Confession: I'm not an ultralight backpacker

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Ultralight gear allows me to take multiples of a lot of things. For example, I can bring two sleeping bags for the weight of just one, so I do, and I’m rarely ever cold. I’m often as warm as at home. I usually bring many different things to put on my head, from a bandana to a visor to a balaclava to a down hood to a sun hat to a buff. I have a very light thermarest and I use a gossamer gear 1/8″ foam pad to protect it and to serve as a sit pad during the day. So basically I have two pads instead of just one.

But what ruins it is putting in the food and water, especially the water. 4 liters of water is never ultralight and to make it comfortable to carry, it helps to have a pack like an Arc Blast or even a heavier one like a typical Osprey pack. I have an Arc Blast now, but in the past, for trips that might involve heavy water caries, a 4lb Osprey Aura carries it more comfortably than a frameless pack.

I also like to bring some luxuries like an ultralight blow-up pillow, a paperback book, iphone and brick charger, a musical instrument. I also have a tendency to collect a rock or two as I go.

My pack with a liter of water and 5 days of food tends to weigh around 15-17lbs. Make it 4 liters of water and I’m in the 20s.

So this is my confession. I’m a fraud. I’m not an ultralight backpacker.

[AK Granola]

I’d  like to get down to your weight and I don’t even even have all those hats, the instrument, the book, a pillow or two sleeping bags. Really? Two? I can’t imagine. But I’m so acclimated to camping in the 40s and 50s in the rain, that although I’m a cold sleeper, I’m not that cold! Usually I’m with others, so body heat is free. My bag is my one splurge, it’s uber warm.

Im very soon going to post another Lighterpack list here, to see if I can eliminate anything else before my Sierra trek this summer (what’s a little snow, ha!). But I doubt I’ll get much lighter. I think my base weight with bear can right now is 18 pounds.

One thing that continues to annoy me is when people post the weight of something, say a tent, and don’t post the real true weight, with all the stakes and any guylines they will attach or carry as extra. Or they post a list, and omit the sunscreen and bug spray, then later admit they’re going to bring it. If you’re going to post a list, you have to post every doggone thing you put in or on the stinking pack. Some of those claimed ultralighters aren’t really so light. Or, their plan is just to borrow from other hikers if they need something or run into trouble. Not that I’m not willing to help someone in need, but cmon. Try to be self sufficient.

Of course, if some hiker with a ginormous pack pulls out hummus and chips or gourmet chocolate and offers to share, I don’t decline.

 

[Edward John M]

I spent a week-end camping with and near an extreme ultra lighter one winter above the snow line. He borrowed my spare socks and my spare camp shoes, a spare balaclava “cos his ears were cold” and on day 2 he ran out of gas for his stove because his girlfriend “Was drinking too much cocoa” His Expedition rated tent was perfect for the conditions but because it was so heavy he skimped on everything else to get his pack weight down. A bit stupid really for what was really and 8 kilometre in&out with some short sightseeing day trips.
I decided not to share my rum and ginger wine with them

[Graham F]

“So this is my confession. I’m a fraud. I’m not an ultralight backpacker.”

Unless I am mistaken you are, aren’t you?

Let’s say 4.5 kgs BW (max BW for UL status), 1.0 kgs water, 5 days food at what 800 grams per day thus 4 kgs, all up equals 9.5 kgs.

You are carrying 7.8 kgs (17 pounds you said) therefore so your BW must be around 3 kgs.

So you are UL, unless your numbers are out.

Congratulations Di- tramp on, go forth ‘in pace’.

[Kattt]

You say it like it’s a bad thing.

;)

[Matt]

If your math is right, you are UL.  One liters of water = 2 lbs. 5 days of food (for a light eater) = 7.5 lbs.  That means your base gear is around 6 – 8 lbs.  In fact, you’re almost SUL!

If your math is wrong, you are not UL.  A ULer would never be wrong about such things. :)

Either way, happy trails however you traverse them!

[jscott]

Throw Diane in a lake with her pack on. If she floats…she’s an ultralighter. Then REI can safely burn her at the stake.

[Roger Caffin]

Throw Diane in a lake with her pack on. If she floats…she’s an ultralighter.

Ah … but most people are close to floating anyhow, and I have yet to see a pack which does not float half out of he water.
In fact, we have sometimes used our packs (suitably waterproofed of course) as flotation aids.

Better definition needed?
Cheers

[MJ H]

Given recent politics, it’s probably good to remind people that if they do try you for witchcraft by the water ordeal, you should exhale as soon as you hit the water and lose fat if you have time to prepare.

[Tom K]

Ah … but most people are close to floating anyhow…..better definition needed?”

Body fat?

[Roger Caffin]

Body fat typically has a density of 0.9 x water.
It floats.

Cheers

[Tom K]

“Body fat typically has a density of 0.9 x water.
It floats.”

Q.E.D.

