Define UL Backpacking?

[sixguns01]

What weight do you need to be at to call yourself an UL Backpacker?

My base weight before food, clothing, and 2-3L of water is 11lbs. Does that qualify as UL or just lightweight?

Thanks

[Luddite]

If you want to get technical, then no, you are only an average lightweight hiker. Ultralight is 10 pounds or less I think.

Who cares? HYOH

[couscous]

Define UL Backpacking? - When you don't bother removing your pack for short breaks because the weight is insignificant.

[sixguns01]

If you want to get technical, then no, you are only an average lightweight hiker. Ultralight is 10 pounds or less I think.

Who cares? HYOH

Not that much. Beginning pack weighed close to 45/50lbs. Happy as hell to have it around 20lbs.

[sbhikes]

I think it's Super Ultralight to go below 9 or 10 pounds. People call me ultralight and my baseweight for the PCT was 12 pounds. Felt light to me.

[Majortrauma]

There seems to be so much more emphasis or even a sort of "celebrity status" placed on being a UL hiker or having areal light pack than on having a great time hiking with some people. It seems like the Holy grail almost to some. I understand that a heavy pack could wreck your hike but to quibble over a pair of crocs that weigh less than a pound or to strip parachute cord to save weight is OCD. Are some of these people missing the forest for the trees?
I get the impression from some posts that UL thru-hikers are the real hikers and the rest of us are just perp'ing a fraud.
Hike your own hike and don't be so concerned about what others may think about your pack/weight.

[Odd Man Out]

There seems to be so much more emphasis or even a sort of "celebrity status" placed on being a UL hiker or having areal light pack than on having a great time hiking with some people. It seems like the Holy grail almost to some. I understand that a heavy pack could wreck your hike but to quibble over a pair of crocs that weigh less than a pound or to strip parachute cord to save weight is OCD. Are some of these people missing the forest for the trees?

Agreed. The original intent of the UL movement was to make hiking more enjoyable. Indeed, most people find that carrying 20 lbs makes for a much more pleasant experience than 50 lbs. The UL movement has helped develop methods and products that make comfortable hiking possible at ever lower pack weights. But each person will reach a limit where the benefit of a lighter pack is offset by a greater loss of comfort. At what point that happens will be different for each person. If you find that giving up those last couple pounds just to reach "UL status" makes you miserable, it seems you have missed the point.

[hikerboy57]

the only thing better than Super ultralight is extra-super ultralight-loincloth and Bowie knife?forage as you go-just stay away from the wild potatoes, use mud as insect repellant, sleep in a bed of leaves.No need for camp shoes, raingear, etc.

[sixguns01]

the only thing better than Super ultralight is extra-super ultralight-loincloth and Bowie knife?forage as you go-just stay away from the wild potatoes, use mud as insect repellant, sleep in a bed of leaves.No need for camp shoes, raingear, etc.

hikerboy57- I have never heard truer words. I enjoy packing a lot more without the back pain but there are somethings I really want to have with me. An iPod, a book, Jameson, and a chair with a back are my must have luxuries. The Thermarest Chair Kit is one of the best 11ozs I carry.

I make moderate mileage 9-15 miles a day and enjoy my camp-time as well. For me, the please of good conversation around "hopefully" a camp fire (can of worms) makes it all worth it. Lightweight practices and gear help out but do not define my experience.

My 2 cents

[Majortrauma]

the only thing better than Super ultralight is extra-super ultralight-loincloth and Bowie knife?forage as you go-just stay away from the wild potatoes, use mud as insect repellant, sleep in a bed of leaves.No need for camp shoes, raingear, etc.

That would be the Eustace Conway version of hiking wouldn't it?

[10-K]

Base weight really means nothing. It's what your pack weighs when you've got everything else in it that matters.

And then it only matters to you because you're the one that has to carry it.

