View Full Version : Want to Go ultra Light
Alaskanhkr23
06-25-2010, 11:10
NEW HIKING EQUIPMENT- GSI-HALLULITE MICRODUALIST
Solomon womens Jacket-ultralight ,
White Seirra - pants
Crkt-Survivor knfe,
Mountain Hardware Drifter Pack-33ltr
,Dueter Futura Zero - 30ltr
MSR pocket rocket.
30+ sleeping bag -not ultra light (ideas?)
WATER (ideas?)
Food (dehydrated or not) (ideAS?)
Clothes (ideas)?
Spit as many idea's home made gear,multi-purpose Ideas as you can.
PLEASE DON'T ASK NON-ULTRA-LIGHT QUESTION / NON-GEAR QUESTION.SERIOUS ANSWERS ONLY PLEASE.:D
GeneralLee10
06-25-2010, 11:20
You could use a quilt they are a bit lighter in weight. JRB has a very good one call the Rock Mountain Sniveller. I was hot in the teens with this thing. I would sweat at night in the Smokies this year as I was heading North. Had nothing but shorts on with a shirt (in the teens for temps). I all so bought the Down to Earth pad they have to go with it in the winter months. Not that this is the one for you, thought I would share that info with you so take a look into them if you wish.
One Plus is NO zipper to break on you or snag.
Hope that helps some
Llama Legs
06-25-2010, 11:30
Western Mountaineering. I have their one-pound bag and a two-pound bag. Check out the Microfiber line (I have the Sycamore MF). Temperature ratings are honest.
To put it simply.
First off buy a good digital scale.
Set up a spreadsheet and don't buy anything that does not fit into your goal.That will keep you from buying things twice.
In general you want a 6# 3 season big 4, and the rest of everything also 6# for a total of 12# base weight. Add 2L of water and 5 days of food and you end up at around 25#.
That is where to start and how to get there.
Basically a sub 2# sleeping bag, sub 2# tent, 24 oz backpack, and a lightwieght pad like a neoair, prolite short etc.
One setup might be a..
ultra 20 quilt - 20oz
Tarptent moment - 30oz
Miraposa backpack - 24oz
Prolite short - 11oz
Total 5.4#
Getting the rest in 6# is doable but harder.
Platapus bottles or grocery store water bottles
Water tablets/drop only or a Aquamira filter.
5oz bag cookset
Minimal everything else and everything super light.
Ultralight clothing gets expensive, IE like Monbell
Thermawrap jacket or parka is a good one at $175
The parka with hood is synthetic and about 16oz
Prolite has womens thermawraps on sale at a good price
If you are a MYOG type person, check out thruhiker. They have a5oz
minima vest kit that looks nice, although I have never made one.
Also check out quest outfitters and fabrics. Lots of kits there too.
Climashield top quilts are pretty easy to build since you just edge sew them. With one oz nylon and 2.5 oz climashield good for 45dF they weigh about 12-14 oz. Good for a summer quilt.
If you buy used you can save $ too.
I see a tarptent sublight or sublight sil tent every now and then for $100
If you are or want to be a hammocker, those are easy to build.
Just basically a long flat sheet of ripstop hemmed all around and gathered.
Build a bug net, easy.
Build a sil nylon tarp easy again.
For hammocks and building go to to hammock forums dot net. A lot
of nice people there, and a lot of people MYOG and innovate.
If you want a laugh go to youtube and search for Shug. He is a hammocker and has some informative and funny videos.
For more ideas on building ultralight gear go to the backpackinglight forums, and check out the MYOG section.
For cheap ripstop, check out the walmart bargain bins. I have found all sorts of nylon there for $1,50/yd. 1oz ripstop, no-seeum netting, 2oz digital camo ripstop, 1.6 oz DWR ripstop etc.
Never have found any silnylon there though.
Oh and hit the salvation army cloths, silk shirts, nylon and wool if you like wool, Ie no cotton unless you are in the desert or the tropics..
I have found quite a few silk shirts at 3-4oz for $5. Poly shirts and shorts.
Nylon wind pants for camp cloths etc if you take them. Couple of down vests although not that light.
Found 2 brand new lightweight cashmere sweaters there not too long ago for $5 each. Never have found a decent hat there.
Alaskanhkr23
06-25-2010, 13:43
Thank you so Much Tammons
garlic08
06-25-2010, 14:59
Instead of the $30 knife, carry a $0.05 single-edged razor blade instead. If you ever need to hop on a plane and don't want to check your pack, you can throw away the blade and you're good to pass security.
Don't carry dirty laundry. Just wear it. (In other words, don't carry a change of clothing.)
Don't have separate wind and rain clothing.
Save weight on water by drinking a liter at the source.
Food: Eat food that fills you up. You'll have to figure out what does it for you. But if your food leaves you hungry, you'll need to carry more food to feel full. Otherwise, it's debatable whether dehydrated weighs less than no-cook. Unless you can rehydrate without a stove.
