Southmark...thanks for the breakdown...how cold can you go with this set up?Originally Posted by SouthMark
I prefer to use this when it is not expected to get lower than around 45º-50º. I did get caught one night with a low of 34º and before daylight I was uncomfortably cold. I would like to note that the JRB Stealth quilt which i s rated to 45º has a slit in the center for your head and I wear it around camp as a poncho instead of a puffy jacket. Of course what is not included in the list are the pants and shirt worn while hiking that can also be worn along with all my other clothes including rain gear for extra warmth while sleeping. My average base weight for most trips is more like 6.2 ponds but I wanted to see if I could go below 5 pounds. I'm a hammock camper normally and so I was not as comfortable sleeping on the ground with this set up. My pack weight for the Mahoosucs in August with hammock was 5.64 pounds.
I am not young enough to know everything.
Wasn't making irresponsible statements. It was an honest question. I really wanna know how you can get by carrying everything but food/water that weighs less than 4.5 pounds.
I mean the pack must weigh ounces, the bag weighs ounces, then there is clothing, tent or tarp, camp shoes, sleeping pad, pullover, rain gear, camera, and maybe afew other things. And then there's the weight of the pack.
Seriously, I wanna know how you do it. Is this the weight for only fair weather and good temp days?
Well I'm guessing you haven't done a lot of backpacking because light weight backpacking under the 5 pound mark was done over 20 years ago – gear weight. The gear now, is even lighter.
Lightweight backpacking starts off with knowing how your equipment works and how to fully use it. An example would be how many times have you seen people that had their pack on wrong – need to be adjusted? Or know to air out their sleeping bag.
It is just simple things like this that many hikers either don’t know or just simple don’t care.
Wolf
you could just post a sample list instead of being snarky. Even today sub 5lb baseweight is quite an achievement and usually involves small tarps, daypack size bags, and an array of cuben fiber.
Jamie Shortt's visual pack list of his sub5lb baseweight (which has been made even lighter.. guy has awesome gear, mostly homemade)
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-...hread_id=13855
Never worried about pack weight, but as I get older it does seem to be more important. I have a old pack 20yrs I think it 5lb empty. LOL
My lightest backpack weighs 3.4 oz, next up is one that weighs 7.3 oz. My winter pack weighs 24.9 oz. It's not rocket science.
I am not young enough to know everything.
Last year my pack for 5 days total weight was 26 lbs.. This year for the same number of days my pack weighs in at 21lbs! I plan to get it even lighter! I've purchased a cuben fiber tarp and stuff sacks, lighter hammock and realized that carrying 1 1/2 lbs per day of food was WAY too much for me! I'm a section hiker & there's no way I can eat that much. If I was thru hiking my appetite might support that amount of food but being out 5-6 days the hunger just doesn't kick in!
Last year I gave away approximately 2 days of food to some hungry BS that we're very happy to have it!!!
We each have different requirements for comfort as well as nutrition! HYOH!
I never carried more than 20 lbs on my just completed thru with a quart of water and 4 days food. Just a heads up, I used cuben fiber stuff sacks, dry bag and pack cover from Z-pack. Pack cover held up and is still good. Stuff sacks and dry bag are in tatters. I replaced 'em all at Monson with more cuben. I carry about 2lbs/day of food for about 3,000 calories/day.
Hey, check this out. My wife did this on Excel a few years ago. I use it all the time before a hike. It is not in color or in boxes like on my program but this is a copy of what I see for a 6 day hike. I weigh stuff and enter the wgt of one of each item in first column. Then in second column put how many of the first column I want to take and it totals in the third column. So if I click 2 Chili Mac it totals 12 oz in last column. Get it? Pretty cool. I really do use it. Gives me a good idea of my end wgt. Kind of anal, I guess. But helpful.
