Lightweight backpacking in the winter requires more intentionality with respect to gear selection and skill set, but with great rewards.
Wilderness Travel Skills
Instructional content focusing on field techniques for maximizing the performance of lightweight backpacking gear and/or employing lightweight techniques. Comprehensive and broad in scope. For shorter formats, see Tips & Tricks.
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How to Buy Outdoor Gear – Functional Analysis
The outdoor market is ripe with marketing ploys and distractions. Jorgen shares the tool he uses to buy outdoor gear – functional analysis.
How to Choose Lightweight Backpacking Gear: Save Weight, Money, Hassle, and Time
Choosing functional and lightweight backpacking gear is tough. What roles do comfort, durability, and aesthetics play in decision-making?
Planning Complex Backpacking Trips: Best Practices
Best practices when trip planning includes: booking transportation, gear selection and packing tips for complex backpacking trips.
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.
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).
Ultralight Backpacking: Core Principles & Philosophy (Video)
Ultralight Backpacking: Core Principles is a 13-minute video screencast presentation that provides a critical foundation for efficiently becoming a skilled ultralight backpacker. The core principles presented herein should be considered wherever you are in your journey on lightening up, and are as applicable to me even today, after decades of “working on my pack weight”, as they were to me more than 25 years ago when I started this journey.
Microadventures: Breaking Down the Barriers of Visiting a Wild Place
Microadventures are exactly that – tiny little trips with minimal fuss, minimal gear, and maximum bang for the buck.
The 60-Second Backpacker, Episode No. 1: Weigh Your Stuff
The 60-Second Backpacker is a video series that provides bite-sized shorts about equipment, techniques, and philosophy of ultralight backpacking.
Five Lessons from the John Muir Trail
These lessons are aimed at beginners and are based on experiences while hiking the JMT. They are adaptable to any hiking setting and can certainly make the trip more enjoyable.