Is every UL backpacker rich?

[Kattt]

@kevperro Thank you for that!

[Ken Larson]

“Different strokes for different folks” as many would say AND it boils down simply to WANTS vs. NEEDS ……….and what you can really afford.

So Mote It Be

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Yes, Chad, as a matter of fact we are all rich and some of us stinking rich.

We blithely lay down $500. or so on uber-light down sleeping bags, and 2 person tents. Usually we don’t even ask the price, because “If you have to ask you can’t afford it”.

As for hikes requiring shuttles, well, our drivers do the shuttling. I mean, that’s what we pay them for, right?

And if we happen to own 200 pounds of UL gear so what? Maybe someday we’ll use most of it.

So Chad, you have stumbled into a sport at least as expensive as alpine skiing. Suck it up.

BTW, when on the trail we try not to mention the brand names of our gear, it’s so gauche to do so. Instead we merely flaunt the logos on our gear. We call it “Quiet one-upmanship”.

And you may want to get a life membership to BPL as it soon may escalate to $4,000.

After all, “To be exclusive one must exclude.”

[Roger Caffin]

So Chad, you have stumbled into a sport at least as expensive s alpine skiing.
Oh Yeah?????
(Our gear lasts for years…)

Cheers

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Actually Chad, we are truly rich mainly in our outdoor experiences. Many of us began backpacking with plastic tarps and borrowed, used or military surplus gear.

True, some of us are gear-aholics but we usually sell off gear we no longer use to afford lighter gear. I’ve sold a stove, a pack and a sleeping bag on this site and replaced them with better gear.

And many of us are loathe sell our cherished SVEA 123 brass stoves or SIGG Tourist cook set that has been with us for literally decades and still function very well – but sit on our shelves in well earned retirement.

An original Kelty frame pack may be tattered but it’s an antique with memories that we hold dear. On the trail in Yosemite I even had an offer for my iconic Dana Designs Terraplane pack but I just couldn’t part with it. I still use that monster for winter ski camping because my winter down bag won’t fit into my 3 season pack.

So welcome to a very diverse group of interesting and talented people, most of whom are not at all shy about giving you their advice.

[Colin M]

If you think backpacking comes anywhere close to the cost of Alpine skiing you aren’t a skier!

No being snarky (ok, maybe a bit in jest), being truthful. Skiing costs approximately 7-10x more if you live locally to a mountain and 25+x more if you have to get a hotel.

[Bob Moulder]

I used to fly radio controlled airplanes and, like any hobby, as I got more and more into it the costs increased, especially as I developed a great fondness for competitive precision aerobatics. The airplanes cost on average about $4500 each and I had 2 of those and a cheap back-up that cost about $2000. A competition motor (Plettenberg) cost a bit over $600 and a competitive airframe was about $2500 and that was without any of the electronics (receivers, servos, electronic speed controllers). Cheap battery packs were $100 a pop. A carbon fiber propeller and spinner cost about $180. And for field recharging there was a Honda inverter generator at $1000 and a 2-charger recharge station that with power supply that cost about $800. Add to that the costs of travel to contest venues and hotel/food, etc…. yikes!

And my brother tells me that ain’t nuthin’ compared to keeping up a good sailboat. ;^)

UL backpacking is dirt cheap by comparison. Initial acquisition of gear — including the few miscues caused by unfamiliarity with various gear in actual field use for conditions — got a bit expensive. But now that the gear kit is pretty much settled the costs have dropped dramatically and I’m just having a fine old time getting out there and using it. Sometimes I muse about the amortization of cost and how much cheaper it gets every time I use it. As others have noted, TIME is the ultimate luxury and, believe me, it helps to be an ORG (Old Retired Guy) and to not complain too much about the honey-do list when home.

[David Thomas]

“the cost of Alpine skiing”

Yeah, but where else can you rent $150,000,000 of equipment for a day for only $75?

[Colin M]

David: ha! The rates aren’t bad considering!
Of course when you add in ticket, rental stuff, overnight lodging, ski clothing and a very overpriced lunch for a few days you just bought an entire sub 10lb UL kit!

 

[Bob Moulder]

Yeah, but where else can you rent $150,000,000 of equipment for a day for only $75?

Along with 10,000 of your closest friends! :^D

[Roger Caffin]

Not to mention the ever-present risk of having a teenage snowboard rider, travelling out of control at high speed, run smack into you half-way down the mountain, breaking your leg in the process.
And yes, that has happened to a good friend of mine. The snowboarder hopped back up, said Sorry rather briefly, and left – while the girl lay screaming in pain on the ground (broken knee joint).

Cheers (as it were)

[Nancy H]

One way I justify the price of lightweight gear is the potential for re-sale if I change my mind, need to raise $ quickly, or have a family change that would make me unable to use what I have.   I routinely see people on Gear Swap get 70-80% of what they paid for an item, sometimes more.   There are other pastimes where you’ll never get your $ back (vacations, tickets to the Super Bowl, eating out frequently). People justify spending the $ because of the memories made, but the $ spent is gone forever.  Backpacking trips are every bit as memorable, with a physical and mental benefit, and the ultralight clothes you wore, the sleeping bag you slept in, then tent you slept under, the pots and stove you cooked with, and even the pack you carried it all in, can (with good care) nearly all be resold.

[David Thomas]

>”or have a family change that would make me unable to use what I have. . . .get 70-80% of what they paid for an item, sometimes more. ”

“You paid $500 for that 25-ounce, custom, double-wide Enlightened Equipment quilt?  Without asking me?!?”

