You know you’ve hit bottom when..

My low point was when I nearly froze one night, at Colchuck Lake in Washington State. I was sleeping in a 45* bag, sleeping in a 1 1/2 man tent , crammed in with my son…..and it snowed that night. I had no extra clothing, besides a jacket and thin gloves. I slept with my feet in my backpack for extra warmth. Let's just say that once the sun came up I was walking as fast as I could to just warm up. Just because my pack was light, didn't mean it was good. There was a fine line, and I had crossed it.
I have done a lot of dumb ideas in the name of saving weight, but I am now made to pass them by my husband……and usually he just gives me a "look" that says "yeah right", and I go forget it. I am also not allowed to change my gear 30 minutes before leaving either, as my impulse ideas are the worst. I also now carry an "E" blanket and foot warmers, dang the 3 ounces of weight, as a backup!

Oh yeah, and running out of food? I have done that before. That was why I made a 6 day trip into 5 days last summer. I argued myself out of buying last minute food 30 minutes before the trip started……so someone got to hike 2 days worth of miles in one day. Lesson learned. Husband actually looks over my gear now.

3 packs in 3 years opitimizes my transition…and to the laymen seems borderline consumer frenzy. But the first one was purchased as a gift by my wife as I re-entered the world of backpacking 6 years ago. After 2 trips, I discovered that the length of the pack did not match my dimensions. As I focused on comfort for my new pack I ended up with a Gregory, that while nice was nearly 5 lbs. It was after that trip that I discovered the world of lightening the load! ULA is now my go to pack.

I have ciruclated a bag, titanium cookwear, the Gregory pack and other items back out to the world via E bay. Therefore I do not feel bad that I had re-bought items that already existed in my kit.

I have been pretty lucky not to ruin a good piece of equipment nor end up in an uncomfortable situation based on weightloss greed! I always temper the desire to walk with less weight with idea that I am out to have a good time. That may be the only time I have suffered….when on a six day trip my Makers Mark whiskey (excellent pain reliever and sleep aid) went dry on the fourth night!

I recently replace a 2006 Six Moon Designs Essence pack with a zpacks Z1. The Essence is retired after about 4 nights.

I bought the Air Core Plus Spectra Rope and have carried it but never used it. I might someday need 1109 pounds of tensile strength to hang a bear bag.

A recurring problem is that over the winter I think up really great ways to rig my poncho/tarp with neat hardwear. I will use the the rig on a couple of trips then it will be back to TripTease with clove hitches and tautlines. I think I could start a museum of hardwear that works almost as well as a carefully selected knot tied correctly.

I have a problem. When are the meetings?

I think I'm somewhat lucky that I don't have a lot of extra money to throw around for gear and when I do I have a really hard time letting go of it.
I think the worst thing I've done so far is going out and buying a 4.5 lbs tent and 3.75 lbs sleeping bag without giving much consideration to quality or the conditions they would be used in. I hardly ever had a need for a 15* sleeping bag in Missouri outside of winter camping every now and then and the tent never did work out.
So far I've been pretty good about not 'over-modifying' any gear, though I did accidentally break a fiberglass rod in my MS Phantom trying get it out. I've also started making some of my gear (stove, quilt, and some clothes) and have been very happy with all of it so far.
I do think I learned a lot from buying gear that exceeded my needs. It taught me to be more aware of the conditions I use my gear in and to pick the gear accordingly.

Adam

I've certainly gone through the cycle of buy it-buy it again-buy it one more time. I've eBayed and done some MYOG but lets just say that I've got a lot of loaner gear (which isn't a bad thing). Almost every piece of gear I carry has been repurchased at least once…and the ones that haven't probably will be at some point.

I think most everyone does this. Its really tough for an individual to jump off the deep end to a 10lb base pack weight. Brave is the soul who can go from a traditional backpacking gear load to a sub 5lb load without easing into it.

I've yet to do anything that has impacted my safety or wrecked a piece of gear. It's just cost me extra money. But, this is my favorite pastime…and its still cheap compared to a lot of hobbies.

I don't know if this is the bottom — but posting about gear everyday is probably getting pretty close… :(

Have you ever jettisoned a backpacking partner? One guy I would hike with about twice per is toast. He carries too much, hikes too slow, takes too many breather breaks, covers too little ground. I do miss his cappucino maker though.

