UL REI STYLE – Yes it CAN Be Done

@ Dug – Glad you stopped lurking and made your first post man!

@ Dug – That's actually a really cool set up. I like the tarp idea. You're more "hardcore" than I… My luxury item is my tent. I like having a bunker. :)

—-

Everyone else seems to get the purpose of the exercize.

But I can lay it out again:

We all know REI isn't an ideal place to shop for UL gear. Having said that if UL is defined as being under 10lbs what gear combo would you put together from gear available in their store.

Try to keep it fun and realistic for 3 season camping around the US a typical beginner would be doing (my guess probably weekend trips with a few longer ones here and there.)

So I guess I'm saying while yes a 6lb North Face Dark Star -40 sleeping bag combined with a 7oz MSR E-Wing Shelter is an option it's probably not something one would tell a new backpacker to use.

"Try to keep it fun and realistic" — that would mean looking at more than one store, no? LOL!! Ijiot.

Ben,

You are repeatedly overposting in threads where your only point is to demean other members, or forum guests. You are lessening my enjoyment of BPL.com and your actions are an embarrassment to this community.

Please take some time to remember what it was that brought you to BPL, and how you yourself would like to be treated here. You posted often as a non-member only recently with many good reviews and insights.

Your recent Life Membership does not preclude you from the BPL Forum Ethics that Mr. Jordan specifically posted, "… Flames and personal wars with other companies or persons will not be tolerated here."

I stand by what I wrote. The track of limiting to one store was faulty. I had kept my comments focused on the issue — until OP and a few others turned things personal.

How about we keep it friendly? Gear is just gear. We don't want to degenerate into a WB-style flame war site.

Cheers
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor
Backpacking Light

I've got my 'ignore shades' on.

Who else has a gear list?

@ Alex: I wish I was hardcore! I'm really not. Unless suggesting the tarp tent means I'm hardcore! Yes! :) My current shelter is actually a Sierra Designs Lightyear at about 3 pounds, maybe 2.5. I'm hiking the PCT this next May, and my current shelter weight is too much. I have a website I just set up to explain the 'whys' of my thru-hike, but I won't list it here, it's on my profile if you want to check it out. I'm not sure what proper BPL tact form is regarding posting stuff like that straight out.

Oh, and I looked…that was actually my 3rd post at the time….I was way off!

Alex,

I think this is an excellent thread. At least what you tried for it to be.

Many people are intimidated by UL, or even the thought of going light weight. I know from over 30 years of backpacking that most people grow into the sport. Even Ben did.

There is a huge comfort level to buying from REI (the biggest backpacking store in the west where I live. And yes I have been a member since the early 80's.) Knowing that you can take something back or exchange it for another size immediately is a nice thing to somebody that only has one pack or bag, etc.

Maybe a new member reading this is encouraged to give it a try. If they like it they will soon be buying quilts and tiny tents from all our friends at some point.

Go REI!

Ray

Here`s almost a whole gearlist from REI. A lot so i didn`t get the weights but we all know…

Clothing worn
BL top-Patagonia Sun hoody
Bottoms-Arcteryx Preceda short
Socks-Smartwool PhD UL micro
shoes- Salomon Speedcross
Watch-Timex Ironman
Glasses-Native Hard top polarized
Poles- REI Peak UL

Clothing Carried
Shell-Golite Tumalo
Windshell- TNF Helium
Shell pant-REI UL rain pant
Insulated top- Patagoina Nano Puff
Sleep bottoms-Smartwool Microweight
Sleep Socks-Same as above
Warm hat-Smartwool training beanie

Pack-Golite Peak
Shelter-ID Silshelter
Sleeping bag-Thermarest haven 20
Sleeping Pad- z-lite (also ground cloth)
Pot-Snowpeak 700
Stove-Soto OD-1R
Light-Princeton Tec impulse

How about you go on a hike? Or maybe another train ride/boat cruise around the world. Step away from the internet.