“Of course, Honey.  If you divorce me over it, I’ll sell it for $400, buy a *single* 20-degree 950-DT, Revelation quilt for $355 (which will save 7 ounces) and still have $45 left over for a new titanium pot!”

[AK Granola]

I have a decent income, but supporting 4 people in an expensive region requires some frugality and planning, and no impulse buying. Most of the time I am content, so I guess that makes me rich. All my friends live in nicer homes than mine, but they’re still my friends. I don’t resent them for their more ostentatious wealth, and they aren’t too good to sit at my supper table. When the chips have been down for any of us – cancers, surgeries, accidents, child caring – my group of friends have all been there for each other, wealth like no other measure.

This forum has helped me stretch that income, regardless of how it ranks on the wealth scale,  by enabling me to think through purchases before I make them. Pros and cons of gear, etc. products to avoid. A few make your own things, ideas for which I picked up here, have saved a few bucks. Two summers ago I put down more money for a Feathered Friends bag than I ever would have imagined spending, but it is my favorite piece of gear, bar none. I feel cozy just thinking about it, and eager to get back out and use it.

Winters are indeed long, but if you do more reading than spending, being a gear freak is enjoyable and inexpensive.

 

[James holden]

perhaps the question is how do folks who have so little TOTAL gear do so much, often more than many of us …

many folks who go out dont have 4 different packs, 4 different rain jackets, 3 quilts + a sleeping bag, 3 different tents, 2 stoves, and a partridge in a pair tree …

and many folks replace their gear when it wears out …

;)

[Chad M]

So this has developed into a very interesting thread don’t ca know. Skiing?  In my experience the only way skiing/snowboarding is affordable for the average person is if you are working ski patrol and get to get in a few free runs at the end of your day.

Speeking from my experience in the US at least (the US being a true melting pot of cultures, races and economic diversity), there is noooooo question that the melting pot we meander through on the street everyday is not at all accurately represented in the backcountry. There are many reasons for that of course but hey, it’s a fact that is undeniable.

I agree that you can UL backpack (certainly heavy backpack) cheaply in the long run. But to me that does not seem to be represented often today on YouTube, on here or on the trail.

[Link .]

Chad I sent you a PM

[Roger Caffin]

Given the amount of inane raving idiocy on YouTube, perhaps we can be happy that there is not much UL on it?

Cheers

[Chad M]

Hey Link. TY. Some really really fantastic info there.  Too bad about the posting trouble. Thanks again!

[Ian]

YouTube suggested a backpacking gear video of a lady who hiked the AT.  Best I could tell, everything she hiked with is readily available at REI.  No super sexy cottage gear or cuben fiber anything.

It was refreshing to listen to a hiker who put just enough effort into her gear to find something that was comfortable for her and then got on with her life and went hiking.  I’m sure it wasn’t cheap, and I got the impression that she was on a budget, but she made it a priority and made it happen.

If you have a lot of debt, it’ll be tough.  Regardless if you earn $12k or $100k per year, if you spend less than you earn, you can get a nice kit put together.  Whether that takes one month or 12 will obviously depend on how big that gap is between what you earn and what you spend.

[Katherine .]

Then there’s the skill set factor, which can cost something but doesn’t have to. A silnylon tarp is a nice, cheap way to go….but if I’m out for the first time and have no frickin clue how to pitch it, that’s not going to get me too far. I could do fine with a super budget gear kit now, but five years ago? Maybe not.

In retrospect, I’m really glad I’ve had to work w/in budget constraints. Everything I’ve purchased I’ve spent a long time considering. There’s sooo much stuff I thought I wanted to try…and most of those impulses passed. There’s a certain weight-budget / money-budget parallel.

[BlackHatGuy]

“In retrospect, I’m really glad I’ve had to work w/in budget constraints. Everything I’ve purchased I’ve spent a long time considering. There’s sooo much stuff I thought I wanted to try…and most of those impulses passed. There’s a certain weight-budget / money-budget parallel.”

I can really appreciate this, as I come from the ‘other side’. Single guy, no kids, and used to have a pretty good paying job. I just bought whatever seemed interesting – lots and lots of interesting stuff. Some stuff I bought never saw the woods – tried it on or set it up in the yard and realized it wasn’t going to work for me and sold it. Wasted an awful lot of money because of this. Would have been much better to have spent more time considering those purchases. (I did the same thing with a Mini Cooper. Seemed like a fun car, so I bought one just for weekends, keeping my ‘regular’ car for commuting and such. Sold it at a big discount a year later when I realized how foolish it was to have it. I call it my very expensive one-year lease….)

Can’t do those things any more though, so now I’m in the ‘more thought before purchasing’ crowd.

[Chad M]

Katherine, that’s a great point. Give a tarp, a water filter, a pair of boots and a backpack to a kid whose never even been camping before and tell him/her “bring some warm clothes, some food and some rain gear and thats all you really need”.  See how far they get. Would be a great reality show.

[David Thomas]

“Give a tarp, a water filter, a pair of boots and a backpack. . .  and tell him/her “bring some warm clothes, some food and some rain gear and thats all you really need”.  See how far they get. Would be a great reality show.”

Or give them NONE of those things, including no clothes, and it already IS a reality show.

[Chad M]

Lol David Thomas, I’m sure there is but I’ve never seen it. A city kid thru hiking alone (minus the crew of course).  Let’s say 8 miles a day avg for a month. Enlighten me as to the title as I will tune in.

[Author]

Posts