Cheers

 

[W I S N E R !]

I’m far more interested in hearing about what people are seeing, feeling, and doing than how much weight they’re carrying.  The weight is only interesting to me if it has something to do with a means to an end.  Tell me about how being UL was necessary to do a particular trip in a particular style and you have my attention.  Spreadsheets for the sake of spreadsheets and gear talk for the sake of gear talk with absolutely no context…meh.

Tell me about your music, what instrument do you play on the trail, what type of music?

Anything in particular you like reading on the trail or is there no difference from home?

[Nick Gatel]

I guess you didn’t get the email. Ultralight backpacking died several years ago.

[jscott]

Just to be sure that people got the joke–which gets less funny the more I think about it; sorry Diane!–I’ve added the reference below. The ‘joke’ was in imagining the BPL community acting like a mob and drowning the heretic. Or REI burning a non consumer. I never actually meant for Diane to be treated badly!!!

 

“As part of the infamous “swimming test,” accused witches were dragged to the nearest body of water, stripped to their undergarments, bound and then tossed in to to see if they would sink or float. Since witches were believed to have spurned the sacrament of baptism, it was thought that the water would reject their body and prevent them from submerging. According to this logic, an innocent person would sink like a stone, but a witch would simply bob on the surface. The victim typically had a rope tied around their waist so they could be pulled from the water if they sank, but it wasn’t unusual for accidental drowning deaths to occur.”

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Well, I’m pretty fat so I would float. And burning me at the stake would probably come out like bacon or pork butt.

Meanwhile, if I bring an instrument it’s usually either a Strumstick ukulele which I have restrung and retuned in fifths like a mandolin (but without the double-courses) or a pennywhistle, on which I will play American old time music aka Appalachian or mid-Western fiddle tunes. Not bluegrass, though. I’m not that talented. I sent my Strumstick home after the first 4 days since I was happy enough to listen to podcasts and old episodes of CBS Mystery Theater and read my scary book.

Here’s the gear I brought:

1. Two quilts, one a 20 degree and the other a 45 degree wearable quilt. I’m never cold when I have two quilts.
2. Sea-to-Summit UL pillow. This pillow is awesome. I slept so well with it. The little stuff sack it comes with is stupid.
3. Some kind of UL Thermarest that isn’t the neo-air.
4. GG 1/8″ foam pad. Protected my Thermarest and served as a sit pad. Had to store inside my pack when the trail was brushy or else it shreds.
5. GG poloycryo ground sheet.
6. Equinox 8×10 flat tarp with 6 aluminum ground hog stakes, 2 large, 4 small.
7. Homemade floorless bug net tent.
8. Leki trekking poles, not particularly UL.
9. A whole bunch of platypus bags in various sizes.
10. Sawyer squeeze mini. Couldn’t get my new Sawyer squeeze to work at all. Something is wrong with it or something is wrong with me.
11. Aqua Mira because I hate the squeezing. What a pain in the butt. You get all wet, the water is cold. It hurts your hands to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and it takes forever.
12. One smart water bottle to backflush the squeeze and generally just use.
13. Snow peak stove – forget the name of it. I bought it in the Gear Swap. Worked well enough but not very efficient compared to a Jet Boil. Gets glowing red hot and the pot supports tend not to stay put.
14. MSR Titan kettle with a homemade reflectix cozy.
15. Plastic cup made from the bottom end of a #2 plastic container with a homemade reflectix cozy. #2 plastic is safe up to 255 degrees, so I could use this for coffee, or as a bowl or as a scoop to fill my platypus bags.
16. Plastic screw-top ice cream container for cold soaking.
17. Short-handled titanium spoon.
18. A wool buff, a lycra balaclava, two or three bandanas (head scarf, something to wipe dirty things, something to wipe clean things), down hood, visor, Zpacks pointy hat (which I lost, I am so bummed!), a long, gauzy, cotton scarf like Indian or Pakistani women wear, a tank top, a button-down shirt, a Zpacks cuben rain jacket, a silnylon rain skirt, a homemade hiking skirt, a pair of spandex shorts for my fat thighs, sun gloves, possum down gloves (never worn), three pairs of socks (only wore two), long sleeved warm shirt, tights, rain chaps, leather garden gloves. – That’s a lot of clothes for me. To handle the brushy, stabby Buck Creek trail I wore the long sleeved warm shirt, the long-sleeved button up shirt, the tights, the spandex shorts, the lycra balaclava, the rain jacket, the rain chaps and the leather gloves like a skin-diving suit. I was so hot but the wild roses and poison oak were not too much trouble. The stinging nettles made it through to my legs, though.
19. Altra Timps
20. A bag of hygiene and first-aid supplies. I put my ibuprofen in a plastic breath mints box, which seemed appropriate since they were my bedtime “candy”.
21. Zpacks Arc Blast backpack with extra side pockets and hip belt pockets. I added a homemade lumbar pad because it bruises my back and the waist belt is slightly too large. Otherwise this is a good pack that holds the weight well and didn’t shred in the brush.
22. A paperback
23. A Strumstick (for the first 4 days)
24. An iPhone XR with Gaia GPS and the Halfmile app, with a big charging brick, charging cable, and standard wired headphones (I didn’t want to bring the airpods which are the best invention ever.) I added a shoulder pocket to hold the phone. The GPS saved my life.

