How to shed a pound or two

[JVD]

Any suggestions of this gear list?

https://lighterpack.com/r/wfug2f

–Mid-August in Colorado Rockies, between 9K and 11K feet elevation. Highs 65-80; lows 30-50; afternoon rain likely.

–I tend to hike 5 or so miles a day and then hang out a lot (rather than pushing a lot of miles). So, I have a chair kit (TAR silnyl “frame” that my neoair goes into), warmer clothes for sitting around in the evening, a pillow for my aging neck, and a couple other comfort luxuries.

–This list is for 1 night, but aside from consumables, it’s what I take for 5 days.

–I’ve put my canister stove in this list because it’s more convenient. However, I could save a good 4 oz by taking my Thermojet alcohol stove. It works fine for me, too. Just a little more fiddly.

Happy for suggestions.

[David Thomas]

It’s looking pretty good.  Ignoring the water you’re at 11 pounds base weight with admittedly more clothes plus the chair for chilling.

The biggest things I’d change are negated by your desire to hang out and enjoy the scenery and hence need somewhat more clothing.  Still, I see a few ways to drop a pound or two:

A BRS-3000T (and lighter) is 1/3 the weight of that Pocket Rocket + lighter.

Cup + cozy at 3 ounces could be 1/4 of that.  My 16-ounce polypropylene cup is 0.74 ounces and not so conductive I want a cozy around it.  If you want a cozy, you have 6 socks along and can only wear 2 at once.

32 ounces is a LOT of carried water.  Maybe that’s your worst case, but in the fairly wet place I am, I carry no water.  When I get thirsty, I grab a liter at the next stream and zap it with my SteriPen.  Any beta you can gather beforehand or get on the fly from GutHooks could save those two pounds.  If you know there’s water 1-2 miles ahead, why carry any?

7 ounces is a lot of “cords and stakes”.  Go really light on the stakes.  In a pinch or a storm, you can bury a stick as a deadman anchor or tie out to trees and bushes.  Cordage, however, is invaluable, but it doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t) be 550-paracord.  My goto is 130-pound-test braided Dacron halibut fishing line.  25 feet = 6 grams.  Available in various strengths on Amazon as fishing line or kite string or at Sportman’s Warehouse or any fishing shop by the foot.

I’d reduce the three pairs of socks to two and/or forego the gloves (socks can serve as gloves).

If you had a slightly bigger tarp (you already have a bug net), could you forgo the bivy?  Maybe that’s the next big purchase?

The Cosmo headlamp isn’t wrong, but sometimes I’ll bring just a $10 10-gram Nitecore Tube which gives me 50 hours on low which is enough to hike an established trail or 2 hours on medium.  Your phone is a back-up light.  But you southerners actually get some night time in the summer.

6.3-ounce pillow?  My Klymit Pillow X is 2.27 ounces.  It’s not quite as much height as I want (no BPing pillow is), so I put clothes-not-worn in my quilt’s dry bag and put it on top of the pillow.

[PaulW]

I’ll 2nd David’s comments about the pillow and water. I’ll also question your inflator/waterproof sack. 7.7 oz seems awfully heavy for the purpose it serves. I made an inflator out of a trash compactor bag (functions as both an inflator and pack liner), but I hardly use it for inflating. I just blow up my long/wide Neoair by mouth. It’s not too bad, even at altitude.

[John S.]

“If you know there’s water 1-2 miles ahead, why carry any?”

For safety reasons I would want to carry some water? If you have an accident and become mostly incapacitated, it might be important?

[David Thomas]

Not a rabbit hole I want to go down.  If I was incapacitated shouldn’t I have water, a satellite beacon, .338 rifle for bears, a tourniquet, IV needle and D5W solution, etc?

Granted, in some climates, a lack of water will kill you before anything else.  I’ve carried extra in places I expected other people wouldn’t have enough.

One response, if rendered stationary (since I camel’ed up at the last water source) would be to pee into my water bottle, at least for the first one or two times when it’s very diluted.

I should leave a swallow or two in the bottle more than I do.  For washing down a granola bar or Advil or cleaning a cut.

[John S.]

https://andrewskurka.com/stupid-light-not-always-right-or-better/

[JVD]

Thanks David Thomas and PaulW.

STOVE. Since I already have a lighter stove that work fine, I’ll take that. You inspired me to drop those ounces.

CUP. I don’t like the idea of hot liquids in plastic which is why I went to the GSI cup, but using a sock for a cozy makes sense. I like the idea of sitting by the edge of the lake in the early morning sipping tea from my sock!

CORDS/STAKES. Yes, fewer stakes.

SOCKS/GLOVES. I often find my feet wet at the end of the day from stream-crossings or marshy terrain. So a second pair makes sense for me, as does a pair that stays with my quilt. I’ll switch out a glove liner for fleece, and if it’s colder, pull out those sleep socks.

PILLOW. I’ll look at some others. I rarely have enough extra clothes I’m not wearing to make much difference at night.

This got me thinking about the weight of that inflator bag. It didn’t seem right, and in fact, I’d weighed it wrong. It’s only 3.25 oz. However, my Neoair (first model) weighs in at 19.325 oz. Win some, lose some. (Also, for me, the inflator is about keeping moisture out of the mattress, not the altitude.)

WATER. I agree that if I’m around water, I can carry less–or none. Carrying one liter is a kind of worst-case, but there are times I’m not near water for a while. This is also a carry-over from a list for canyon country where water might also be scarce. There, I sometimes carry 2 liters (and use a heavier pack to manage the weight better).

[JCH]

Here are some things that work for me…YMMV.

Cup – Ditch the cup altogether and use your pot with Hot Lips.

Stakes – Accumulate a collection of different stakes and select the number/type depending on the terrain expected.  Mix-n-match.

Cordage – Lots of UL options out there, some less than 1 oz/50′. Zpacks. Litesmith.

Pillow – Big Sky Dreamsleeper UL.  1.6 oz.  Adjusts to the firmness you want. I pull my buff over it for a pillow case.

Inflator bag – Exped Schnozzle UL M is 2.1 oz and works with TAR mats (with small modifications).

Water – For me, not carrying water is stupid light. Hungry for a day or two is not a survival threat.  Thirsty for 8+ hours is.  I always carry a min of  1L.  HYOH.

[John S.]

On most trips, I start out with two liters of water when I know there is water at camp. On Big Bend desert trips to the Mesa de Anguila we start out with 5 liters in case the tinaja we usually rely on is empty. That is so we can get back out the next day since it is 10 miles in. So, it does depend on knowing your water consumption and availability.

A former forum member, Michael Popov, miscalculated his water needs (due to an offtrail route problem) on a 6 mile run in Death Valley. It did not end well.

https://www.outsideonline.com/1902996/michael-popovs-last-run-coming-grips-sudden-death-exceptional-ultrarunner

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