How much is a pound worth?

It isn’t linear you know. How much is it worth to you to reduce a 70 pound pack (as an example) — versus reducing another pound from a pack that is already featherly light?

I think we all have our own invidual “sweet spots” — the point where our packs are light enough for us to hike miles and miles. Considering the money I spent getting to the trailhead — I am very willing to spend $$ to pare down my pack weight to my “sweet spot” — so I can enjoy the hike!

Once achieved, I really think that spending more money to cut down further (or strangely, to cut out tags and hollow out spoons) produces psychic benefits but precious little physical benefit.

On the other hand, it’s a hobby, and even psychic benefits can be a source of joy for those who are into it. Each to his or her own.

Dropping weight from a 70 pound pack is free. You just start leaving the excess stuff at home.

Dropping weight from a 40 pound pack starts to cost some money. I think I did what most lightweight hikers do — I looked at my pack, shelter, and bag weights, and started spending money to cut them down. This doesn’t have to be a lot of money — it’s possible to make a nice tarp, and even good UL packs aren’t that expensive (compared, say, to a Dana Terraplane). It’s even possible to get a nice 2 pound bag for $150.

But even with 40 pounds, I was still able to make a bunch of cuts for free — leaving home a lot of unnecessary stuff cut many pounds from my pack.

Getting below 20 pounds can be cheap — using homemade gear and leaving even more stuff at home. It can also be expensive, by purchasing featherweight down bags and expensive UL shelters and wildly costly UL packs.

I just dropped two pounds from my pack with a 1.5 pound Western Mountaineering bag. At US$300, it cost $150/pound to drop those two pounds. However, I offset some of the costs by selling two bags for about $150 total, which made my wallet happier <g>. I also saved two pounds with a new pack, an SMD Starlite. But that was a gift.

So my base pack is four pounds lighter, and my feet and knees thank me every setp of the way. It was way worth the cost to me.

Ken B

since when are ultralight packs outragously priced? Gossamer gear uberlight sub 4 ounce sub 100 bucks
ultralight 16 oz 84 bucks
hyperlight 7 oz 125 bucks

where as my 3 lbs kelty cost 130 bucks