Good idea for a thread. We all started from some heavier, too much stuff point, and got to where we are by a learning process. Lots of learning from books, forums, and other people sharing info, lots of learning from going out and actually hiking (yes, actual hiking).

REI is one good source for camping and backpacking gear, for several reasons, and it's a common source of gear for folks, either "standard" backpackers or lightweight ones. You'd have to pick and choose to get to a fairly light setup, but it sure can be done. It might only be "lightweight", not "ultra-lightweight", but these terms are mostly ridiculous anyway (semantics R fun).

Of course, someday some people will make it all the way down to the leading edge and buy a solo cuben tarp and cuben backpack and whatnot, but there will always be folks that a slightly-heavier, maybe cheaper (in some cases), more durable, more easily-returned (when it fails to meet advertised specs), etc. will be the way for them.

Alex, Dug, etc. congrats for soldiering on in the thread, despite (baffling but sadly not unsuprising) attempts to derail it.

Lots of good light gear at REI.

REI sells the North Face Triumph Anorak, which is the lightest breathable rain jacket I believe. The new 2010 model is claimed to be 10% lighter than the 2009 model, which already was measuring around 5.5oz for a medium. It's on sale too for $125 (from $175).

Alex, Doug, et. al.

As DaveT wrote as well, "You'd have to pick and choose to get to a fairly light setup, but it sure can be done. It might only be "lightweight", not "ultra-lightweight"…"

That was pretty much where I was coming from. I focused on Alex's thread title which clearly included the term "UL" and was downright baffled as to why one would limit oneself to REI for UL gear.

But reading your (and others') posts, I may have worded my response much too strongly — so it came across to some as "snobbish" — which was completely unintended.

While I was dismayed that your responses then degenerated to personal attacks ("snobbish") — it was my fault too when I then responded in kind.

This thread has been drawn out (and piisssed on) for far too long — and for that I express my regret.

Guys (everyone)

How about we keep it friendly? Gear is just gear. We don't want to degenerate into a WB-style flame war site.

Cheers
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor
Backpacking Light

Guys (everyone)

How about we keep it friendly? Gear is just gear. We don't want to degenerate into a WB-style flame war site.

Cheers
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor
Backpacking Light

Guys (everyone)

How about we keep it friendly? Gear is just gear. We don't want to degenerate into a WB-style flame war site.

Cheers
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor
Backpacking Light

We both have a clue — I expressed my regret above — and you followed with your hot air.

Guys (everyone)

How about we keep it friendly? Gear is just gear. We don't want to degenerate into a WB-style flame war site.

Cheers
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor
Backpacking Light

Wow.. I'm impressed if REI carries tnf triumph anorak. i actually bought one a few weeks ago for my CT thru hike but then got second thoughts about something so thin and expensive on a rough trip certain to ruin it with backpack straps.

sold it here new for $90 or so. i really liked it in retrospect.. 5.5 oz on my scale. seemed sturdy – no seams. i just wasnt sure it would take any abrasion which my aarn pack is certain to provide. if i didnt mind losing $110 or so on a rainjacket on a 30day hike, i'd have kept it..

i miss my anorak..

Guys (everyone)

How about we keep it friendly? Gear is just gear. We don't want to degenerate into a WB-style flame war site.

Cheers
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor
Backpacking Light

Dont-

I greatly respect the REI warranty and wouldn't take advantage of it. However, a rain jacket should last more than 30 days, and if you take it on a 30 day hike and it is worn down, I would not feel guilty at all about returning it.

I am certain that if you ask a REI sales person they will tell you the same thing.

Now if it lets you down in the middle of a hike that is something else entirely.

"As DaveT wrote as well, "You'd have to pick and choose to get to a fairly light setup, but it sure can be done. It might only be 'lightweight', not 'ultra-lightweight'…"

Ben, thanks for quoting me, but you failed to include the rest of the sentence above – "but these terms are mostly ridiculous semantics" (I paraphrase).

