Creative way you dropped 1oz

[chris smead]

Like many of you I'm at a point where I'm trying to find creative places to drop 1oz here, 1oz there, etc.

Please post a creative way you dropped an ounce.
If 16 of you respond with things I hadn't thought of, you'll be saving me a pound :)

[twig .]

Take a sip of water at the trailhead before starting your hike, 1 maybe 2 ounces easily.
No stuff sack for sleeping bag or clothing, just straight into pack.
Leave car key at or near trailhead/car – bonus points if your pack gets washed away in a stream crossing
Leave a meal/water etc in your car, helps if you are low on food to know you can eat as soon as you return.

[Daniel D]

Think about your fears, you overcompensate in these area's.

It all depends on where you are planning to spend your time. Do you need a mat when a bit of padding around the hip bone will suffice. Take less food, then you'll loose weight and get a double benefit. Use a wind-shirt, rather than a raincoat. Take an umbrella and wrap bug mesh around it, so it becomes your bug protection at night.

[Link .]

cut my hair

[John Donewar]

My hammock, top quilt, underquilt and tarp weigh about the same as my tent, sleeping pad and top quilt.

Where is the lost ounce? There are actually 19 of them. My tent used my trekking poles as the tent poles. Now I don't have to take the trekking poles along on a hike if I don't want to take them.

If your trekking poles weigh less the benefit of lost weight will be less. If you need or want them then this suggestion isn't for you. There are times when they help and there are times when they are just weight!

YMMV

Also my current tarp is an asym and only requires two stakes instead of the ten stakes required for my tent. I have plans to build a hex tarp that will require 4 stakes. Net weight saved will be 1.3 ounces. I use Ti shepherd's hook stakes.

Party On,

Newton ;-)

[Dave Ayers]

I've carried my car key countless times. The other day I was weighing it and my daughter said, "what about the valet key"? It's a simple non-electronic plastic version that weighs 0.1 oz. Doh! Coulda saved over an oz all these years …

[David Ure]

Blew my nose. Twice.

[BlackHatGuy]

Shaved.

Like, everywhere…..

[Hiking Malto]

Took a crap. Actually on my thru hike I got quite efficient at "lightening my load" before heading off in the morning. But I can assure you,with eating 6-8000 calories I saved many, many ounces.

[David Ure]

If one were to do the previous 3 things they could drop like a couple of pounds, unless you are Doug and then the hair alone is just over 7 pounds. Surprised this didn't make it into Mclelland's book.

[Paul Magnanti]

Eat a Snickers bar before actually hiking
Take a gulp of water
Take a leak before hitting the trail

[Mobile Calculator]

…

[David Thomas]

>"I've carried my car key countless times."

+1 on NOT bringing the car key. I've got a place I hide it on the car. I won't need it until I get back to the car. I can't drop it in a river that way. If someone else needs to pick up my (maybe I bail or get injuried), the key is with the car.

I do the same thing when I fly out of town. If someone steals my bag in NYC, I can still drive home. If a friend flies into Anchorage while I'm gone, they can (1) borrow my car, (2) save themselves rental car fees, and (3) full up my gas tank (courtesy for borrowing the car). It's a Toyota. A criminal could steal it easily enough without the key anyway.

[David Thomas]

>"Like, everywhere….."

TMI.

When the Voyager aircraft did the first non-stop, un-refueled, round-the-world flight, Jeanna Yeager cut her waist-length hair to neck-length, saving enough weight to add 11 miles of range of the aircraft.

Back on topic:

Whatever bowl you currently use, switch to the bottom 3 inches of a quart, HDPE milk carton. Very light, good past boiling, below -40F/C, and cleans up completely in the dishwasher. Free at the recycling center.

[Bob Gross]

"Jeanna Yeager cut her waist-length hair to neck-length, saving enough weight to add 11 miles of range of the aircraft."

She could have gone for a buzz cut so that she could start on a second lap.

–B.G.–

[David Thomas]

If I'm at a water stop, I drink a liter. So I avoid carrying those two pounds. My wife sips and therefore starts with 2 pounds more water weight on her back.

Running out of water is also one of her fears and not one of mine (I'm peeing all the time, due to all that gulping). So she's got ANOTHER liter – another 2 pounds for that reason.

New trail? Not sure about the next water stop? Ask a hiker coming the other way.

[M B]

The #1 way most people drop wt from their PACK, is to put things in their pockets, or in some cases around their necks (whistle)

Some things belong in pockets, TP,chapstick, camera, map, IMO.

In food-hang territory, use your tent stuffsack to bearbag your food and dont bring dedicated food bag.

Get rid of most stuffsacks

Cut down your pack liner to length needed

Drill holes in the baseplate of your compass to lighten it.

Replace guy lines with lightest cord around, spectra fishing line.

Make 0.1 oz stakes from bicycle spokes

Make a homemade lighter lid for a pot

[Aaron Sorensen]

Gotta love everyone’s cynicism about this.

