Gear Upgrades

I get away replacing my Decathlon puffy with a lighter alpha or octa and UL touque , layering up using a windshirt and similar other layers you have.  Nicer to sleep in too.  That gets me down to lower 20s.

I also get away with just a hammock vs hammock plus chair.  A hammock let’s me elevate my feet which lets my legs recover more quickly

Thanks David.

Yeah, if it’s not expected to be very cold, the puffy could stay at home.

I could do fine with just the hammock rather than a chair if I were solo, but mostly I’m with 3 to 5 friends and we enjoy siting around catching up.

Hey Tim,  I never use the puffy backpacking or hiking at any temps (I hike to very cold), only in the city.  I find it over-all lighter and more flexible to add that extra octa/alpha in its place because I already have the wind block from the wind shirt and rain shell.

To drop a lot of weight would be pretty painful, like moving to an UL 1 person tent, but that’s probably a non option.

Tweaky stuff:

– vapcell vs Nitecore (I get a week out of a 5000mAh bank by managing my phone carefully), a few ounces

– I ditched the second mini Bic.  Ditto the ferro rod.  My stove is my mini bic fall back and its really unlikely to see the lighter and stove both fail on the same trip

– I ditched extra tape (Gorilla) and rely on Tenacious Tape and if desperate, the extra Luko

– I ditched any note pad and keep notes on my phone

– no comb/mirror

– Bogler trowel (0.7 oz).  Used to have the Coghlan’s as well, Bogler is better (cuts roots) and less than half the weight

– my rain system is a Sea to Summit poncho tarp, 7.4 oz all in saving ~ 6 oz with a home made shock cord belt that keeps it in place in wind.  For the times I want to bring a jacket, the rain pants almost never come, only if its very cold and windy to avoid hypothermia.  If I want my lower to stay dry and I’m not using a poncho, I use a 3FUL rain kilt @ 3.2 oz, pretty cheap and I love the breathability

You know they ask the question, “Do you hike to camp or camp to hike?”

I’m firmly in the hike to camp part of that, so I’m likely to need the Puffy Jacket if it’s going to get in the 40s. I’ll be experimenting with the new fleece hoodie and wind shirt hoody to see how they do.

I did just get the Vapcell 5000 from Light Smith. I’ll be putting it to the test also.

I tried the Duce 3 and the Vergo Dig Dig and found it a hassle to dig a proper cat hole here in the mountains of the Southeast US where the soil is often packed with a trillion roots. I even made a sleeve for the handle out of air bag material. With the ol Coghlan’s I can come down hard and I’ve only broken one, many years ago on a frozen mountain side.

Yep, the tent is out of the question for my old body. I’m a dedicated hammock camper and will only sleep on the ground in an emergency.

I have and will keep giving thought to some of the other stuff you mentioned.

Thanks for the feedback.

The Bogler is nice, it addresses the deuces lack of root cutting and is easier on the hand than both those other options though not as cush as the Coughlan

If a campsite is special I’ll show up by 1PM and spend the day.  That extra octa and all those layers is warm enough for me into the 20s.  If you’re layering the puffy on top of all that other clothing, then I’m a lot more hot blooded than you :)

Ha, Yeah, it would have to be pretty darn chilly to need all at once.

If you don’t need to ever wear it all at once, that’s what I was getting at by leaving the puff and adding another much lighter alpha/octa, embracing the art of layering to drop weight.  Just add another layer instead of changing into the jacket.

I’ve never understood puffies.  They lack the breathability to hike in and they add a ton of weight that can be replaced by much lighter and more flexible (handling more use cases) layering.

Or leave the lighter garments at home and bring one big puffy. Do the math. Tim hikes to camp. It gets chilly in camp! The most efficient weight to warmth garment is down. Bring the big puffy, leave the skinny little guy at home and maybe another garment and your weight is the same or less and you’re warmer overall.

Layering several lighter garments tends to be heavier and less packable than bringing one big puffy.

I’m proposing swapping the puffy for alpha, lowering weight based on it needing to be “pretty darn chilly” to wear everything he has now.

What clothing from his list would you ditch?

I happened to try the fleece+wind jacket combo instead of a puffy the last two trips and liked it. I chanced upon a returned Polartec Wool fleece (which I’d never heard of before) and found to be extremely, maybe too, warm. Layering that with the wind jacket essentially made it as warm as a thick puffy, but with the option to wear the layers separately and get more modulation in warmth. Mine comes out slightly heavier, but the expanded temp range is worth the extra weight, to me.

fleece is heavier than down in terms of warmth to weight. I was suggesting that Tim wouldn’t need to bring “all that” if he brought a proper puffy. So the weight saved leaving behind a garment would balance out the weight gained by bringing a puffy, that would be warmer. And more packable.

We all have our styles of hiking. Some really like dialing in different temps at different times of day and bringing gear to match those needs. I prefer simplifying and bringing rain gear and other necessities and fewer layers. The puffy–it doesn’t have be a winter puffy!–allows me to reduce garments and weight while being warmer than with several skimpy, ultra light layers.

I think it’s possible to fall into the habit of assuming that ‘light is best’ for each individual piece of kit, without thinking about how they all work together. If you need two minimal garments to equal the effectiveness of one down piece, then the advantage is lost. Sure, the puffy is some ounces heavier than any ONE of the skimpy pieces that you need to bring to meet conditions. It’s still lighter than the two of them added together, especially if one is fleece. And warmer.

I have some trips coming up, including a couple car camping with groups of hammock campers.