Virtual BackpackBasic Four Enter # ozs Enter Qty Total ozs Osprey Aether 60 Pack 70 0 0 WM Megalite Down Bag 29 1 29 Rainbow 2 Tent 46 0 0 Prolite 4 Sleeping Pad 25 1 25 Contrail Tent 24 1 24 Neo Air Large 19 0 0 GoLite Quest 51 0 Exos 46 large 49 0 0 Neo Air Regular 14 0 0 Oprey Aether 60 without the lid! 63 1 63 0 0 0 0 Clothing Plastic Bag 1.5 1 1.5 ExOfficio Underwear 2 1 2 Socks & liner socks 5 1 5 Titanium pot 3 1 3 Long sleeve blue 'r' shirt 8 0 0 Short sleeve blue nordic trac shirt 6 1 6 Thermal Capilene Bottoms 8 1 8 Thermal Capilene top 9 1 9 Black ski pants 12 0 0 Poncho 9.5 1 9.5 Tent Footprint 4 1 4 Montbell ThermaWrap Jacket 11 1 11 Propane fuel - new 13 1 13 Green grey long sleeve shirt 10 0 0 Pack cover 4 1 4 Stove-Pocket Rocket 4 1 4 Nalgene bottle 6.5 0 0 Gaiters 7.5 0 0 Epic Rain Jacket 18 0 0 Cohesion Rain Pant 12 1 12 Grey Sock Hat 3 1 3 Camp bucket 3 0 0 Pillow 10 0 0 North Face convertible pants 20 1 20 1- 8 Pk of Wipes 5 1 5 Kahr 9mm 19 0 0 Camp towel 4 0 0 Crocs 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Miscellaneous Ditty bag 16 1 16 Petzel Headlamp 3 1 3 CamelBack 3L Bladder 7 0 0 CamelBack 3L Bladder -Full 113 0 0 CamelBack 3l Bladder with 2liters 78 0 0 Camelback 3l Bladder with 1liter 41 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nutrition Gorp-8oz per day 8 0 0 Snickers Bar 2.1 6 12.6 Cliff Bar 2.5 6 15 Lemonade 1 pk 0.75 6 4.5 Water 1 ltr Aquafina btl. 36.5 2 73 Chicken stew x 1 (6oz each) 6 2 12 Chili mac x 1 (6oz each) 6 2 12 Ramen Noodle x 1 (3oz each) 3 12 36 Coffee Via-15 packs 2 1 2 Sugar per tbsp 0.6 0 0 Cremora per tbsp 0.7 0 0 Oatmeal 1 pack 1.67 4 6.68 PopTarts 1 pack of 2-400 cal 3.75 0 0 Oatmeal To Go Bar-220 cal 2.25 0 0 MH Scrambled Eggs and Ham 3.5 0 0 MH Blueberry Crumble 6.5 0 0 Creamora 8- 8tsp servings 6 0 0 Sugar 8- 4tsp servings 6 0 0 precooked Bacon 1pk 2.75 2 5.5 Packit Gourmet each approx. 7 0 0 Chorizo 1 pk of 2 sausages 3.5 2 7 Spam Singles 3.25 0 0 Cheese Grits 1 4 4 Knorr Pasta side,2c,460cal total 4.75 0 0 Knorr Rice side,2.5c,550cal total 6.8 0 0 Idahoan taters,2cups,220cal total 4.25 2 8.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTAL OUNCES 1,011.12 16 478.78 TOTAL POUNDS 29.92
Yeah, it works well. She named it the Virtual Backpack. Now you can see what kind of crap I eat on the trail. kevin
jakedatc,
There is no snarky. Only stating the fact there are some hikers who don't have that much hiking experience - we all start off some time including myself. The different is someone who has been backpacking for some time is going to know what they need and what extras they are carrying. One hiker extra might be another hikers life-line. When I first started backpacking back in 1989, I thought I needed a hatchet. That didn't last long after I carried it 100 miles to Monson. After about two months of hiking is when I was able to break 5 pound barracade. All it took was just looking at how things worked together and figure out what worked for my hiking style.
As for gear-list, gear-list don't work. They never have. There are a number of gear list out there but yet still hikers are going to carry what they want. Bear Grylls shows everything he carrys but I don't see many hikers trying to follow his advise. Even your link, what many hikers I'm sure miss is Jamie was only out for a weekend. Well going out on a weekend hike it is easy to carry 4.15 pounds - I'm surprise he wasn't carry less. On a weekend hike you can pick and choose what weekend you are going out and if you are going to have good whether or bad. If you know you are going to have good whether then you are not going to need that much. A thru-hiker can't do that because they are going to be hit with some bad weather at some point into their hike.
