How are folks getting under 7 lbs base?

Ten years ago I had a 7 lb base weight for most trips, and now I’m up to around 10.5 lbs now.   There were a couple of things that has added to my base weight.

1.) Electronics.  I used to carry a small, waterproof digital camera that weighed around 4.5oz.  Now I have an iPhone SE2 (5.1oz), Case (1.4oz), Delome Inreach SE (6.8oz), Anker Astro battery block (6.7oz), and cords (.6oz)

2. Sleeping Pad – I used to carry a Ridgerest or Z-Lite (11oz), often in torso or 3/4 length, and now use a full length X-Therm (15.2oz).

3. The change in sleeping pad made me move from frameless pack (16.3oz) to a light framed pack (28.6oz)

4. I’ve also gone from a minimal shelter (though still full coverage) in the Gossamer Gear Spinnshelter (10.2oz) to a shelter with a little more room in the Durston X-Mid 1P (20.2oz – fly only)

My clothing, cook kit, and other gear have largely remained the same.

The bottom line to get a 7lb baseweight, you need to carry minimal “fluff” like electronics, keep a light sleeping pad, frameless pack (which IMO works best with a CC Foam pad), and of course don’t hike where you need a Ursack or Bear Can!.

sub 7 lb ?

Whoops read it at 7lb pre-coffee.  I’m at 7-ish and all I can think of is  just bringing the fly on a UL shelter kit, leaving the “net” tent with bathtub floor behind (the new Xlite’s and XTherms are now up to 3 inch tall so kind of cancels out most tub floor protection IMHO).

Thanks @mocs123 for your response. =)
In my spreadsheet I only have one piece of electronics – a 4oz Garmin InReach Mini.

FWIW, here’s all I have in there right now:

Shelter: Durston X-Mid Pro 1 – 19.5 oz
Sleeping Bag: Zpacks 20 degree – 18 oz
Sleeping Pad: Therarest Neo – 8 oz
Food Storage: Ursack Minor + Parachute cord: 7 oz

Clothing:
OR Raincoat: 13 oz
Patagonia Puffy: 9.3 oz
Extra socks: 3 oz

Cooking:
JetBoil Flash: 13 oz
Fuel: MSR Isopro Small: 7.4 oz
Utencils: MSR Titanium: 1 oz
Lighter: 1 oz
Platypus Soft 1L x 2:  2.4 oz
CamelBak Crux 3L Reservoir: 8oz

Misc:
TP: Bag of 1/2 Roll: 2 oz
Hand Sanitizer Small Bottle: 1 oz
Toothbrush: 0.55 oz
Toothpaste Small Tube: 0.8 oz

Total weight: 7.43 lbs or 119 oz

This doesn’t even include a small first aid kit that I custom make… its about as bare-bones as I can get… thoughts/suggestions?

I haven’t looked at your spreadsheet but you can get an Esbit cook kit in the 4–4.5 ounce range that will use .5 ounces of fuel per boil. That would drop a pound off of your pack.

3 Smartwater bottles would weight less than that reservoir.

BRS3000 instead of jetboil – it weighs 1 ounce.  some sort of pot that weighs maybe 4 ounces without lid

lighter tent and sleeping bag

Thanks Jerry – switching to a different stove gains me about 8 oz if I’m using math right. Not insignificant. What lighter tent and sleeping bag would you recommend? I already have some of the lightest I could find.

@matthewkphx thank you for your advice!
I think losing the water reservoir is a no-go for me based on how I climb/hike but that’s a nice suggestion either way! Usually keep it empty for approaches / long hikes, but fill it up for ascents. I recognize I could do that with multiple water bottles too but I’m also afraid of losing them on the type of terrain I usually find myself. =) Like this:

I’ll add that a lot of spreadsheets or lighterpack’s that you used to see were set up for only perfect weather and/or with people leaving things out they would really carry.  An example is a car key.  While there probably were people that were hiding a key somewhere, most probably carried it with them.  Other things like an ID/Drivers license, are probably something you aren’t leaving in the vehicle that people always forget to list.

That being said you’ve got some low hanging fruit on your list.  13 oz for a rain jacket is pretty heavy.  Depending on the conditions you encounter you could go much lighter, and since you’re not carrying rain paints, I assume that’s the case here.  You can go even lighter, but something like the Mont Bell Versalite is a pretty well featured jacket for minimal weight.