I think you could get most of the things you need for a nice, Pretty-Darn Light (PDL, however you want to define that) setup from REI. Clothes, shoes, trekking poles, all the nicknacks. You wouldn't have a WM bag or a Tarptent, but if you want to use a good quality down bag from someone else, and a tarp, you'd be pretty set. I'm not going to go to the REI web page and come up with a list, but there is PLENTY of good gear there to be happy with a light kit to head out into the woods (you know, actual hiking).

(And yes Ben, I'm not sure how many people have to ask you to "give it a rest" to have you actually give it a rest, but let me add to the rousing chorus from the rooftops…. give it a rest.)

REI Junior trekking poles are also light and seem pretty sturdy. I may be a bit on the heavy side (200ish lbs.) to trust them completely. I find them to be a hair short but if I knew I could trust them to support my weight I could probably manage just fine with them.

Slightly lighter and shorter people seem to have used them effectively and the price is hard to beat!

"You are repeatedly overposting in threads where your only point is to demean other members, or forum guests. You are lessening my enjoyment of BPL.com and your actions are an embarrassment to this community."

What's funny is that so far he's also been the first (and last) person who posted an offensive reply to one of my posts… I suppose there's one in every bunch, eh?

"There is a huge comfort level to buying from REI"

IMO one of the comforts is that the staff actually TRY to get you what you need, because they're not paid on commission and if they don't succeed, they eat the cost when you return it.

The advice I've gotten from REI staff hasn't been perfect, but no one is — I do, however, feel that the staff have been honest and I've seen more genuinely ultralight gear in their shop lately — including some well-liked products from here, like the Nemo product lines.

I think many of us are well aware that extremely light base weights are possible because we all have multiple shelters, bags, cooking kits, etc. to change depending on the trip.

But if one was only to have one set of gear for pretty much all conditions encountered (which is the situation of the person new to backpacking), cuben packs and tarps start going out the window…and this is where REI and the likes come in.
Some of their goods may be heavier, but they are plenty durable and you'd do fine putting together a lightweight setup.

Off the top of my head, you'd be pretty well served with these REI offerings:

GoLite Pinnacle….2lbs
Sierra Designs Nitro 30…2lbs
BA Fly Creek 2 UL…2 lbs

A sub 10 or 12 pound base is easy from here…and a person just moving into the sport would still feel they have "traditional" comforts…like a "real" double-wall tent.

I'm glad that this thread was started with the intent of providing a PDNUL (Pretty Darned Well Near an Ultra Light) list of equipment available from REI. Their nearest store for me is well over 100 miles, and "look and touch" shopping is limited to one NBB (Non Big Box)locally owned store.

I've been an REI member since 1973 and was lucky to have a fairly local store back then to absorb some of the weight of my paycheck.

Occasionally, I get the inclination to suggest that someone look at more lightweight backpacking, and a list such as those proposed above would be a great starting point.

Also, such a list makes a good rainy afternoon browsing list. I'm nearly 70, and each year I look to cutting a little more from the weight I carry.

This year, I moved up to a Western Mountaineering Summerlite (- ounces less), and for Fall weather, a clearance REI SubKilo. A few more items lightened up and I'll be over 2 pounds lighter. A TarpTent is scheduled for next year's outfit.

I'll be saving this thread for winter/rainy day re-reading and browsing.

Thanks to the contributors to the spirit of the thread.

I totally agree with the guy two posts above.. I only realized while I was in the middle of going UL that I'm actually accumulating a lot of gear at home.

My girlfriend isn't terribly happy about it and frequently suggests going UL / minimalist at home.. but that's hard to square with being able to go on more than one kind of UL trip. Hopefully in a year, I'll find a balance where I add some pack weight but don't need 3 tents, 2 rain jackets, 2 sleeping bags etc at home.