Drinking extra water may or may not work for you. It doesn't for me.
The reason is that since my weight is well balanced (I use front pockets) an extra liter in my pack or in my stomach is still an extra liter (1 kg) of weight.
Having it in my pack (pockets) I can drink anytime I like. On the other hand if I drink that much extra before I start it will make me feel uncomfortable and I will pee most of it out within the first hour.
So I would suggest to test the idea out (IE : drink that extra liter and go for a two hour or so walk, then carry that liter and do the same walk) and see how it works out for you.
Franco
Welcome to the ultralight mindset. I've been buying and then making ultralight gear for nearly a decade. here are some suggestions:
Sleeping bags: Marmot Hydrogen, Western Moutaineering (several models) are expensive but worth it. Making a down bag or quilt is a major undertaking, even for a person with excellent sewing skills. I did it once and won't do it again. I've also made quilts with synthetic insulation and found them to be too full of compromises--too bulky, and the insulation compacts too easily thus compromising the temperature rating. Thru-hiker.com is an excellent source of homemade bag/quilt materials if you are so motivated.
Clothing: Many ultalighters use a wind shirt and pants over 100 weight top and bottoms plus a fleece hat for their summer or 2-season use. The thru-hiker.com Liberty Ridge wind shirt pattern is excellent and easy to make for a person with sewing skills at the beginner+ stage. If you don't want to make your own, a trip to Goodwill for a windbreaker and pants will often yield success.
Shelter: tarps are easy to make and an 8 x 10 foot flat tarp will weigh about 14 oz if made from 1.1 oz silnylon (which weighs about 1.35 oz/sq yd including the silicon). Silnylon is very slippery to work with (sort of like sewing durable waxed paper), and the thru-hiker stuff sack kit is an ideal training ground before you tackle a tarp.
My current ultralight base weight is 6.25 lbs, before adding food, fuel, and water. The pack, down quilt, tarp, shell layer, hat, stove, and other odds and ends are all home made. There is a sublime pleasure in pulling into a campsite nearly filled with sore people carrying a pack lighter than most of them lug on a day hike.
HeartFire
06-27-2010, 10:11
food: freezedried is lighter than dehydrated, but the texture is different. Also, it can get expensive. Home dehydrated is cooking the way you like it, flavored /spiced the way you like it and no preservatives and added chemicals. It does take a lot of preparation though. so this is a decision between, time, money,taste and chemicals and I think lastly weight.
Shelters-I'm tooting my own horn here, but I just made a LightHeart Solo tent (single person double wall TENT for 13.8 oz, so the person that suggested a silnylon tarp at 14 oz, I've got a roomy tent for less weight in cuben fiber. Again, this is an expensive option and you have to judge how much is an ounce worth. The silnylon tarp will be hundreds of dollars cheaper than a cuben fiber tent,
Judy aka HeartFire of LightHeart Gear.com
GeneralLee10
06-27-2010, 10:32
I would never pay over 500 bucks for a tent. Much less one that can shrink in High heat temps. Not knocking your NEW!! Item but that is just nuts.
$275 for 8.2 oz, although I would rather have a cuben floor.
http://www.zpacks.com/shelter/hexamid.shtml
HeartFire
06-27-2010, 12:35
I would never pay over 500 bucks for a tent. Much less one that can shrink in High heat temps. Not knocking your NEW!! Item but that is just nuts.
Quite frankly, I wouldn't pay $500.00 for a tent either! (That's why I make them) But, I've already had MANY inquiries by people who are willing to pay for it.
It won't shrink in high temps under the sun- it was under my iron set on HIGH this is well over 200*F, and it had to sit on the fabric for several seconds before it started to shrink. I posted this as many people foolishly want to cook in the tents. The radiating heat from a stove could be high enough to damage the fabric.
The difference between the Hexamid shelter and all other tarps, and the LightHeart Solo is the fact that the LightHeart Solo is a double wall tent, not a tarp. The LightHeart has a real floor and a door that zips closed. In hot muggy buggy weather the fly can be rolled up to let the breeze blow through cooling you off, letting you view the sunset and keep the bugs off.
The wonderful thing about all this is that there are so many choices for so many different desires and expense accounts. in other words, HYOY
Judy - LightHeart Gear
I will respectfully suggest that cuben fiber is not necessary for the vast majority of ultralight hikers. It is pretty easy (and, except for a down bag, cheap) to get down to an 8 lb base weight. As I've observed above, you can get down to about 6 lbs if you make some of your own gear.
Cuben fiber is most often used to drop into the super ultralight range of less than 5 lbs. I did a few short trips with a base weight just over 4 lbs, and did not notice any improvement in carry comfort versus the 6.25 lb load. As much as many ultralighters will be reluctant to admit it, there are diminishing returns as your pack weight gets below that of a typical hiker's daypack.