Your cooking and drinking section has some low hanging fruit too.  I’ll start out with an administrative issue that your fuel can be consumable, though your fuel canister itself is base weight.  You’ll be hard pressed to get to a 7 pound base weight with a Jetboil.  Try an alcohol stove for shorter trips or a light canister stove and Ti pot for longer trips.  Alcohol, like the Caldera Cone, makes a lot of sense for shorter trips since you can only carry the fuel you need.     The next thing is you have 5 liters of water storage.   Do you need that?   Are you having to do long water hauls?  I think a 1L Smartwater bottle is 1.4oz or my old standby a 1L Gatoraide bottle is 1.7oz.   I generally carry two bottles and fill as dictated by the water conditions on the trip.

You could probably save a little weight on the socks.  My lightweight Darn Tough socks are 1.7oz – I used to use Defeet Wooliators and I think they were 1.6oz.

What’s the parachute cord for?

Splitting hairs on a few things, but my long handled Sea to Summit spoon (AL) is 0.4oz.  You could save a slight amount of weight going to toothpaste tabs.  My repackaged bottle of hand sanitizer is 0.55oz – it’s good for 4-5 days depending on use.

I assume the Tarptent includes stakes, etc.

nice photo, where?

if it wasn’t going to rain, no tent needed?

the lightest zpacks quilt is 12 ounces

by the way, I think 7 pounds is an unreasonable goal.  I prefer some fluff electronics, warmer sleeping bag, a tent I can endure steady rain in, a lid,…

IMO – your sleep system is as just about as light as it can be.

Really the same with your shelter system assuming that weight includes everything.   If you don’t need bug protection and just use a polycro ground cloth you might could find something a couple of ounces lighter, but personally, I think your shelter is fine.

Did I miss a backpack in your list??

that’s weird, I just typed in zpacks quilt and it replaced it with a link to the zpacks solo quilt of which the 30F version weighs 12 ounces

@retiredjerry thanks again – yeah I have the Zpacks full-zip bag: https://zpacks.com/products/20f-full-zip-sleeping-bag

I understand I could get a quilt and save a few ounces too. If I’m being honest my go-to bag for most trips is my slightly heavier Western Mountaineering Megalite – https://www.westernmountaineering.com/sleeping-bags/extremelite-series/megalite/

I primarily backpack in Colorado in the summer – rain is always a threat. The photo is from the summit of 13,900 ft. Turret Peak.

@mocs123 – thanks again! Yeah, that OR jacket is long in the tooth and has been on my radar to replace for a long time – I got it in 2013! =)

Water – yes – sometimes I find myself above treeline for many many hours climbing peaks where this is no water.

I assume those Zpacks quilts are 30F lower limit or survival rated.

I dug up one of my old gear lists from ten years ago that was a 7.3lb base weight –

Sleep System-

Javon Dempsey 20* Custom Quilt – 20.25oz

Thermarest Z Lite 3/4 Length – 9.8oz

BPL Pro Balaclava – 1.9oz

Silnylon Stuff Sack (for Quilt) and Pillow – 0.9oz

Shelter System –

Gossamer Gear SpinnShelter – 10.15oz

Polycro Ground Cloth – 1.8oz

Tent Stakes (2- Blue Eastons, 7- Ti Hooks) – 2.25oz

Stake Sack (Tyvek) -0.15oz

Packing System –

Six Moon Designs Swift (2010 version) – 16.4oz

Trash Compactor Bag – 2.35oz

Clothing (Packed) –

Dri Ducks Rain Jacket – 5.1oz

Golite Reed Rain Pants – 5.1oz

Golite Silkweight L/S Shirt – 2.4oz

BPL UL Merino Tights – 3.6oz

DeFeet Wooliator Socks – 1.65oz

Mountain Hardwear Microdome – 0.9oz

Mountain Hardwear Powerstrech Gloves – 1.4oz

Cook System –

Caldera Cone (Inc. Stove, Windscreen, Fuel bottle, Measuring Cup, etc) – 2.95oz

BPL Firelite 550 Cookpot – 2.65oz

Silnylon Food Bag and 40′ Zing-It hang line – 1.9oz

Sea to Summit Long Handled Spoon – 0.4oz

Aquamira Drops (repackaged) – 1.1oz

32oz Gatorade Bottles x2 – 3.4oz

Misc. –

Wallet (Car key, DL, Ins Card, CC, Cash) – 1.2oz

First Aid – 0.7oz

Toothbrush, Toothpaste Dots  – 1.15oz

Toilet Paper – 0.6oz

Purell (repackaged) – 0.55oz

Petzl e-Lite headlamp – 0.95oz

Spyderco Ladybug Knife – 0.6oz

Olympus SW720 Camera – 5.2oz

As others have mentioned the easiest savings would be go with something like the  caldera cone + small pot + esbits to save almost 1lb from the jetboil and have better performance in wind.  You could switch to a 3l platypus + hoser and save a bit of weight.

