The Big Three or Nine or ?

I think the Big 3 concept centered on cost and weight. I've said that it should be the Big 4, with clothing being the other item on the list, and one of the most confounding of the bunch.

The big 3 is nothing more than the 3 items that typically weigh the most, shelter/sleeping bag/backpack. It is typically used for those looking to go lighter, probably not those who have already achieved enLIGHTenment ; ).

John Donewar:
You've actually got the Big Four listed:
Pack
Shelter(tarp/bivy)
Bag(quilt)
Pad.

I always go with what I call the Seven Holy Nylons:
Pack
Shelter
Bag
Pad
Clothing
Food
Water.

Everybody carries these seven. Ya gotta have a pack/buttpack/daypack/hobo sac on a stick, paper bag, etc. You gotta have a shelter/shower curtain/bivy/tent/hammock with tarp. The pad is the only one of the 7 that some few dispense with entirely but not many do in the winter. And everybody wears clothing(I think), and carries food and water. The total weight package always has to include these seven, in addition to boots, ditty bag, books, camera, etc.

Nylon water?:)

Maybe they'll come out with silnylon water so there can be water-resistant water.

Dehydrated water would be the pinnacle, though. Think of the weight savings. Breathe on a cup of water and your breath would start a chain reaction rehydrating the water.

Water's not a requirement to carry. It's a consumable. On some trips I do not carry any water, but I do carry a small bottle and drink as I go.

Water container . . . . . I should have said.

Just popped in my mind and I had to spit it out:

Big three make sense to me, to first reduce weight of the heaviest items, but then,
Aren't the 3 heaviest:

hiker (easily 150 pounds)
food (already for 3 days around 5 pounds = probably heaviest item in your pack)
shoes (I've heard you could multiply their weight with 6 when comparing with pack weight)

I think many of us will reduce our body weight by several pounds during a trip, if not before the trip. I generally drop about 1% per day for several days.

–B.G.–

I often read about the concept of 'skin out' weight, including everything carried and worn.

But if we want to remove every bit of unnecessary weight we should surely be factoring in extra body weight.

Could use some benchmark like this one http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm – counting every extra oz/gm twds your 'bones out' weight. (I have to add in 6 kgs – blast!)