From personal experience I know that it is possible to be comfortable and safe in the backcountry with an ultralightweight pack (6-11 pound base weight). I also know from personal experience that it is possible to spend five days in the backcountry with nothing but a jacket, but when you do that you can forget about comfort! Unlike my compatriots, Ryan Jordan and Alan Dixon, BackpackingLight.com Publisher and Product Review Director, I do not enjoy sufferfests - traveling into the backcountry with sub-5-pound base weight packs where mileage is the goal and comfort is forgotten. What I'm driven to understand is, in what conditions can SuperUltralight backpacking - pack base weight under 5 pounds - be enjoyed by the sane among us?
I'll take a sub-5 trip each month beginning in June. I'll start in warm weather and work towards cool while I vary trip type and geographic location to get a broad sample of conditions, and to define for myself when sub-5 stops being fun! What follows is my gear list for the first trip - a non-technical canyoneering trip. After the trip I'll publish my observations and include my gear list for the next trip. Join me in this SuperUltralight Challenge by adding your comments and relating your own sub-5 experiences in the forum at the end of this article.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- Base weight
- Backpack
- Clothing carried
- Sleep pad
- Spreadsheet
# WORDS 1,200
# SPREADSHEEETS 1
Member Exclusive
A Premium or Unlimited Membership* is required to view the rest of this article.
* A Basic Membership is required to view Member Q&A events
Discussion
Become a member to post in the forums.
interesting
My wife tells me back in the 70’s she used to remove her clothes during rain storms and stuff them in her pack, hiking naked under a poncho. Her clothes stayed dry and few folks on the trail new her secret. I would guess that if temps were warm enough, the same could apply for setting up your pancho/tarp/tent. just get naked and dry off after set-up.
I noticed anonymous’s comment that he couldn’t see the need for trekking poles – and I agree with him.
I tried using poles, and found that I was spending far too much time worrying about where the poles were landing, when I should have been watching my feet. Good poles placement, but bad foot placement.
So now I let the automatic parts of my brain focus entirely on foot placement – and go faster and farther and more safely as a result.
And I am carrying less overall weight.
this topic has been dealt with more than adequately previously – several times. search the Forums for some rather detailed descriptions of the many irrefutable advantages of using Trekking Poles. be prepared to have someone keep you awake as you read the lengthy posts. the advantages described range from the the area of physics, and engineering, to muscle physiology, and applied kinesiology, as well as touching upon one very limited aspect of the history of man. there are some pretty compelling arguments in these posts which should at least give one pause to contemplate – even though they weren’t intended to be a polished polemic, nor an all-encompassing apologetic, but rather a hastily, off-the-top-of-the-head, collection of words – much like this Post.
from my perspective (which no one is required to share – see the below “quote”), the only disadvantage is the extra 4.7oz i need to carry. however, the many advantages far “outweigh” (pun intended) the measly 4.7oz my GG LightTrek poles weigh..
must everyone use trekking poles? obviously, no.
are they absolutely required on all terrain? no.
do they offer advantages virtually anytime they are used? yes.
do these advantages outweigh the disadvantages? that’s a question each individual must answer for themselves. “hike your own hike!” (was it RayJ that wrote that? i can’t remember. anyways, it was a greater one than i.)
I can not travel with nearly as light a pack as most on this site due to my professional camera gear. In addition, I have the remnants of 2 broken wrists from a bicylce accident with a car (the car won). I don’t have the strength in the hands and wrists that I once had and I periodically get pain in the wrists. I can not grab things such as trees etc. for regaining balance or assisting in climbing. My trekking poles have saved my butt and equipment more than once.
Additionally, due to the weight of my gear (largely due to the camera equipment) my center of balance is thrown off and the poles help me maintain balance and make it easier to traverse up and down hills, as well as maintain support and balance when stepping down.
In addition, the weight of my 5.4 oz BMW Stix Pro Poles (6.2 oz with baskets) is comparatively less if using a shelter that requires one or more poles (they replace the need to carry extra poles), thus they perform multiple tasks.
I consider the additional weight well worth the effort.
Rich
goodness sakes, stick a couple of 12 oz plastic pop bottles in the side pockets of your pants! Pull em out (on the move if you must) and drink. CG is low, the wgt is on your hips and it’s handy. No tubes or reaching into your pack. Keep it real simple!
the Gnome of Blue Island
hi moe!
'skipping the kitchen'.. does that mean you just brought ready to eat food along? what kinds of foods?
ann
Become a member to post in the forums.