Your first “UL” piece of gear?

Summer 1991
My 30 day JMT+ hike
Half way through my partner and I decided to part ways. I hiked out to Bishop to resupply. A staffer at Wilsons east side sports sold me a tiny kit of chlorine crystals for water treatment. My partner had kept the heavy water filter. But the biggest UL move I made was my decision to forego a tent. I spent the last two weeks with only a contractor's size plastic bag, an overgrown hefty about 5 ft long.
The Chlorine worked great, And there wasn't a drop of rain in those last two weeks.
Those were the 1st items.

Sorry but it's going to be hard to beat the story of saving lawn mowing money for a WM bag! That is Cool.

Montbell thermawrap. Was so amazed that it was lighter and warmer than my $25 Gap puffy.
Looking back, I kick myself sometimes. My first trip I brought several Lb's worth of air soft gear and a frisbee because I was worried I'd get bored. And a big hatchet, and huge blue tarp, and OMG what was my problem…

I know you said intentional but my first purchase was esbits and a pocket stove. Purchased because we didn't have the cash for a butane stove.

When I was 13 I saved up and bought a eureka solataire. It's that yellow tent. It's funny but when I was this young I was already cutting tags off things and going lighter.

But my weight stayed stagnant and pretty heavy up until about 2 years ago when I wanted SUL. First thing was a ti spoon and a ti pot.

Back in the early 70's (73? or 74?) I picked up a 2#4 Tough Travelers internal framed back pack (still in use), a yellow nylon pup tent (around 2#10), a 7'x7' nylon tarp(around 1#2) and a SVEA 123r(around 1#4.) The whole set up cost $204 and change. A LOT of money at the time. The tent was $29.99, and not real water proof, it needed the tarp over it. The tarp was 39.99, heavily coated with plastic (vinal?) that delaminated & cracked after three years. The pack was around $85, with a magnesium bar as a frame and lots of attachments. The body and pouches added up to only about 2500ci, and had a 2" car seat belt as a hip belt. It was good for about 60 pounds. The SVEA still is the primary stove for me, I paid around $49 for it. Fuel economy (around 2.5-3 Liters/ounce of fuel) has never changed, though my priming methodes got better. I got a Midi pump and cap later on, but rarely used it. At the time I got all this stuff, I was tying flies in winter, doing constuction work(carpenter) in summer. I had traded 2 gross of dry flies and 1/2 gross of nymphs for the lot (along with a promise to report on usage of the tent and backpack.)

I don't believe we thought in terms of UL at that time. This was really before Jardine and the UL movement.

"This was really before Jardine and the UL movement."

Jardine was the Johnny-come-lately to the UL movement.

–B.G.–

I went against all common sense and everyone's advice and bought a pack first. ULA Ohm 2.0. Forced me to rethink the whole kit, and I'm happy I did. (Mostly I just couldn't stand my 5 pound Mountainsmith bag anymore and the thought of hauling a UL kit in that behemoth).

I think I did the pack first too…
I retired my 12 year old 8# Gregory front loading pack for an Osprey Atmos 65. Wow was that light!!!!!!

"Sorry but it's going to be hard to beat the story of saving lawn mowing money for a WM bag! That is Cool."

Yeah, but I carried it in a giant Jansport external with about 50 lbs of other junk. I was just happy not to be using my brother's old cotton bag with ducks all over it! LOL. Gotta' be prepared when you're a scout, ya' know. I had no money left for any other goodies so I actually used an old pool float mattress to sleep on that summer. Glad the weather was mild that year.

M

Same here, in regards to starting with a pack. I picked up an Osprey Talon 44, forcing me to pare everything else down.

Ya, know….I don't know when it all started, come to think about it. I have been telling others that lighter is better for thirty plus years. To me and my partners, it was mostly something we did to get out fishing or hunting. When did it all start?

My first deliberate ultralight gear buy was a GoLite Gust pack. I had other gear that was in the UL leaning, like small aluminum pots and a small stove.

The spreadsheet and scale are really the first key items. Getting everything pared down, weighed, itemized and totaled is the eye opener.

From there it was an ongoing tweak, swapping out heavier for lighter and integrating it all into a coordinated system. Clothing was the biggest challenge in weight, performance and cost.

My first purchse on the road to UL was an SMD Starlight pack that came in just a tick over 2 lbs. Quite a revelation coming from a Mt Smith Crestone III that was just shy of 8lbs empty. A perfect load monster that could almost double as a bivy sack.

I quickly moved from the Starlight to the Swift and now at 18oz have little desire to go lighter. Limiting space, and the Swift is huge for an 18oz pack, helped promote my way of thinking and most of the UL became just leaving things at home I didn't need or redundant items.

Now I can go up to 12 days without resupply and still keep my pack weight at 25lbs or less. Quite liberating and my aging body appreciates it greatly.

I'm newer to this than a lot of you, but I 2nd Dale's "spreadsheet and scale" notion.

The first piece of gear that I bought, after learning some UL ideas, for its low weight was an SMD Swift pack, it was a challenge/commitment to make it all fit! Now my big 3/big 4 weighs less than the empty 110L kelty pack it replaced, and my gear swims in the swift! Without doing the math, adding my cook kit would not put me over the weight of that thing!