Now that's cold. Thanks rock bottom.

Paul:

Newt Gingrich served his wife with divorce papers while she was in the hospital with cancer. You are still pretty OK actually. :)

Before beginning my morning hike on Day 2, after eating one really good bagel, I tossed the other two that I had brought into the wild. I'm sure the critters had a glorious feast that day, and are waiting for the Bagelgod to bless them again.

I think it's good to hit the bottom as long as you can rebound back up. These forums are my rebounding energy. From all the gear info and testimonials, I think I've leapfrogged 3 or 4 gear iterations for my Big 4. I can't believe how light I'll be compared to before.

Reviews later.

Agreed! At first, my Granite Gear Virga seemed insanely light compared to my Bergans Helium (which was reasonably light compared to the packs I used as a teenager). Now I find myself eyeing the packs on the ULA, Gossamer Gear, and Fanatic Fringe websites. It's a natural process of adjustment, I think.

For what it's worth, I'll definitely be keeping the Virga even if I pick up one of the 5-10 oz packs out there. It's still pretty light and would be better than most of the lighter silnylon packs for scrambling. I'll probably hang onto the Bergans as a lender and for the occasional luxury-laden trip with more conventional backpacking friends.

My wife discovered the reason I bought her a new yoga mat was because I'ld cut her old one up into a torso pad and used the scraps to make a pot cozy and water bottle insulator. A somewhat failed experiment where I chucked everything but not far or deep enough.

Larry – I'm LMAO right now. That's classic. Sounds like the time I cut up a Ridgerest to make extra gear. The Ridgerest was one of our regular loaners and when my wife volunteered it to a friend, I had some esplaining to do. She now locks up the scissors and I have to submit a requisition for access:)

superglue it

but posting about gear everyday is probably getting pretty close… :(

Whoa! Does that mean you are forever doomed to remain in the dregs, Ben? (^J^)/"

I don't know if it is possible in this group to actually hit bottom. Considering that the ideal we all dream of attaining is no weight at all, our suffering will be eternal! Even if our pack weights were to reach .00000000000001 grams, it would still count as weight. As long as we remain corporeal beings attracted by gravity, we will continue to fall into the bottomless pit…

My low point was ordering the Six Moons Designs old style Essence Pack and immediately being unhappy with the front closure system. I modified it and modified it until it was almost unrecognizeable! And never used it for hiking once! Such a waste, though it never did fit me very well and I just wasn't happy with the pack. It ended up in the garbage bin after I pirated all the snaps and larger pieces of silnylon.

I paid $170 for a TNF Skareb pack that I used maybe 15 total days on the trail. $170/15= $11.33 per day. I could've probably rented it cheaper.

I got a bunch of great deals on eBay on traditional internal-frame backpacks before I discovered UL…now they are just sitting in my closet.

I bought a bunch of titanium tableware before I realized that lexan is much lighter and works great. Now I take one titanium spoon (or wood, if I'm taking teflon-coated pots) for cooking and everyone else in the family uses lexan. Maybe I'll sell some of that titanium…

First I bought flashlights for everyone (five of us). Then I bought headlamps for everyone. Next I bought LED flashlights for everyone. Then I bought LED headlamps for everyone. Finally I bought Photon micro-lights for everyone. I could outfit an expedition with headlamps and flashlights.

There's more, but I just can't go on…

Heh. Answering the question presupposes that bottom has been struck. I can make no such claim, and am not about to have the spouse weigh in (which I'm sure she'd be happy to do).

Remember Douglas Adams' instructions for learning to fly: throw yourself at the ground, and miss.

Yup, I've done some spectacularly jackass things trying to get lighter. Once, when I was a teenager, I had this brilliant idea on how to go winter camping using my Dacron summer bag (during that era you could choose between Dacron and Kapock, down was unheard of). So I decided that if I taped the edges of a space blanket together and put my bag inside, why, I'd be able to foil anything Ol' Man Winter could deal out. Well, in the middle of the night I awoke abruptly, shivering in a wet bag. No one had ever talked of condensation…my dubious claim to fame is that I discovered it on my own and lived to tell about it! And that's what I like about this forum: little things (not to mention light things) can make all the difference.

