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The Era of Lighter-Than-Air Backpacking is Here!


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Home Forums General Forums SuperUltraLight (SUL) Backpacking Discussion The Era of Lighter-Than-Air Backpacking is Here!

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  • #1316568
    Mitch Chesney
    Spectator

    @mchesney

    I *have* to imagine this (joke) idea has been tossed around after much drinking, but if you have ~$100 to waste and an 8lb backpack, then take it to the next level: lighter than air! A 30ft diameter weather balloon can lift an 8-12lb payload. Enjoy the envy of your peers after describing your NEGATIVE pack weight! :)

    I found a cheap one on Amazon. Who has some spare cash and wants to post the best SUL backpacking photo in recent memory?

    http://www.amazon.com/30ft-Professional-Weather-Balloon-1200g/dp/B00513FWQI/ref=pd_sim_hi_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1J5GQB3YJWXC692YCHR2

    Balloon

    Look at this smug bastard. Hardly a calorie wasted 'carrying' his pack.

    #2100280
    Mark Verber
    BPL Member

    @verber

    Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

    Where I typically backpack the balloon would get hung up on trees… but it you stay above tree line on alpine trips, or in the dessert trees wouldn't be a big problem and with some sort of add on could provide shade as well as lift.

    –mark

    #2100311
    Mitchell Ebbott
    Spectator

    @mebbott-2

    Locale: SoCal

    Having to tether your pack to the ground in order to keep it from floating away. That's the dream, right there.

    #2100326
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    It's better than that. With a 30-foot diameter, 15-foot radius ballon, you'd have 4/3 * pi * r^3 = 4500 * pi or 14,000 cu cubic feet. That displaces slightly over 1000 pounds of air. You get most of that buoyancy if you use hydrogen, 25/29 of it if you use helium, and 13/29's if you use methane. So even with methane, you get 480 pounds of buoyancy (less the ballon weight). Note that with hydrogen or methane, you needn't carry any stove fuel – just tap your ballon, your food weight will be falling anyway.

    #2101157
    Jorge Falcon
    BPL Member

    @jorge-falcon

    Locale: CCS

    Just add enough gas and attach your waist to this super advanced backpack, also remember to hold your feet with 2 stakes to the ground so you don't go flying around… (warning: expect some turbulence during a storm).

    #2101199
    Michael Gunderloy
    BPL Member

    @ffmike

    Skew your menu enough towards beans for protein, and you won't even need to buy the methane.

    #2101203
    Marko Botsaris
    BPL Member

    @millonas

    Locale: Santa Cruz Mountains, CA

    I had planned as a joke for many years to make a post something like this, but every time April Fools days came around I kept shrugging – "too much work, maybe next Year". I figured if I stuffed my old 3 oz Gossamer Gear G5 with helium balloons like it was full pack, and then starting tying on more balloons I might be able to eventually take a picture of myself on the trail with my G5 floating behind me trailing on a thin leash.

    Snooze and loose, I guess. Still it might make a good avatar. :-)

    #2101847
    Andy F
    Spectator

    @andyf

    Locale: Midwest/Midatlantic

    Eventually things get a little dull in the evening around camp, and someone inhales to do their best campfire Micky Mouse impression. Then, everyone actually has to carry a pack with a positive weight, and the fun is all over.

    #2165360
    theodore jefferson
    Spectator

    @frmertd

    Could you overinflate it and have it lift you up and carry you over the pass??

    #2165363
    Jeffs Eleven
    BPL Member

    @woodenwizard

    Locale: NePo

    No more center 'mid pole Just float the peak of your shelter

    #2165396
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    Had to laugh.

    One of the early Darwin Awards went to a guy who attached a whole lot of hydrogen-filled weather balloons to the cane chair he was sitting in.
    Then, at several hundred feet of altitude, he realised he had no means of steering, no means of controlling his ascent, and no means of descending.

    I forget how they got him down – maybe someone shot out just one balloon?

    Note: as you go up in altitude, the pressure drops and the balloon expands – so the lift gets greater. Oops!

    EDIT:
    Double Oops. I forgot the air would get less dense at the same rate. Thank you guys.
    Um – he went awful high, didn't he?

    Cheers

    #2165603
    Jim Colten
    BPL Member

    @jcolten

    Locale: MN

    Note: as you go up in altitude, the pressure drops and the balloon expands
    Correct

    so the lift gets greater.
    Having had PV=nRT pounded into my brain so many times that it is still there after four decades plus some, I think not. The lift is the difference between the mass of the balloon and the mass of the air it displaces. The expanded balloon will displace a greater volume of air but that air will be proportionally less dense at the higher altitude. Very minor discrepancies in that result due to the balloon's shell material not being compressible but close enough.

    #2165643
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    Roger:

    That really happened. Circa 1980. Los Angeles. Guy used a lawn chair and helium-filled weather balloons. He had quite a bit of excess buoyancy and went to 15,000 feet. Was sighted by a jet on approach to LAX. It was cold up there. He had brought a BB gun to shoot out balloons and did so. Landed in some power lines, but uninjured.

    A mole of helium (4 grams) displaces a mole of air (average molecular weight 28.9 grams) regardless of the density (i.e atmospheric pressure). Lift is nearly constant with elevation. You know that after you've had your morning tea.

    #2165646
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    I didn't remember the bit about the helicopter rescue in the news reports of the time. And I thought he went higher. And apparently he didn't land in power lines. Otherwise, my 35-year-old memories seem accurate.

    http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/walters.asp

    #2165647
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    Oh, wait. That's the from the 1997 Internet report. I pretty much nailed the original report. Yes, 16,000 feet, yes power lines. I remember the "as soon as we figure out which part [of the FAA code] he violated." -FAA official, and immediately thought, "Balloning without a license". which is an offense.

    #2165681
    Michael Gunderloy
    BPL Member

    @ffmike

    #2165864
    EndoftheTrail
    BPL Member

    @ben2world-2

    I get sweaty palms just thinking of sitting in a lawn chair, dangling 16,000 ft. in the air…

    #2166237
    Nick Gatel
    BPL Member

    @ngatel

    Locale: Southern California

    I remember that story when it happened. About the same time another moron took off from the Banning, CA airport in a single engine plane and decided to do "touch and go's" on the trailers of big rigs on I-10, which is next to the airport. The FAA fined him. Somehow Darwin ignored these two.

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