Choosing functional and lightweight backpacking gear is tough. What roles do comfort, durability, and aesthetics play in decision-making?
Skills & Techniques
Learn the "howto" of lightweight backpacking with these tips, tricks, gear lists, and comprehensive skill guides.
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Planning Complex Backpacking Trips: Best Practices
Best practices when trip planning includes: booking transportation, gear selection and packing tips for complex backpacking trips.
DIY Backpacking Stove: An Ultralight Vortex Burner (Part 5: Pot Support)
In part 5, Roger Caffin shares his design for a pot support for the vortex burner as a solution for an ultralight winter DIY backpacking stove system.
DIY Backpacking Stove: An Ultralight Vortex Burner (Part 4: Lab & Field Testing)
In part 4, Roger Caffin tests the vortex burner in the lab and in the field as a solution for an ultralight winter DIY backpacking stove system.
How to Choose Backpacking Gear for Inclement Weather: Clothing, Sleep, and Shelter Systems
The purpose of this article is simple: I want to teach you how to choose backpacking equipment for inclement weather by documenting my thought processes as I select clothing, sleep, and shelter systems for a summer trek. The process will be illustrated as a case study: my equipment selection for a 12-day summer trek in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in Southwest Montana.
DIY Backpacking Stove: An Ultralight Vortex Burner (Part 3: Mechanical Design)
In part 3, Roger Caffin discusses the mechanical design for the vortex burner as a solution for an ultralight winter DIY backpacking stove system.
How to Choose and Use Ultralight Base Layers
Jorgen Johansson makes the case for one base layer and the best ways to choose and use ultralight long underwear (base layers).
DIY Backpacking Stove: An Ultralight Vortex Burner (Part 2: Research and Development)
In part 2, Roger Caffin explains the research and development behind the vortex burner as a solution for an ultralight winter DIY backpacking stove system.
DIY Ultralight Backpack: My Search for a Perfect Pack
After trying several commercial backpacks, I made my own DIY ultralight backpack so I could have the features I like.
DIY Backpacking Stove: An Ultralight Vortex Burner (Part 1- Background and Theory)
In Part 1, Roger Caffin explores the theory behind using a vortex burner as a solution for an ultralight winter DIY backpacking stove system.
How to Make a Lightweight Fuel Bottle for Alcohol Stoves (the Snuffle Flask)
The Snuffle Flask is a lightweight fuel dispenser that works with any alcohol stove. Learn how to make one from items in your home.
Backpacking Wood Stove for Alpine/Snow Camping, Part 4: Dream Becomes Reality
This series explores the use of a Backpacking Wood Stove for warmth in the winter. Part 4 covers using the Micro Snow Stove in the field.