Wolf
If you noted, it rained and hailed and got pretty cold on Jamie's weekend. pretty nasty weather regardless of the days out. He had a tarp, bivy, down quilt, down puffy, etc plenty of gear to be prepared for any weather thrown at him. for a thru hike he'd have to increase his pack size to accommodate more food, add a few ounces for a bit more capacity.
Lint is going to be a double triple crown with 8lb baseweight. Skurka's is in the 8-10lb for very long hikes.
you said you could achieve 5lb baseweight 20 years ago. i'll say BS and call you out to prove it with what you carried that long ago without silnylon, 800fill down and other modern gear.
Bear grylls is not camping out, he talks on camera and then goes to an RV when the cameras go away.
Heavier than a strawweight boxer
My weight for the JMT (including bear canister) was 14.7 lbs. One good thing about the JMT - no problem finding water, so I never had to carry more than a quart (figured this was a good trade-off for the bear canister!)
If you looked at Jamie's pictures you will notice the ground is dry. Also in the picture of him sitting by the fire, you can make out the smoke rising - not the sign of something you would see during or expecting bad weather. A little common sense goes a long ways.
As for your BS claim, attached is a link for a video that I was in a very long time ago. If you notice the date of when it on the back cover was of when I met Lynn Whelden (who product the video) was in 1992 - 20 years ago. By that point I had already completed the AT for nearly my second time and working on a third. My total packweight was 15 pounds including 5 days of food and water. The video came out 4 years late in 1996.
http://www.lwgear.com/images/vid-lig...cking-back.jpg
I don't claim to be the first lightweight backpacker as I know Grandma Gatewood was before me who carried 17 pounds total back in the 1960s. There are also others I'm sure but she is the most known.
As for Bear Grylls, he does have a camera crew that follows him on his adventures and does spend some nights camping out. My point being there are many list out there that really don't help at all. I'm not a gear head and really don't care what other hikers are carrying. I worry about what I carry not someone else - it not a fashion contest or to show off who has the best gear. It about going out there and enjoying yourself.
I don't know why you choice to carry what you do, that up to you. What I do know is once I stop listening to other people on what I need to carry and started listening to myself I was able to backpack a lot lighter.
Wolf
wrong link.. my mistake. even lighter base, rain and snow
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-...hread_id=55270
and i suppose the 90s gear was getting better so i'll retract the BS. fair?
I think that gear lists have a place. Sometimes it is good to see what is possible and i like visual "lists" even better like in the link i mistakenly posted. I like to lay out my gear like that and decide what stays and what goes. having people look at your list is nice to have outside opinions. you can take some advice and skip others.. it will be your choice at the end. I am big on practice hikes before larger trips to dial in what you want. i decided that even though it saves some weight i really do not like alcohol stoves.
I think people's books like Ray Jardine, Andrew Skurka and Mike Clelland are very good for either new people starting out or more experienced people looking for new methods.
I’m going to point out some things about the way Jamie is hiking – just simple observations that many hikers starting off often would not pick up on. Jamie did hike in the snow of course but where he camped was in a low area where it was warmer. Base on his setup, it would be difficult if he had to camp out up top in the snow. Also if you notice his tarp is small – if he got hit with a good rain storm he could find himself in trouble. Being out for only two days, he can get away with this stuff but someone out long distance could find themselves in serious trouble. The leaves on the ground, it looks like he is using in his system. I don’t want to seem like I’m attacking Jamie or his style because he is free to hike the trail anyway he wants to. My point is only, the things I’m point out are things you can not find out from a gear list. A gear list can does not tell anyone how the equipment is being used or anything about the hiker. Also I’ve been backpacking lightweight for a long time and can spot many things that most hikers starting off normal would not.
As for your references, I'm going to leave alone only to say many of them leave out a lot.
Wolf
I think the critical thing is what weight you are happy carrying.
I have been fastidious in replacing heavy items for lighter, particularly in stove, tent, bedding and (lastly) backpack.
But as long as my pack rarely goes over 35-40 lbs (because consumeables do mean total weight always varies) I am happy.
I carry what I want within reason and don't seek to have a 15lb pack. I admire those that do as their searches and efforts in seeking lighter alternatives supply me with the information to change some things from time to time and get a bit lighter.
But at the end of the day we are all different and have different goals.
To me the person with a 15lb pack is the same as a person with a 60lb pack - different from me.
Don't stress how your pack weight compares, just get it within your "comfort" range.
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