Backpacker.com Ultralight Handbook…

No fastpacker here, no sir! Even with my lightest 5 lb kit I'm still strolling along the trail. Ever hear the one about the tortoise and the hare? I can walk ALL day, and typically do, just at a normal pace snappin' photos and enjoying the day. So those guys that rushed passed me earlier with the big packs, I'll see them again in an hour or so struggling to catch a breath while I strut past them. Ahhh, life as a TurtlePacker.

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> Fastpacker is a term that I've never heard used by an ultralight backpacker and it's
> hardly ever used on this site. Strikes me as something invented by Outside Magazine.

A bit like 'flashpacker'?

Cheers

Flashpacker! That is my new term! Thanks Roger- it's marvelous!

Excuse me, I'm off for a weekend of flashpacking…

Backpacker magazine exists just to sell advertising and deliver it to readers. Nothing more.

I believe they use the term ultralight as a marketing term, not a real term with real meaning. They know ultralight is better so they coopted the word to refer to stuff that's ordinary weight.

They could never sell real ultralight gear. It's too delicate. It won't hold up to abuse. They love to state that as a praise-worthy thing in their reviews. Holds up to abuse. Why would I want to carry stuff that's heavy and then abuse it when I could carry stuff that's light and take care of it?

So then "fastpacker" is the term they have to use to describe people who are actually ultralight backpackers. They have redefined ultralight to mean 3lb backpacks, 2lb sleeping bags and 5lb tents so people carrying around items with the words "gossamer" in the name have to have some other word like "fastpacker."

Fastpacker is slightly pejorative. It sounds like someone who doesn't take time to smell the roses. It sounds like someone who's really hard core, running the trail for fitness, not enjoying the beauty.

The other word they use is "minimalist". Also pejorative. A minimalist is not enjoying themselves, either. They are denying themselves not just pleasure but in the world of backpacking, they are denying themselves necessities like warmth, food, sleep and adequate shelter.

Minimalists and fastpackers aren't going to buy a lot of gear so they have to define these people as people their target audience doesn't want to become because, as a magazine selling ads, they want people to want to buy more gear, not less.

"Ahhh, life as a TurtlePacker."

Haha, LONG LIVE THE TURTLEPACKERS!!!

Someone had better get to work ASAP on a cuben fiber trench coat.

"Backpacker magazine exists just to sell advertising and deliver it to readers. Nothing more."

The gear issue? Maybe. For what its worth, I still subscribe to Backpacker, and though I take their gear advice or definitions of "ultralight" with a grain of salt, I love reading about backpacking destinations, techniques, and even recipes. I imagine that selling advertising is a necessary evil of keeping a print magazine afloat. Traditional backpackers are still our friends, right? If nothing else, big manufacturers do seem to be producing some lighter equipment, and i figure as long as they are trying to push toward lighter gear, there will be some trickle down effect that makes UL gear cheaper or more readily available for BPL types.

I've got a lot of perfectly intelligent friends who have seen what I carry, and still prefer traditional gear because they are more comfortable with it, or just don't mind carrying extra weight for the types of trips they take. So, Backpacker, keep doing what you do for the masses, and BPL will be there for the folks that want a different flavor of backpacking.

Matt

James,

I have had a pattern for an "Australian Drover's Coat" for a couple of years.

I once thought about making one of them that I would wear during the day and convert it to a shelter at night as they are really big.

The pattern calls for about 5-1/2 yards. In Cuben that would make the material for it weigh about 2 ounces if you used the light weight Cuben.

If you wanted to sleep setting up you could turn it into a small Tipi.

Could not have said it better myself!

Bill,

I was only going for the cheap and easy flasher joke, but this looks really neat!

James

WOW. A cuben trench coat that can be used for flashing (no need to actually flash it though as it's already see-through) AND can be used as a shelter. Sounds like the ultimate in UL multi-use.

How about a cuben umbrella to serve as a 'shell' for us turtle-packers? Make it big enough and it too could double as a shelter.

Hi Doug

Ah – do you know what 'flashpacking' means?

It means someone who is travelling around Europe with a pack, like a backpacker or hosteller, but stays in more expensive hotels and uses more expensive forms of transport – possibly even their own car. A bit 'flash' you see!

Was this what you meant?

Cheers

I seem to find a lot of dangerous info in Backpacker, take this gem of an article for instance:

http://www.backpacker.com/november_08_how_to_do_everything_first_aid_health/skills/12644?page=1

The idea that you can use a SAM splint for spinal immoblization (no where near rigid enough), or that you should do anything but apply direct pressure and a good pressure dressing along with some elevation to a "gaping wound" is not only laughable, but life threatening!

I think a lot of people here are hostile towards Backpacker mag due to two main causes: they spread a large amount of incorrect information about going UL and the UL movement, as well as their shameless favoring of their advertizers products. Granted it is a business, and they can print whatever they wish, however in my eyes this lowers the worth of their opinions on most matters to nil.

That's kind of scary to me. If i have doubts, i do carry the gear not leave it out. If i'm sure i won't need it i leave it out. Wow… some of this advice is crazy. I always carry a stove, generally carry an extra meal, definately carry warming layers and a bunch of that stuff and even when i'm in doubt and bring the extra gear my base weight doesn't usually exceed 13 lbs…

Carry nothing but a big stick and "commandeer" everything from "heavyweight" backpackers. They're already carrying more than they need.

That's probably a better idea… maybe you should write for backpacker magazine.

John Muir's schtick worked for him….

>"On a larger rant, I despise BACKPACKER mag's categories for ultralight gear – especially packs. UL packs to me are generally frameless and do not weigh what the top UL packs the mag's guide said."

RIGHT ON, DUDE! I've had that same hate for their editors calling 3lbs. "ultralight" for a summer pack. Have they ever even heard the term "lightweight" or do they just HAVE to steal ultralight from us people that actually know what we're talking about?

A friend of mine ordered this book from Backpacker.com and let me look at it. IMO, the editors of that book just don't know what they're talking about when it comes down to the lightweight community. Woos to them who are indoctrinated by that book that’s just full of…(what's an appropriate term for this forum?…) shall we say, bologna…

-Evan

I hate to let you all know this.. but the majority of you posting on BPL are really 'on the fringe' of hiking world (me included).

So don't worry about what the mainstream press says.

As a matter of fact quit reading the stuff.

I canceled my Backpacker subscription nearly 30 years ago. It was good magazine for about 3 years. When Ziff Davis bought it in 1980, the exponentially accelerated decline began.

So I could care less what they print or what they think.

Other than that; I have no opinion :)

It just cuts me to the heart when I read their…bologna…