Idjut…I can't believe I actually did that!

About 4 years ago I bought a Golite Trek. I loaded it up and found that no matter how tight the compression straps, the pack collapsed when I tightened the load lifters. the pack needed some sort of frame. But it had to be light weight.

So I purchased a yard of carbon fiber cloth and some WEST epoxy. Then I built a mold some scrap plywood and waxed cardboard using the aluminum stays from my favorite Mountainsmith Mountainlight to get the curves right. I laid up a beautiful frame that was light and stiff. Then I used the polyurethane foam pad "frame" from the Trek and cut the frame board to shape. After much searching I found a glue that would allow me to glue the carbon fiber to the polyurethane. The only way I could buy the cement was by the 12 can case. The glue worked great. I gave several of the extra cans away as gifts.

Then, with the help of my friend "Draggin' Lady", and her sewing machine we modified the pack to take the carbon fiber frame board. I noticed that the carbon fiber frame board was causing some abraison of the pack material, near the waist belt attachment so I purchased a half yard of heavily coated nylon ballistic cloth and further modified the pack with a reinforced pocket to recieve the lower end of the frame board.

In order to try to reduce the weight of the pack to offset my modifications I cut off the mesh pocket on the under side of the pack's top pocket. I also shortened all the straps to the minimum required and removed the daisy chain and ice axe loops and straps. I then added a small "patch" where I'd removed the mesh pocket, in order to run my belt through and use the top pocket for a day pack. I also added a side pocket to take a water bottle, since the hydration sleeve now held the frame board.

I loaded the pack with about 30lbs. and did a 15 mile day-hike. It worked great.

COST:
Golite Trek $90.00
Carbon fiber $51.72
WEST epoxy system $45.69
Case of spray cement $89.75
Coated ballistic cloth $10.00
Miscellaneous (est.) $10.00
TOTAL $297.16

My next purchase was a Luxurylite pack. I've never carried any other pack since.

Say, did I ever tell you about how I modified a Sierra Designs Half-Moon to make it a four season tent? You guessed it. I never backpack in the winter.

I gotta go home and take off my stupid suit.

You are nearing the bottom when you find yourself able to outfit your son-in-law, nephews, and new Boy Scouts with their choice of packs less than two-pounds, sleeping bags in the 30-40 degree range, tarps of various sizes and shapes, shirts that stinklessly wick, Ti cups, and, oh yes, their choice of hammock. You are in recovery when you find that the only pack you've kept in this exchange is an old beat up Golite Breeze.

…the local boy scout council has a plaque on the wall in your name because of all the gear you have donated. That's me! I can't count how many tents, sleeping bags, pairs of boots and packs I have given them over the past 3 years. I know it's for a good cause but my wife tells me that the scouts hanging around our house have to leave.

I hit bottom when I bought and returned to REI 3 pairs of boots in the space of 1 month each lighter than the last and the customer service rep greeted me by name as I walked up to the counter with the last pair of shoes.

Very embarrassing to say the least, but I think I have learned my lesson … except that there is this synth bag I have been looking at…

–

18 months ago i cut up a perfectly good North Face polarguard bag intending to make a lightweight 3 season quilt. half way through the project i got bored and it now resides in the garage gathering dust.

meanwhile i spend every wakeful hour watching BPL for the release of their quilts. however as i am based in europe and 8 hours ahead of Bozeman Mountain Time i fear that they will be sold out whilst i'm asleep!

yes – it's all rather sad isn't it?!

hmm – i've only just noticed RJ's update on the cocoon prepurchase plans, guess i can relax for a few days…

I haven't hit the low point yet cause I am not yet truly a UL'er. But so far on the way down I have bought 4 packs, 5 sleeping bags, a couple of stoves, tons of shoes/boots, a few tents and several sleeping pads. I don't know what the low point may be when I get there, but I am fairly satisfied with my gear right now. So maybe my low point was when I realized I didn't want to carry 50 lbs for weekend trip, and I went out and purchased all new gear…or wait…maybe that was an epiphany.

By the way, that yoga pad thing posted by Larry Savage was hilarious.