[lori]

It's a relative term. A guy in my hiking group was ultralight when he started, going out with the torso length foam pad, alcohol stove, etc. and packing it all in a day pack. He's since started to collect comfort items and use a canister stove but still has a rep for being ultralight, despite the fact that he has now purchased a 60 liter Deuter, inflatable sleeping pad (like mine - after he tried mine out on trail) and his weight is creeping up ...

I can go out there with a 25 lb pack, including bear can and bottle of wine in a Platy, and be quite comfortable, ache free and happy. The 50 lb pack folks can't figure out how I do it - but they don't care to, since that would mean spending money, and so they keep carrying the Jansport and the massive sleeping bag and the massive tent, and I bust up the trail with the 40 liter Gregory with them, and we are all having a good time.... Accusations of ultralight happen but I shrug them off. I'm comfortable. That's what matters.

Definitions are good shorthand but in the end it's more about what works for you than anything else.

[Mags]

Carrying a small bottle of whiskey vs. a six pack.

[GeneralLee10]

I think this is a foolish question. Really, who cares, load your pack and hike. Do you think you become a better class hiker cause you call yourself an UL hiker, no.

[Bearbag]

There seems to be so much more emphasis or even a sort of "celebrity status" placed on being a UL hiker or having areal light pack than on having a great time hiking with some people. It seems like the Holy grail almost to some. I understand that a heavy pack could wreck your hike but to quibble over a pair of crocs that weigh less than a pound or to strip parachute cord to save weight is OCD. Are some of these people missing the forest for the trees?
I get the impression from some posts that UL thru-hikers are the real hikers and the rest of us are just perp'ing a fraud.
Hike your own hike and don't be so concerned about what others may think about your pack/weight.

Amen Majortrauma, Amen!

[Bearbag]

I think this is a foolish question. Really, who cares, load your pack and hike. Do you think you become a better class hiker cause you call yourself an UL hiker, no.

Amen General Lee10, Amen!

[Jim Adams]

For me ultra light is when my pack weighs 20-25 lbs. My AT thru pack weight is usually 26-27lbs. with a liter of whiskey. That is light weight for me on the AT. Add water and light weight for me is 35-40lbs. on the PCT. Laurel Highlands Trail, 16-18lbs. It should not matter to anyone else...it is all about what YOU are comfortable with on what trail.

geek

[garlic08]

If you look up "ultralight backpacking" on Wikipedia, this is what it says:

"Ultralight backpacking is an advanced style of backpacking that emphasizes packing (carrying) the lightest weight and simplest kit safely possible for a given trip.[1] To reach this goal, base pack weight (the weight of a backpack plus the gear inside— excluding consumables such as food, water, and fuel, which vary depending on the duration and style of trip) is reduced as much as safely possible, though reduction of the weight of consumables is also applied.

Although no technical standards exist, the terms light and ultralight commonly refer to base pack weights below 20 pounds (9.1 kg) and 10 pounds (4.5 kg) respectively. Traditional backpacking often results in base pack weights above 30 pounds (14 kg), and sometimes up to 60 pounds (27 kg) or more. Extreme enthusiasts of ultralight backpacking sometimes attempt super-ultralight backpacking in which the base pack weight is below 5 pounds (2.3 kg)."

It's on the internet, so it must be true!

[sixguns01]

1- Just asking; not starting an argument that some seem to want
2-This is the Ultra-Light Hikers Forum?? Correct?

Don't really care about labels but keep seeing and hearing that term around and just wanted some clarification. My Bad!

Sorry to waste your time

[sbhikes]

My pack may not have been sub 10lbs when I hiked a section of the JMT last summer, but it was very tiny. When worn with my skirt and my Chacos, the image of this small woman in a dress and sandals with a tiny pack flying up the trails caused many people to gasp and choke on their macho-man ideas about backpacking. It's supposed to be a tough and death-defying, risky wilderness survival experience. It is supposed to be full of danger and fear and your gear is supposed to protect you. My appearance, smiling and singing up the trail unencumbered, comfortable and completely at east blew all that out of the water. I definitely made more enemies than friends on that trip. Anyway, that's a definition of ultralight in my book.