My 3 Season Set up

bump, no help?

Your 49oz pack stands out as being heavy compared to the rest of your gear. If you want a framed pack, look at the Gossamer Gear Gorilla (23oz) or the ULA Ohm (21oz). Either one will save you over 1.5lbs. If you want to go more radical, look at a frameless packs like the MLD Exodus (15oz) or if you really want to go crazy you can grab a cuben fibre frameless pack like the Zpacks Blast for ~5oz.

The Miniworks EX is also heavy at 1 lbs. I really like chlorine dioxide pills, like AquaMira tablets, which kill everything, are super quick to administer and weigh hardly anything. I love how much easier they are to use than a pump, but the downsides that you can't use filthy water and you do need to wait 30 min or so. I use two 1 L platybottles and drink from one while the other treats if I really need to carry a lot of water. Under low exertion conditions in water abundant areas, I just drink until my single platyBottle is empty and then I fill it, water 30 min and drink.

Why do you need the 4oz Maglite if you already have the Tikka? If you really want a backup lighting source, use something way lighter like a Photon Freedom at 0.25oz.

Total weight savings suggested: 2.75 – 4 lbs.

Sabastian, For low cost I always start with throwing things out. You would be surprised at how much you can get rid. To really do this you need document everything you carry, I'm thinking there is a good bit more you bring in small items, clothes, etc that we are not seeing.

But what can you get rid of first/replace first?
* I'm with Dan on the filter. My water stategy is just like his… CL tabs…they work great and I too only wait 30 minutes.
* Dump the camelback replace it with a 2.5 liter platy. it weighs 1.3 oz.
* Drop the knife, replace it with a swiss army classic which weighs .75 oz
* Again with Dan on the 2 lights issue. a better setup is a petz elite for 0.95 oz with a photon freedom as backup for 0.30 oz.

Beyond this we would need to see all the other "stuff" you are carrying if you want cheap solutions.

If you have money to spend…
* You can go for a lighter pack (again agreeing with Dan), but you might want to see where the system lands from a size perspective. Some otions might be Jam2 or a ULA pack.
* I don't hammock so I can not comment on this one so that leaves shelter/sleeping as is.
* Kitchen is pretty good, I'm assuming you cook in the pot…if so I'd leave it alone. If you only do freeze dried or Freezer Bag Cooking then you can drop some ounces with a homemade alcy stove and heiny pot for cheap.

Again how about all the other packed suff? First aid, camp soap, compass, map, rain gear, hat, gloves, socks, bear bag system, underwear, camp shoes, tooth brush, tooth paste, etc. This is where a lot of stuff can be done for cheap.

One more thing…question your perspective on comfort. I spend the majority of my waking day on the trail. This is where I want comfort so I sacrafice a few things in camp to get it. What I have found is my over all comfort and safety have risen significantly.

Jamie

One thing that you could do to get more help would be to list your gear by it's function rather than just the brand name.

There are probably several of us on this forum who don't know and don't care what a (illustrative example) "Blue Diamond Micromid Hardrock Blaster" is. Since we don't wish to research gear by the manufacturer and item, we thus tend to ignore posts such as yours as being too much work.

If you had listed your item as: "Shelter: Blue Diamond Micromid Hardrock Blaster shaped tarp", then you would probably get more in the way of commentary.

I don't make any effort to keep up with brand names; in our consumer culture that would be a full time job. I only become familiar with them when I am looking for something. If you were to revise your list giving the function of each item, I suspect you would get more help.

seb,

You said you are new to this. Many great articles are available here. Don’t focus too much on just gear alone. There is a big picture you’ll have to paint.

Did you read this testimony yet?

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/lw_testimony_shortt_journey.html

Sebastian,

You have received excellent advice from the above posters.

I won't add to that, but what do you use as bottom insulation? May be a better option there….I know from your avatar that you don't go without a pad or UQ!!!!

Buy a scale at Office Depot, too.

Todd

hey guys, all of this has been very insightful. i have to now make some critical decisions about the smaller things. i did recently pare down my first aid kit but i'm also aware that it can be reduced even more. i have a postal scale that i've been using that's been very accurate for me.

finally i really like my backpack but i know that there are a lot of weight savings to be had there. Thanks again for all the help. i'll be making revisions shortly.

I would say the first thing you should do is to make a complete gear list and weigh everything you put in your pack. Then you can compare your list to some peoples here (in the right hand column under "Community Gear Lists". People here are from all over the country and where they hike and what conditions they encounter makes a difference but you should be able to get quite a few ideas from them.

You have some very good advice so far.

I agree with the posters above, some of the obvious cheap solutions are to:

Replace the Filter with Aquamira (I use the drops repackaged in mini dropper bottles for a total weight of 1.1oz)

Replace the Camelback with a platypus or Gatorade bottles (I prefer bottles – as you know how much water you have left)

Replace that heavy knife with a Gerber Micro LST (0.6oz), Spyderco Ladybug (0.6oz) or Swiss Army Classic (0.8oz)

Ditch the Maglite as I don't think you really need a back up light source, but if you really feel like you need 2, then get a Photon light.

You are missing alot of things in your list. One that hasn't been pointed out is a fuel canister for your stove which is heavy I might add.

Your pack is extremely heavy. There is no need for such a heavy pack with a total weight of 20 pounds.

I love my LED Mini-Mag but it doesn't go anywhere near my pack. I keep a Photon Freedom in my PSK for a backup.

The hydration bladder is quite heavy. Buy another Platypus 1L bottle and that is all you need.

I have no idea what they are but with names like Warbonnet, yeti and blackbird they must be tactical/military which means overbuilt and heavy.

Do you have a sleeping pad in the list?

Joseph