I’ll have plenty of opportunity to test out clothing combinations in cooler temps.

The KUIU fleece is a quarter zip and the Mt Hardware wind shirt is a full zip. I think it’s worth the small weight penalty to have venting options.

One thing I guess I should have said is that I wouldn’t necessarily take all of those layers.

I guess you could say the clothes I listed were options, depending on what’s expected on a particular trip in the shoulder seasons.

I am a huge fan of both 90 gsm Alpha Direct and the MH AirMesh garments.  My Timmermade hoody weighs 5.25 oz and the AirMesh LS top 4.25 oz.  Layered together they are amazingly warm.  That said, when it drops below freezing I will not be caught without my down puffy in camp.

Borah gear down vest 4oz is my extra  warmth at camp. Use a REI snow stake for cat hole. You all have some good ideas.

thom

I don’t find adding an extra alpha contributes much to warmth if I am sitting around.  If temps are in the 20s or 30s I would not rely on alpha as my sole source of insulation for sitting around camp. To each their own. Opting for Alpha isn’t really buying any weight reduction if at all compared to the loss of insulation by switching out a puffy.  My down jacket weighs less than an alpha 120 hoody and it probably gets me 20 more notches lower on the mercury in warmth.

I find 2 layers of lightweight fleece [edit: + my hiking shirt + sleep shirt] + a good wind shirt [edit + hat/gloves] warm in camp into the 20s

Alpha on its own is porous to wind

Both AD and Airmesh MUST be worn under some type of wind break in order to be effective insulation.

Tim, I’m in the SE also, N GA. Just turned 69. I can’t handle the damp cold as I did even 10 yrs ago. I like love Alpha, Kuiu Peloton and MH Airmesh. For me, Alpha is for hiking with wind jacket. Alpha under a light down puffy is excellent in the upper 20s and humid in camp. I also have a MH Airmesh I use primarily on day hikes and car camp. Same for Peloton when a bit colder. As light as high count down puffies are, it’s worth the 8-10 oz for me to be comfortable. I’m not weeks on trail anymore, so a few more ounces is worth it. There are plenty of ways to save 8-10 oz, but feeling warm in camp or on cold, windy hike breaks are worth the weight of a quality puffy. FWIW I was born with asthma and prone to respiratory infections, so keeping my upper torso warm is primary.

FWIW, I’m a fairly recent convert to taking a lightweight down puffy on most trips. And I also haven’t migrated to these newer high-tech fleece fabrics that everyone is talking about. They sound impressive, but the fact that they are delicate, snag easily, and are usually worn under wind garments makes them less appealing to me. They don’t fit my typical use case so well for 3 season backpacking. Maybe they would be good for ski touring in the winter or something like that. I should really learn more.

Anyway, it’s true that I can get sufficient warmth by combining many layers of insulation and wind resistance, and that bringing all of those layers gives you a lot of flexibility. I used to do that. However, in practice, I rarely found that I really needed all of that flexibility, and most often I was bringing extra layers just so I could wear them all together in camp (especially in the morning). I never used some of them otherwise. On the other hand, it’s very convenient to simply throw on the puffy when I am cold, instead of having to deal with all the layers. So now I am typically bringing fewer items, but one of them is a very light puffy, and while there are fewer possible configurations, I have the ones that I need. There is really no weight penalty in my case, because I’ve eliminated some layers from my pack. Works for me.

There are some off-the-shelf down puffies that will get you a lot of warmth for little weight. Unfortunately, Arcteryx doesn’t make my favorite anymore, but Montbell makes some that are pretty good.

Throwing it in for the chair.. I hear your comments on it being non-negotiable, I’ve been very satisfied with the REI FlexLite Air.

I’ve tried/owned:

– Big Agnes Mica Basin

– Helinox Zero and One

– Nemo Moonlite Elite

and I consider the FlexLite my endgame chair… picked one up in the US on my last visit.

It was a 2019 BPL article by Ryan that I came across earlier this year which pointed out the FlexLite Air to me. We dont have it up in Canada: https://backpackinglight.com/lightweight-backpacking-chairs-rei-flexlite-air-vs-helinox-chair-zero/

Excellent weight savings and good angle to aid in recovery and taking weight off the dogs..

Edit: Agree with Dan above on the Montbell plasma. I’m not aware of any other 1000FP down jacket as commercially available in the US. I love wearing it in the city and all my packing trips. It’s got sewn-through baffles, packs to a baseball size, and feels like it floats with how light it is. One word of caution – I had a buddy buy from Montbell JP in a Men’s M and the sleeves are a touch short. I’m normally on the small end of M in North American sizes. I do not know if this is relevant if purchasing online from NA.

Dan, a cheap gateway to these fleeces is Mountain Hardwear Airmesh Octa.  It’s more snag proof than alpha if a bit lower performance .   Stephen tested it in ’22 here.

I bought mine for $30 Canadian at a year end sale where alpha would have cost $200+

Fav cheep upgrade. Silicone stretch lid for cook pot . Can cold soak or heat same pot. No stuff sack needed when using for heating equipment storage.

@Thom, Fav cheep upgrade. Silicone stretch lid for cook pot . Can cold soak or heat same pot. No stuff sack needed when using for heating equipment storage.

This sounds interesting. I have a Toaks 750ml but cold soaking with the metal lid can cause sloshing out of the steam/vents.

With a silicone stretch lid – does this have holes punched in it? Do you boil water with the lid?

And would be interested to know if you have a product rec