Help me do my first fastpack

This whole thing has been fascinating. I have gotten a lot of help, and appreciate the replies. Some have been much more helpful in that they responded to what I said I wanted to do, others less in that they told me what I should do, what or submitted whether what I want to do I had correctly labeled. There is clearly a lot of ego invested in fastpacking…and I get it, doing 16 hour days is obviously badass. Doing the JMT in a few days is beyond impressive. I’m not there yet, and am not sure if I aspire to that. I just want to run into the mountains and sleep. I can run a 1/2 marathon with 1900ft of elevation at 9min mile pace. If I keep running consistently over the next year we will see what happens.

I guess I am going to keep the Salomon and return the UD. I didn’t really get the chance to properly test them and compare, because a proper test would render them too used to return for full price. But the Salomon looks large enough to hold what I would need for a 2 night trip. It looks like the UD can hold quite a bit more with the extension collar and the shove-it pocket, but I will just take Ito and Bri’s word that it rides like a dream.

I got this thing https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Outdoor-Sleeping-Pad-Ultralight-Camping-Inflatable-Mylar-Air-Mattress-Disaster-Emergency-Air-Bed-Mat-Sleeping-Pad/32689867556.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.Xo6S2u

And it’s awesome, I cut it down and sealed it with an iron, it’s only 6oz at 5′ long. Obviously durability is a concern but its quite comfy, and certainly better than 1/8″ foam.

so I am working with the following for main pieces of gear:

polycryo 1/2 pyramid 8 oz w 6 stakes and groundcloth
Plastic inflatable pad 6oz
Sleeping bag 23oz
Salomon pack 16oz
Gold Gear fosters stove esbit 3oz

I have been following this thread and I have to say I think it is pretty funny that “we” are (were?) arguing about the definition of Fastpacking. It seems pretty simple to me –  Fast Backpacking = Fastpacking. Could include running, or not. Backpacking Fast, that’s all. “Fast” is of course completely subjective and attempting to define a MPD or MPH would be futile.

Anyway, I think we are going to have to split this forum into one for RunPacking (must include running!) and one for SpeedWalkPacking (Running Definitely NOT ALLOWED!) and possibly one for RunNapRunPacking (Run for a while, stop and take a nap every few hours, then run again, etc).

By the way, I got into fastpacking by accident…went light on a short overnight trip, got started late, had get to camp and back to car by a certain time, and realized it was fun and easy to run the downhills with a light pack…and look where it got me…so basically what I’m saying is, it’s not too late, you can still change your mind and just take it nice and slow like a normal person… ;)

@asolthane that pad looks awesome! I tested out the CCF pads last night and while the nightlight was Okay, my feet froze with just the thinlight for insulation. Made me wish I’d had an inflatable pad!

Asolthane –

I like the UD FP 20, but If anything it is a bit large for a 2-3 day trip with the kind of load I would actually want to run with. The new UD FP 15 looks good but I haven’t tried it or any of the other packs mentioned personally. 15-20L should be enough for short trips. I typically bring poles, and often just carry them when I run. Some of the newer packs also have a way to stow them pretty easily (UD especially).

I find keeping the total weight under 15 lbs helps a lot if I’m going to do any running at all. Closer to 10 lbs is much better. You can go pretty light on the shelter etc if the weather forecast is good, your trip is short, and you are confident you can deal with the consequences if the forecast is wrong. (5 oz tarp and 1 oz polycro groundcloth for example, or a 2.5 -3 oz mylar bivy if you want to really push it). That mylar pad you got looks pretty interesting, I wonder if it has an effective R-value at all?

I just want to run into the mountains and sleep.

That’s me as well.  Most of my fastpacking trips look like this:

1. Get off work on Friday afternoon and drive to the trail head of a 20 mile loop.
2. Run 8 miles
3. Camp
4. Get up and run the 12 miles back to the car
5. Drive home and get the kids to the ball field by 1:00 PM.

It sounds like you’ve got your gear pretty dialed in. The Salomon S-Lab 20 is on my wish list.  I’ve got the S-Lab 12 and love it.  I can wear it all day and almost forget I’m wearing it, even with it grossly overloaded. Unfortunately, I won’t be needing the 20 anytime soon since I broke my ankle trail running on Sunday. (Which explains why I’ve spent so much time on the internet the last three days.)

I finally tried this.

Gear:
Salomon Peak 20 pack
Marmot Hydrogen 30deg bag
MYOG Polycryo A frame
ALIEXPRESS plastic inflatable pad
various clothes and food.

I didn’t weigh my bag

Where: Crabtree to Bear lake in Desolation wilderness, just a 4 mile trip

I had just come from 5 days backpacking at 10k in Southern Sierra, and figured I was acclimated…but holy crap running at that elevation is hard. I was able to run about 1/2 the time on the way in, and most of the way out. Maybe by the end of the summer I will be more acclimated and in closer to peak shape, but I think you would have to be a real monster with your VO2Max to truly run with even 12-15lbs on your back. That is as SUL as I have ever gone, it’s defintiely cool to carry so little and I am excited to use that pack to try it again, and to go loger distances. I think a quilt I can wear coupled with a warmer short pad, Exlight or Extherm, would really help get the gear consolidated (no puffy required) and a bivy + cuben monk tarp would likely be the ideal shelter setup for a trip like this.

I will report back