts cooler. Holes have even been drilled in the pot supports to further reduce weight. This last iteration of refinements has yielded a stove weighing only 1.9 ounces (55 grams) (which I have personally verified on our official scale), yet that still able to produce a claimed maximum output power of 11,200 BTU per hour. MSRP US$55.00. Available since spring 2008.

Brunton Joins the Remote Canister Stove Club

We’ve long been supporters of remote canister stoves for cold weather operation. In order for a canister stove to perform well in sub-freezing conditions, two features are needed:

1) The ability to deliver liquid fuel from the canister to reduce canister cooling and preferential vaporization of propane in the fuel mix – both achieved by turning the canister upside-down on a stove with a remotely-located fuel canister connected to the stove through a flexible hose.

2) A preheat tube near the burner that will vaporize the fuel with heat from the burner prior to mixing with air. The new Vesta Stove from Brunton offers both of these features and joins similar stoves from its competitors with an attractive, compact, sturdy, and fairly lightweight offering. We have not tested the Vesta for inverted canister operation, but its inclusion of the two features above suggests that it may be suited for that application.

Disclaimer: Inverting the canister on any stove should only be attempted by knowledgeable users on stoves with features enabling such use, and, even then, at their own risk. Improperly inverting a canister can lead to intense fire and/or explosion.

Features:

• Also available in a white gas version called the Bantam
• Claimed Weight: 8.5 oz (241 g)
• 11,500 BTU per hour
• MSRP: US$59.99
• Available February 2009

Primus Expands the Eta Line of Integrated Stoves

While liquid-feed fuel capability is a minimum requirement for a winter stove – if enough snow is to be melted – fuel use can be dramatically reduced through the use of stove systems with efficient windscreens and pots with integrated heat exchangers. For short trips with one or two persons, the added weight of these components usually will not offset the weight of the fuel saved. But for longer trips…in colder weather…in a large group, the fuel savings will eventually pay for the added system weight.

We used the Primus EtaPower EF Stove last February for ten days in sub-freezing conditions on an igloo expedition in Yellowstone National Park. With its heat exchanger pot and windscreen, the stove was impressive for efficiently melting snow for our large group. So little heat energy (and therefore fuel) was wasted while melting snow that it was even difficult warm your hands over the stove! Yet, all of us on the trip thought that it was overbuilt for lightweight backpacking – the heavy-gauge materials and frypan lid added unnecessary weight to the system. Primus addressed the need for a lighter system in January with the introduction of their EtaExpress Stove. But unfortunately, the EtaExpress lacked the capability of a liquid fuel feed and so was not really suitable for sub-freezing use.

The new Primus EtaPackLite combines the highly efficient pot with integrated heat exchanger from the larger EtaPower stove with a lighter liquid-feed burner, lid, and windscreen to bring the weight down to claimed 21 ounces (595 grams) (22.6 ounces / 641 grams measured on our official scale). The complete system consists of the stove base with burner and piezo igniter, adjustable wind screen, graduated serving bowl, and a 1.2 liter non-stick pot with polycarbonate lid that doubles as a colander. Had this been available last February, this would have been the snowmelting stove system of choice for our trip – though we might have left the serving bowl behind to shave another two ounces or so. MSRP US$115. Available spring 2009.

Jetboil Answers Back with the Helios

Aiming to extend the cold weather performance of their integrated stove systems, Jetboil has added the Helios to their line. The Helios is a remote canister version of their earlier PCS and GCS stoves. Featuring a tripod-like stand for an upside-down canister, the Helios is one of the few stoves on the market actually designed and marketed for inverted canister operation, rather than simply operated that way by expert users. The windscreen is also unique, as it is made of a transparent plastic material that allows a good view of the stove while it is in operation. The windscreen snaps to the stove base to hold it in place. Like the Primus EtaPower stove we used in Yellowstone, the Helios is clearly too heavy for lightweight backpacking – except possibly for extended Winter trips with a large group. Still, we’re enthusiastic about the growth of the inverted-canister category of stoves.

Features:

• 2L Pot with Integrated Heat Exchanger and Neoprene Cozy
• 10,000 BTU/hr Claimed Heat Power Output
• Claimed Weight: 28 oz (793 g)
• Measured Weight: 29 oz (824 g)
• MSRP: US$149.95
• Available Since March 2008

Trail Designs/AntiGravityGear Caldera Keg Cooking System

Integrated cooking systems are not limited to canister stoves. We hooked up with George Andrews of AntiGravityGear (AGG) and got our hot little hands on the new 6.3-ounce (179-gram) Caldera Keg Cooking System. The basic cooking system mates a twenty-four-ounce Foster’s beer can cook pot with a specific Caldera Cone, and includes a lid, caddy (mug and bowl), 12-10 alcohol burner, fuel bottle, and cozy for the bowl and costs US$59.00. The expanded kit adds an AGG cozy that encloses the caddy and a silnylon stuff sack for the entire system and costs about US$20.00 more.

This is the most complete alcohol cooking system we have ever seen, and the integration of the components is absolutely amazing. The Trail Designs (TD) Caldera Keg system and the AGG accessory pot cozy and stuff sack are two products that can be purchased separately or together. The TD Caldera Keg system, which slides inside a lightweight threaded 3.75 x 7.5-inch (9.5 x 19-cm) plastic tube, is a complete 6.3-ounce (179-gram) cooking system by itself. The addition of AntiGravityGear’s 1.5-ounce (43 gram) pot cozy and stuff sack are very useful embellishments.

The introduction of the Caldera Cone by Trail Designs has provided us with an efficient, reliable, and predictable alcohol cooking system akin to a canister stove system. Now, with the introduction of the Caldera Keg, we have the lightest complete cooking system to be found anywhere. We can’t wait to get out and use it.

Farewell to an Old Friend

Finally, fans of Coleman Powermax stoves such as the Xponent Xtreme that has long been a staff favorite for winter use, will be sad to learn that Coleman has discontinued production of their Powermax product line. According to Jim Reid, Senior Manager at Coleman, they intend to support current Powermax stove owners with their unfortunately heavy fuel adapter that allows stoves such as the Xtreme to operate with conventional Lindal valve canisters. They also say that they will continue to produce Powermax fuel cartridges for as long as “there is a market for it.” Coleman Xtreme stoves are still available in their distribution channels, but once stock is gone, it’s gone. Advice to the wise: if you want a Powermax stove, buy one quickly, and if you own a Powermax stove, stock up on fuel.

UK-based Terra Nova makes some of the lightest tents in the world, and, up until now, customers from the U.S. had to buy from overseas. In April of this year, the company announced that their products will now be available through several U.S. dealers. Say goodbye to the high shipping costs and long waiting times – the ship has landed.

One of Terra Nova’s new products at the show is the Moonlight Bag Cover. It features a two-ply waterproof-breathable fabric and has a drawstring closure. The specified weight is 7.3 oz (206 g) with a retail price of US$130. It will be available in February 2009.

In addition to tents and bivies, Terra Nova manufactures sleeping bags, headwear, gloves, socks, and other accessories. They will also be releasing a new range of lightweight packs for 2009.

Backpacking Light welcomes them to the North American market and wishes them continued success.