The book I brought was something I read back in the 80s or early 90s called Nature’s End by Whitley Striber and (James?) Kunetka. Something like that. It is an apocalyptic story. All this time since the first time I read it, I kept thinking the book was sort of prophetic, so I wanted to read it again and see how prophetic it actually is. It’s not as prophetic as I thought, however a lot of things are really eerily close to real life.

[Brad P]

The goal should be to maximize your enjoyment out on the trail. A lot goes into that and after the basics of being safe and prepared to handle life on the trail, it will be the old HYOY thing.

If the utility of an item brings you more joy than reducing the weight on your back, then take it.

[Dena Kelley]

Piper, I’m in the same boat. I’m a cold sleeper, and getting old enough that I like a little extra camp comfort. I also carry a bear cannister and a gun on my backpacking trips. My pack weight fully loaded (with handgun) is around 22-25 lbs for a weekender trip (I carry the gun on my hip usually but I do count it in my pack weight because it seems more honest). But that beats the heck out of the 45-50 lbs I used to carry. And I’m still collecting lighter gear, because now I’m in a SAR group and my SAR pack weighs about 30 lbs due to all the mandatory medical, survival and repair gear, and so I’m still seeing where I can cut weight. I just bought my first quilt, for example, even though I’m skeptical I’ll stay as warm with a quilt. But it’s worth a try, and I’d love to get my pack down to sub-20 lbs. I’d be happy with that. I don’t need to be 10 lbs.

[Roger Caffin]

You know, there is an alternate definition of a “UL walker’, one which handles the different walker ages, seasons and terrain. Does it make sense to try to carry the same gear (and hence the same weight) in warm lowland pine forests during the summer as in high treeless mountains in winter-time? Of course not.

So let’s look at it from a totally different perspective. There are two questions for this.

Is each item in your gear list as light as it can reasonably be? Are you still carrying around that cotton/kapok jacket, or have you moved to a high-quality fleece? Are you still carrying a antique fuel stove weighing 2 lb, or have you changed to a little canister stove. Yes, this may cost a bit, but you have to carry it.

The second question is do you really need every item in your pack, or are you still ‘packing your fears’? Do you have three different warm tops when one is all you need? Are you carrying four pairs of thick socks on a three day trip, when one pair is enough? Are you carrying two heavy books for reading at night when you usually go straight to sleep after dinner? Are you carrying 3 litres of water all the time when you are traveling beside creeks most of the time?

I once commented to Carol, a former Production Editor here, that one night was so cold we had every bit of clothing on for the night. Her reply was that if we had had any left over unused clothing we would have been ‘packing our fears’. Very true.

Cheers

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Well, I pretty much used every item in my pack with the exception of my headlamp, my possum gloves, some of my hygiene/first aid products. I think I could do without the tank top but I’m afraid (packing my fears!) of nipple chafing.

Not all of it is the lightest of all choices but there’s only so much money you can spend.

[Roger Caffin]

Recently we did a 7 day hoon trip in our Alps. We carry light-weight gear of course. But we also carry full storm gear in that region, because we have been hit by hail and snow and sleet smack bang in the middle of summer.

So some emergency gear is justified. It is not ‘packing your fears’, it is a very sensible precaution. And that stuff also affects the local SAR people too, who get called out sometimes for the ‘less well equipped’. Exactly where you put the border line, well …

People die in Alpine country because they do not know enough to carry suitable gear. This happens all around the world. Unfortunate, but the alternative is some sort of Police State.

Cheers

[Randy Martin]

I have personally made the journey to UL and now back a little ways towards the middle.  Base weight is probably around 12lb.  The changes I made to move back from UL a bit were in my Shelter and Pack.  For Shelter I wanted something more worthy of the Alpine storms I deal with occasionally.  My Tarp wasn’t cutting it.  My pack is around 2lb.  Outside of that I imagine on certain trips I’ll carry a hammock as a camp chair and camp sandals which might push to 13lb base weight.  The bottom line is the arbitrary 10lb threshold was just that, arbitrary.  While useful for a benchmark it shouldn’t be goal without the context of other factors such as safety and the comfort you are ok with.

[Ken Thompson]

Well BPL is a lightweight forum after all.

As long as it feels like hiking and not hauling…

[Anonymous]

Stopped caring about labels and arbitrary numbers awhile back, and am better off for it.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I dunno about you Diane but I AM an ultra lighter.

I know B/C I have 200 pounds of UL gear in my garage.

[Author]

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