The Durston is a great shelter, but a small shaped tarp like the hexamid pocket tarp or a flat tarp could save you 10oz.

The OR Rain Jacket and Patagonia Puff could be replace by something lighter which could save you something like 10oz.

I am a bit like Brad… I chased SUL, got down to a base of <5lb around 2005 but have added things back so my base is around 10lb

A critical insight for me was given the duration and conditions of my normal hikes that food and water + a SUL base would put me over 10lb. I found <20lb in a pack with good load transfer to my hips was more comfortable and less fatiguing than >=10lb in a frameless pack that wasn’t effective at transferring load to my hips.  I found little advantage trimming weight until I was ovcr 20lbs… so I don’t need to count the grams and enjoy my comfort.

@mocs123 – thank you for sharing that list!

Since not mentioned yet, a custom puffy (timmermade, goosefoot ect.) saves 3 oz. and several decent rain jackets in the 6-8 0z. range. That’s a half pound right there. Along with the previously mentioned stove recs you are well on your way to a pound less. Don’t let a big gust of wind blow you away:-)

Missed that Brad Rogers already mention the Versalite so never mind on that. At some point it comes down to how much money you want to spend. The last little bits get expensive.

Once you get the base weight to a happy place don’t forget that you can save weight by repackaging food and save a pound easy. Also denser calories need to be in the mix. Just don’t regain all the weight you spent so much money saving by failing to remove excess packaging or too much low calorie food.

Brad Rogers what do you repack your Purell in. I use 91% alcohol in a dropper bottle myself but always looking for something better.

I repack it into a mini dropper bottle.  I think I bought the dropper bottle from Gossamer Gear years ago, but it’s nothing special.  I also have a smaller bottle repackaged with Dr. Bonners I occasionally take, and have similar bottles for Aquamira, though I used a BeFree filter this past year.

Thanks, yea pretty much what I’m using. Also a 5ml. dropper with some bleach for backup some trips or just CLO2 tabs.

.Lightweight Testimony: My Journey into Lightweight Backpacking .

. LytW8.com Homepage .

. Base weight = 3lbs 15 oz .

.ALAN DIXON’S 5 POUND PRACTICAL ULTRALIGHT BACKPACKING GEAR LIST .

. Minimalist Gear List .

. Mountain SuperUltraLight Backpacking – Going SUL in the Mountains with Adequate Shelter, Insulation, and Rain Protection. Part 1: Concepts and Scope.. more links to the other SUL articles in this article

. MIKE C’S ultralight backpackin’ tips VIDEOS .

. My first sub 5 lb trip! .

. LITESMITH . a good place to find small containers ect. for repackaging

. SMALL BAGS  for repackaging small things such as pills ect. for first aid kit

. BPL’S SECTION DEDICATED TO THE SUL SUBJECT .

A lot of these are older but will give you an idea(boy I haven’t posted some of these links in years)hope you can get some ideas from them.

And remember that there are some places and conditions that you’re just not going to ever get down to 6-7lb baseweights.   For example, even in the High Sierra, which has pretty tame summer weather, you can still temperatures in the summer down well below freezing and lots of places require canisters, which add two pounds to any list.

Places with extreme wind and/rain can make you add some weight back into your gear list, bug pressure can add weight to your gear list – all sorts of environmental factors can.   Those people that have 5lb SUL spreadsheets are generally going for short trips in good weather windows, or places that are easy to bail if things go south.

One example is a trip I took to Alaska where I did 14 days unsupported and off trail.  I expected it to be pretty wet, so I researched new rain gear.  I wanted something breathable, with pit zips, and a face fabric that would hold up to the brush there.  That put me in the 10oz+ rain jacket territory and pants in the 7oz+ territory – not the same rain gear I’d take for the Sierra.

Do I need my shelter to withstand high winds above treeline, or possible snow loads, windblown rain from any (and every) direction?  That might make me pick a different shelter than I would below treeline.

Sometimes heavier gear is the right call, it just depends on the conditions you expect.

. Suggested GEAR LIST ETIQUETTE .

Cook-set and raincoat jumped out at me. Your cook-set seems to weigh 22 oz or so, going to alcohol could easily reduce that by 13 oz, IMO.  Lighter raincoat could save 6 oz.

Sorry if I missed it, but I didn’t see any water treatment system, light source, or knife in your list.