JMT end of August-September

[Mike Whitesell]

JMT Gear

Here is a rough draft of what I was thinking of bringing with me. Most likely I’ll be renting a Bearikade Expedition which would add 36 ounces or so. What could I eliminate to drop my base weight?

[Matthew / BPL]

• Groundsheet?
• Sleeping bag is heavy for 30° bag.
• Rain jacket is heavy
• Puffy is heavy
• Leave the platy at home and save weight/time by splicing the Sawyer inline and drink through the sawyer.
• Subjective but the distorted image of the GoPro doesn’t take the greatest images/movies
• Battery and Solar? That’s almost two pounds.
• Jetboil is a heavy solution for cooking.

I hiked the JMT in June/July so my opinion does not hold a ton of weight but a 30° bag sounds iffy for August/September.

[Mike Whitesell]

Iffy as in its not enough? I sleep warm and have used this bag combined with my puffy down to 18. I may just go cook-less, I was only going to have coffee but that’s not a requirement. I don’t own the solar panel and was only going to get if I brought my gopro. I was thinking of removing the fleece jacket as well.

[Lester Moore]

+1 on everything Matthew listed. You’re missing some things, like compass and headlamp, clothing worn, sun block and lip balm, etc. You could probably ditch the short sleeve shirt and maybe some of the long underwear, depending on what your hiking (worn) clothing looks like. Here are some lighter options you might consider:

• Rain jacket – DriDucks UL 2 Rain Jacket: 5.5 ounces
• Down insulating layer – Borah Gear down jacket: 5.4 ounces
• Sleeping bag: Consider a 20F quilt and GooseFeet down hood instead (22 ounces total, dual function hood for down jacket).
• Groundsheet: 70mil polycyro cut to size: 1.5 ounces.
• Stove: BRS-3000T gas stove: 1 ounce. Add a 2 or 3 ounce titanium mug or small pot.
• A light, power efficient point and shoot with a spare batter for photo/video: 12 ounces
• Light weight thermal top and bottom (Patagonia light weight crew top) in the 4 – 5 ounce range each
• Lighter fleece pullover (Costco “American Essentials) : 8.7 ounces
• 1L Smart Water bottle: 1 ounce (instead of 3L Platty)

[Mike Whitesell]

Are those weights for size XXL?

[Lester Moore]

DriDucks run about 1.5 sizes large. I usually take a medium to a large in most top layers and jackets, but the small DriDucks is very roomy on me, with lots of room for layering under it.

The quilt in extra long length will add a few ounces likely. Lots of opinions on quilts, but Enlightened Equipment (EE) seems to provide a good ratio of quality to price. EE also has many sizes and other options to pick from to suit your needs. If you contact EE with your height, hip girth, shoulder total girth, your sleep preferences (side sleeper, toss and turn, etc) and your intended use (JMT in September inside a double wall tent), then they will point you at the best size option for you. FYI, EE is running nearly a 3 month wait time now.

The Borah Gear (BG) jacket comes in XL. They offer a good ratio of down fill wight to price (for 850+ down). Another good value in down jackets is Montbell, and they also go up to XL. You can email your height, waist girth and total shoulder girth to John at BG and he’ll let you know if XL will work or not, and if he can make an XXL for you or not.

Not sure about the weights on the base layers and fleece, but XXL could easily add an ounce or two.

As you mentioned in your post Mike, definitely consider what to eliminate first to drop your base weight. After that, a good number to calculate for every piece of gear that you are considering replacing is the dollars per ounce of weight saved. The dollars per ounce saved that you are willing to spend on any piece of replacement gear depends on your budget and your goals, but it’s the most cost efficient way to lighten up. For my own goals and budget, if I can replace a piece of gear with something lighter that’s acceptably safe, effective and comfortable at $20 per ounce saved, it’s easily worth the investment.

[Owen M]

The Arc Blast is highly water resistant, so you probably do not need the pack cover as well.

[Owen M]

And a few more things:

–definitely ditch the fleece if you are bringing a midlayer and a puffy, you might even want to consider a lighter wind shell instead of a midlayer, or no midlayer at all (only having baselayer, rain jacket, and puffy)

–you can get a small canister stove that is ~2.4 ounces and pretty cheap and a small bowl/cup that is around ~2 oz as well if you still want to have coffee/some warm meals

–8.5 oz is a lot for water carrying – you might want to consider the other suggestion of Smartwater bottles

–don’t bring the whole aqua mira setup as a backup.  If you want to have some tablets for emergency purposes, then bring a few of the MSR tabs, or repackage the aqua mira in smaller/lighter bottles and only bring as much as you think you might need in an emergency situation.  The sawyer mini should do fine though, and you can also get a new one in Mammoth or Vermillion/etc. if yours gets cloggy. Just make sure to backflush and keep it from freezing..

–+1 on what has already been said on the GoPro and solar panel.  Why a second camera if you already are bringing your phone and an extra battery?

–There are a lot of ounces at the end there for “emergency” items.  Why not just a couple waterproof matches?  I’m not sure an emergency blanket would help you in a worst-case scenario situation where all of your down gets soaked (and your shelter is destroyed?)  There are threads on here about their effectiveness, and that weight might be better used in a synthetic Hoodlum or something that will be more useful in the wet-out disaster scenario (and that you could use as part of your regular quilt/jacket/hood setup)

–also, instead of a pack cover, I’d suggest a trash compactor bag or a dry bag for your down items inside your backpack.

Have fun!

[Link .]

a knife and a skeletool? Are you bringing a first aid kit, that’s a must.  I see you have now added a first aid kit, that’s good but do you need a skeletool ? How about something to brush your teeth with? This video series would be really good for you to watch

Ultralight Backpackin’ Tips Video Tutorials By Mike Clelland

#3 is clothing, #4 is everything in his pack, and #5 and 6 are the dinky stuff all the little items like first aid and repair stuff.

You can get little repackaging containers(like the ones you see in Mike Clelland uses in his videos) many places including your local stores and pharmacy but here are some examples
USPLASTICS
USPLASTICS
Ultralight Designs
GossamerGear
MountainLaurelDesigns
You could make toothpaste dots like Mike C. shows or there are Archtek Toothpaste Tablets so only bring exactly what you need in a snack size bag for any given trip instead of a whole tube and THESE are good for little thing like pills, toothpaste tablets ect. so you are not packing a whole bottle(you can also get them very cheap at most pharmacies)

 

[Mike Whitesell]

Is a 30 degree bag too warm or too cold for that time of year? I do sleep warm.

[Sam C]

I believe “warm” is a subjective word used by the out-door industry (cottage and all) to mean something akin to; “well, you won’t freeze to death”.   Depends on the quality of build, baffling, fill, and one or two others.  My experiences with down is that it can range from that odd I am not cold but I am not warm but I am not cold zone to sweating berries in sub zero temps.

I think your gear list is fine, but agree that you might want to ditch the GoPro, solar charger, and skeletool.

To the others in this thread:  some seem to not be grasping the fact that OP is a bigger dude.  Of course some of his gear is going to be heavier:  more fabric/materials = more weight.  No way around that, even with cuben.  His total is 208.7 oz., which is just over 13 pounds.  I agree that he can shave some weight here and there, but give him a break:  based on his likely stature what he listed may very well be the lightest for his needed size.

[Author]

Posts