Amazing how that decision set me off re-thinking everything, and amazing how for so many years I didn't take the trips I wanted to because of the exertion required hauling 40-50lbs around mountains. It was just unknown to me that 10lb base weights were even remotely possible, let alone pretty easy to reach with some care. I have more "hike days with all your stuff" trips logged since then than I'd done in 10 previous years.

Edited: language, whoops.

I was in school in 2001 when I discovered sites by Adventure Alan, Sgt. Rock, and others (I think I joined BPL in '03). I went from a HUGE TNF 70 ltr. internal frame pack, to a Golite Gust, Snow Peak Giga Stove (skeptical for 7 more years about alcohol), ridgerest (which had been in m closet since being replaced Nya TAR), and Integral Designs SilShelter with a Tyvek groundsheet. I bought all but the ridgerest at roughly the same time, and my lightweight adventures began. Instant savings, probably 12 pounds. Used a TNF Down bag until I found the Montbell UL stretch (not spiral) in 2007. Today the big four are under three pounds for fair weather sierra summers. Could not be happier. So glad to meet so mAny too, after all these years at the GGG.

The first commercial item that was branded as such, was in Sept 82:
a Alpenlite pack, their "Superlight" model made out of their "Weatherlite" fabric and featuring their "Technolite" internal frame (They REALLY wanted to emphasize that it was "lite", LOL) The pack capacity was 2600 cu. in., weighted 24 oz. and cost $73 bucks (a princely sum back then). I still have it.

The motivation for coughing up the money for that purchase, was a result of my first homemade UL pack which I made & used just the month before. It was Fred Williams inspiration (from the July 82 Backpacker magazine) I made it for a late August Sierra trip which my buddies and I were competing on who would be carrying the lightest weight. The pack was approx 2200 cu. in., and weighted 20 oz. It lasted the whole week of the trip … barely … with a little duct tape help. My lack of sewing workmanship and my lack of knowledge on how to baby it, greatly contributed to its wear.

My standard pack before all that, was a frameless Jensen, which I shaved down (ala Doug Robinson) to 2 lbs. That pack was made from bomber cordura, no real babying required.
But alas, the allure of counting ounces had settled in, and I went on to lighter options.

An EE quilt. Before that I was using an eleven pound synthetic bag I bought from Sportsmans Warehouse….
I have come a long way in the last year with my gear thanks to this site.

Went from a USMC ILBE pack to a Golite Jam 50. Bought it used from a member here.

First two specifically to lighten my load doing a two night half dome hike. Coming from a Coleman stove and pots from my kitchen!

Here's my own personal gear evolution (at least for three season backpacking):
http://www.pmags.com/the-evolving-gear-list-1997-%E2%80%93-2006

May be of interest/amusement

Tony, I had that Alpenlite pack until this year when I gifted it through BPL to a Boy Scout leader to forward to a Scout.

It wasn't cuben, and it was just sold as a tarp, but an Outdoor Products urethane-coated nylon tarp, 8 feet x 10 feet was the first, big UL-style departure I made from standard BPing in the early 1980's. Sleeping two or three people under that was a whole lot less weight than a 3-pole Jansport Yellowstone dome tent.

At the same time, I also went stoveless on various 7 to 10-day trips. That was a huge weight and cost savings.

And I'd go without a sleeping bag by being a little generous on my clothing and wearing it all at night. That worked well at 40F, okay at 35F, but at 30F, I didn't sleep very well. I did have a thermarest along (as I'd quip, "It may be stupid to go so light but I'm not so crazy as to not bring a inflatable pad.")

Right after I moved west in 2001, and actually had good places to backpack again, an early Shires tarp tent (Henry actually delivered it to me by hand and showed be how to pitch it in front of the Moffet field commissary – back when I worked at NASA there). Also at the same time a Golite Breeze pack (12 oz). Still in my personal "museum" as it has too much sentimental value to match the tiny price it would get on gear swap.

Thought I was pretty rad with that combo!

I'm in the group that went pack first. I got a Go-Lite Speed Pack. Originally I used it as a day pack. Later, as I lightened up and got gear that packed more compactly, it became my regular backpack. But it doesn't fit me well (turns out I have a long torso, and it's a medium) and it's difficult to carry a bear can with it, so the Speed Pack sits in the closet now and I use a Granite Gear Vapor Trail now. It's got room for the can inside it, and it's insanely comfortable compared to the GoLite, but the GoLite still holds a special place in my heart. Eventually I'll PIF it to someone it fits better than it fit me.

My first ultralight piece of gear was a granite gear nimbus O-zone to replace my gregory (shasta?) to save about 3lbs in 2001. I did it a little backwards, since I still had a heaviesh base weigh at the time, but the nimbus held all my gear, carried comfortably and held up surprisingly well. At the time I was doing things like just using the fly on my tent or leaving it behind, when I knew I'd encounter a shelter on the AT. I'm really happy with all these cottage options, but to this day, I still think granite gear makes some of the best packs. Its funny to think that I'm considering buying a 20oz tent that basically has as good function as my 5lb tent from back then. What stagnation? I guess it depends on your perspective.

I dropped about 3 pounds with the Granite Gear Crown V.C. (long; 36 oz) from the Gregory backpack I had been using. Other than the backpack weight itself, I love the Gregory. I needed to significantly downsize, though, for my body's sake.