My XUL Challenge Gear List

I also do not use straps, and they are the first thing I remove. However, I tend to palm my poles at the top. (You can do that when they weight only 3.5 oz. each). I realize this is rather "old school" of me. My first pole, long ago, was a English walking stick with a spherical knob at the top.

I'd really recommend it, though. It improves the push-off tremendously and it eliminates hand tiredness, believe it or not.

Also, I generally walk with only one pole. When I buy a new set, I'm stuck with the other one, and nobody seems to want to trade for one pole. :-)

Tom B.

Aaron,

Wait 'til you get a few years under your belt, like 50 or 60 years. Then you'll see the value of poles, esp. on the downhills. And then you'll understand why pole straps are so important in utilizing your upper body to assist your legs.

"I also do not use straps, and they are the first thing I remove. However, I tend to palm my poles at the top. (You can do that when they weight only 3.5 oz. each). I realize this is rather "old school" of me. My first pole, long ago, was a English walking stick with a spherical knob at the top.

I'd really recommend it, though. It improves the push-off tremendously and it eliminates hand tiredness, believe it or not."

+1

I don't see anything on your geargrams list that you can cook in on the alcohol stove. Are you using the Deer Park bottle as a cook pot? haha

You could just replace the deer park bottle completely with a small titanium pot. Whenever you come to a water source, just fill up the pot and drink. It may add a touch of weight, but also will be multiuse.

Obviously this all depends on the trip and conditions. A 3 day backpacking trip in the high mountains is completely different than 10 days in the desert heat. So for me I start with the trip and put on the minimum daily "wear" layers, then add everything else to the pack and weight that. Any extra layers I might not wear while hiking in the heat of the day I consider weight in the pack.

So for me and my standard 2-5 day spring, summer and fall trips into the cascades I generally assume the following base layers:

-Shoes
-Socks
-long pants
-underwear (there ain't no XXXUL hiking going on here…)
-Short sleeve poly
-ball cap

For me that's pretty much the lightest base layer I'll always be wearing but anything else gets added up in the pack.

Now for each of the above basic items I've got different weights for everything depending on trip and conditions but I'd say anything beyond your base layer clothing should be considered carried weight. I don't think you can put on all your layers then only weigh what's in the pack, I think it's gotta be the minimum layers you'll wear day to day.