View Full Version : Interesting article concerning hiker size and pack weight comfortably carried
oldwetherman
03-03-2016, 19:28
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aapt/journal/tpt/52/8/10.1119/1.4897584
Shakedown hikes, and reaching Neel's Gap bring out the truth in what each hiker can comfortably carry.
The best way to start? Loose 40+ pounds. Then drop a few pounds with careful gear replacement. Then add a few pounds for something really cool. Like a brand new Moss tent.
Wayne
6 days and a wake up.
LittleRock
03-04-2016, 10:23
Interesting article indeed. I created a quick graphic summarizing their results that may be a little more intuitive for those who don't measure weight in Newtons. :-)
33962
Not sure I agree with all their assumptions, but this is the first time I've seen anyone approach the subject from a purely theoretical perspective. It would be really interesting to collect data from a large sample of long-distance hikers and see how well the results line up.
kayak karl
03-04-2016, 10:38
Seriously?? What a joke. Just throw it on your back and start walking. It's that easy.
LittleRock,
Your graph verifies my experience with 47 pounds in a new Osprey Atmos 65 AG pack. The weight was tolerable in a store at sea level, but I doubt that I would want to carry that much weight uphill at altitude. I reckon that 40 pounds is probably my maximum, do not exceed pack weight. That equals the weight that lost a few years ago and have not regained.
I'll know for sure in the real world in the San Juan mountains in September.
Wayne
Puddlefish
03-04-2016, 10:55
It's just some basic modeling to prove to the professor that they know how to do the math. It's not any kind of rigorous study.
The "otherwise healthy" human body is a major variable that they haven't even attempted to address, and for good reason. There's a huge range of conditioning, age, size, sex, endurance, strength, height, and a hundred other factors involved.
DuneElliot
03-04-2016, 12:12
This is the same theory that applies to horses, dogs and people...and even every other animal on Earth. The bigger you are, the lower the percentage of your own body weight can be carried safely.
As someone who has packed and ridden all my life, I can relate to this on an equine level much easier than with people, but the math is the same. An average horse (1100# and 15.2 hands) can safely and easily carry 20% of their weight. This can change up or down slightly depending on the load they are carrying. The dead weight on a pack horse means the percentage goes down, but if they are carrying an experienced and well-balanced rider the percentage can go up slightly.
While larger horses can carry bigger people there is a percentage threshold (and weight limit) that most dude ranches will not cross. A large draft horse can weigh up to 2000lbs but they just can't carry the 20% of their weight safely. At 2000lbs, they are limited to approximately 15% of their weight. And going in the other direction, smaller horses and ponies can comfortably carry 25-30% of their weight safely.
Once all this makes sense the smaller an animal is the stronger it is relative to it's size...think leaf-cutter ants and dung beetles!
Sorry to ramble but hope this comes across as a simple way of explaining the article
If you looked up "armchair hiker" or "cyber hiker" in a dictionary, it would point to this. What a crock.
rocketsocks
03-04-2016, 15:41
I don't know the math but didn't think it took into consideration the "git er done" factor, that's the one that says there's two of you carrying a 385 lb. cast iron tub up flights of step to then install, your partner weighs 215 lbs and buff, yer one twenty five soakin' wet...you wanna get a pay check at the end of the week and if you don't
"git er done" they'll get someone in here that will. I like to eat. Respectively, you've been dropped off at your starting point with a (whatever) 50 pound pack, your ride has left...gotta "git er done"
This study has already been completed:
"...a loaf of bread... and a pound of tea... in an old sack ...". -I think the scientist was a guy named John Muir.
Offshore
03-06-2016, 09:29
The best way to start? Loose 40+ pounds. Then drop a few pounds with careful gear replacement. Then add a few pounds for something really cool. Like a brand new Moss tent.
Wayne
6 days and a wake up.
I don't know about 40 pounds, but the irony isn't lost visualizing an overweight hiker spending hundreds to shave those last few ounces off of their carry weight (while having a second helping and another beer).
I don't know about 40 pounds, but the irony isn't lost visualizing an overweight hiker spending hundreds to shave those last few ounces off of their carry weight (while having a second helping and another beer).
Ain't it the truth.
I walked 12,000+ steps yesterday. I didn't feel guilty afterwards over pizza and Saint Arnold beer.
Wayne
Sent from somewhere around here.
Longboysfan
03-08-2016, 15:02
Shakedown hikes, and reaching Neel's Gap bring out the truth in what each hiker can comfortably carry.
Yes. Work it out after a few days actual hiking.