The ultra-unbearable ultra-lightness of thru-hiking.
mtnkngxt
07-21-2010, 06:54
You can go Ultralight for a Thruhike for under $2000. For stuff that you will essentially be living out of for the better part of a year, I don't find it proactive to skimp on gear that you are going to rely on.
I also live by the do not carry spare clothing rule. If you aren't wearing every piece on a daily basis, you are carrying too much. I carry no hiking pants, instead using my rain pants and a base layer to trap heat at night.
My plan for '11 Damascus to Katahdin hike looks something like this. For the record I'm starting from Damascus the Sunday of Trail Days.
so I'm not having to deal with the cold.
Montbell UL SS#3 25oz
Thermarest NeoAir Short 9oz
GossamerGear SpinnShelter 11oz with stakes line and GroundCloth
GossamerGear Mariposa Plus 24oz
So Big 4 Weight is right at 3lbs.
Clothing looks something like this
Cap 3 Bottoms 6oz
SilkWeight Boxers 2oz (Worn)
Running Shorts 4oz (Worn)
Underarmor SPF 40 loose tshirt 3oz (Worn)
Montbell Winshirt 4oz
Montbell Thermawrap Jacket 9oz
Possum Down Gloves 2oz
AGG Sil Rain Jacket 6oz
Marmot Precip Pant 9oz
BlackRock Down Beanie 1oz
Smartwool Midheight socks 2oz (Worn)
SmartWool Heavyweight Sleep Socks 4oz
Buff Multipurpose head and face cover 1oz
So total worn while hiking daily is 11oz
Carried Clothing Weight is 42oz or 2.5 lbs
Other Gear Carried is
Cook Kit that comes in at 9oz
FAK and Supplies like extra batteries for headlamp is 4oz
Petzl Elite 1oz
Camera 8oz
Ipod Shuffle and headphones 3oz
Water Filtration 4oz
Some other odds and ends
Total Weight out my door minus food water and fuel is right at 8lbs.
I only carry a liter of water at a time, so figure 2lbs for that, and I eat a pack of poptarts for breakfast trail mix for lunch, and dehydrated meals for dinner. Total Weight of Food after resupply is around 7lbs.
So total Skin out weight is around 20lbs after resupply.
Cuben fiber is most often used to drop into the super ultralight range of less than 5 lbs. I did a few short trips with a base weight just over 4 lbs, and did not notice any improvement in carry comfort versus the 6.25 lb load. As much as many ultralighters will be reluctant to admit it, there are diminishing returns as your pack weight gets below that of a typical hiker's daypack.
I agree. I don't mind carrying 4 extra pounds when that means I'm getting a tent and a pack with ample support. While some people go to far with ultralight ideas I do say myself that there's no reason not to get as light as you possibly can though. Just not to the point of being rediculous. I'm definetly intrested in the lightheart tents myself. Just hope they will hold up in snow and heavy wind and rain.
I will respectfully suggest that cuben fiber is not necessary for the vast majority of ultralight hikers. It is pretty easy (and, except for a down bag, cheap) to get down to an 8 lb base weight.
FWIW, I noticed most of the thru-hikers in sub-10lbs category tend to be in the above range. The ~5lbs mark tends to be people out for relatively shorter stretches where your gear can be very specific and not for a wider range of conditions. (not always; just a general trend)
My observations may or may not reflect reality. ;)
I am at roughly the 8lb mark myself. I guess I could get lower..but it would take more money and/or going more minimalist. For me, I am the point where losing weight on my pack is going to give diminishing returns in terms of weight loss, comfort and utility for my three-season backpacking in CO.
Country Roads
07-25-2010, 18:48
Sleeping bag: Westernmountaineering or Montbelle both make sweet and very light down bags; expensive. Kelty makes a bit heavier, but less expensive bag (lightyear 25 in down).
Cooking: Alcohol or fuel tab stoves are very light and you can carry a fair amount more fuel to offset the weight of a canister. My "mess kit" weighs less than 6 ounces and includes a Heinie pot, Coke Zero can cup (7 1/2 ounce size) a 2 1/2 cup plastic bowl, lighter, wing stove (alcohol stove adds about an ounce), wind screen, cozy for the cup, cozy for the bowl, spork. Works well and gives me lots of options.
Water: 2 Liter platy, some hose, inline filter and some chemical stuff (for really nasty water). I am lazy and hate to pump. This weighs a lot less than most any pump type filter. Jason Klass has a nice video on youtube that uses the Katadyn Frontier Pro filter as an inline.
Definitely shop thrift stores, Goodwill, Hospice stores, etc. Wally World stuff works well (shop in the Men's dept. better stuff, better prices than the women's dept.).
Just look at everyday stuff and see it with new eyes. Much of the stuff just sitting around your house can be converted to ultralight duty cheaper and often times lighter than stuff costing 10 times the price.