We need to re-do the question as "Creative way you dropped 1oz off your base weight"?

I mean with a 4.5 pound base, taking 1 ounce off = 1.4% of my base weight.
Why wouldn't I want to do this?

I make new pieces of gear for this exact reason.
So 3 things I do.

Learn to live with mini-dropper bottles of stuff.
Make the piece of gear again, (but lighter).
Learn to live without that ounce…

[Dale Wambaugh]

MB wrote, "The #1 way most people drop wt from their PACK, is to put things in their pockets, or in some cases around their necks (whistle)

Some things belong in pockets, TP,chapstick, camera, map, IMO.

In food-hang territory, use your tent stuffsack to bearbag your food and dont bring dedicated food bag."

Yeah, the pack vs pocket weight is delusional. You still have to haul it up and down the incline plane. The labors of Sisyphus :) I like having the basic survival and essentials on my person rather than in my pack in case I lose it, but leaving those items off the "carried" gear list is just cheating.

I DO like the multi-purpose tent/bear bag concept, although my UL tents hardly need a stuff sack and I have to question the food loose in my pack for more odor transfer. Good thinking though :)

Cutting off the toothbrush handles and drilling holes in your compass are more psychological than practical I think. I think Ryan Jordan mentioned in one of his recent articles that it doesn't matter much if you have a 5 pound base weight or a 6 pound one– you're getting so light that tweaking it past a certain point is an more an academic pursuit than a practical one.

The real challenge for me in dropping weight any further is the expense. It's going to cost me $400-$500 to get my sleeping bag any lighter, or to get a Cuben shelter vs a silnylon one. My answer is to make sure I have all the inexpensive tweaks accomplished, like using recycled drinking water bottles, and of course leaving the unnecessary toys at home.

The real perceptual/psychological weight savings are throwing out the concepts of fashion and hyper-cleanliness. My cape shelter looks like a tossed salad when worn as rain gear and I don't need pajamas or clean socks and underwear for every day. So what!

[Paul Magnanti]

"Gotta love everyone’s cynicism about this."

And that's a bad thing??? This northeast born and bred transplant considers that normal. :)

Being serious, many people get to a certain point and cease to really care about losing ounces.
http://www.pmags.com/ultra-light-but-not-ultra-precise

For specialized hiking events (like an FKT!) perhaps it matters. For other outdoor activities? It is more of an intellectual exercise IMO once you get to a certain experience and/or comfort level..at least for most.

I have no idea how much my wax kit weighs for winter backpacking…nor do I think it really matters. :)

[M B]

i scrutinize, and agonize over every 0.1 oz on my gear list.

then when I pack, I bring what I want. Usually about 0.25 – 0.5 lb more stuff than my minimum.

Its an academic excercise mostly, but changes will evolve out of it as you realize things you can do without, combine, leave behind.

[David Drake]

I didn't read it as cynicism so much as a reflection of reality: if your goal is the lightest pack weight possible, you're better off focusing on food and water management than trying to drop another ounce or two from an already-light BW.

And I say that as someone a little taken aback by the recent trend on these forums to regard 15-20# BW for 3 season on-trail hiking as 'pretty light' or 'good enough.'

[Aaron Sorensen]

15-20#, now that's funny.
This was posted on the SUL Thread.

Ounces count!

[David Drake]

"This was posted on the SUL Thread."

Fair enough. So to respond to the OP, although I doubt it saves a whole ounce, I *do* carry toothpaste in one of those teeny-tiny tubes you get in Japanese hotels. And I refill it. I also cut the handle off my toothbrush, don't carry TP, plus the other usual tricks.

But really, planning calorie-dense meals and carrying just enough food (and just enough water between sources) have saved a lot more actual weight.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

I've done 24hr/overnight trips with no teeth cleaning gear. I use an electric at home, and floss, so not too bothered by not cleaning that long, brush at the end (the end-car suggestions so far are good ones). I rarely bother with toothpaste on any hike. Floss is much more important than paste so I prioritize that. In my early hiking days as a teenager in arid areas I used to swallow my rinsing water after brushing my teeth. Still do (but without the toothpaste) if things are tight (no need if camping at water). Also swallow my pot washing water in similar circumstances.

If you aren't sure of if you'll need either bed socks or spare socks or gloves (temps not extreme) then carrying one thin light pair of socks can double for all three. So if you get into camp with wet socks you can keep them on while you set up, then switch between using them for mitts (in camp) and bed (socks). Etc.

I've started overnight hikes with a plastic tub of fruit (yes, real fruit!). At the first break I eat the fruit, keep the tub. I pick a brand here in Aus that has a rediculously light container of about 1.5cups capacity…I can't remember the weight, but its extremely light, just prob has BPAs and wouldn't last more than a couple of weeks. I then use the cup that night as my eating drinking cup with group cooking, rather than bringing a seperate cup. Carrying the fruit from the start a few km isn't a waste as I need less water, and its good for me, so no harm done on the weight side of things.

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