Your first “UL” piece of gear?

Like Dan my first piece of ultralight gear was a 2 pound 7 ounce GoLite Litespeed pack.

I bought it in March of 2009 to replace my old traditional Jansport Carson 80 framed pack that tipped the scale at an advertised 4 pounds 13 ounces.

That change alone reduced my pack weight by 2 pounds 6 ounces. ;-)

I modified the Litespeed to further reduce its weight by making circular cutouts in the frame sheet, removing unnecessary plastic hardware and trimming the length of the webbing straps. I also removed the ice axe loops. There isn't a whole lot of ice in Southeastern Louisiana. ;-)

FWIW I found the BPL website in 2010 and very soon after the world of MYOG. My gear weight has fallen dramatically since then.

Party On,

Newton

My early seventies Eureka Timberline got damaged and I replaced it with a BA Lynnx Pass 2 and weight was not a consideration as the 2 tents were roughly the same size and up to this time I just assumed everything weighed about the same. I had however aged about 40 years since the purchase of the Eureka Timberline and I had begun to hear about UL hiking I soon purchased my first piece of intentional lightweight gear, a Tarptent Rainshadow 2. It weighed less than half of what the BA Lynnx Pass 2 did.