The Big Four of Ultralight Backpacking
The ARS Sojourner
For years, I thought that "ultralight" backpacking was a puffy little trend that would come and go. Wrong. We are now experiencing a flood of remarkable new products that weigh less, and get the job done just as well. People love them, and so do I.
Weight is especially relevant for those of us in our Golden Years. I'm not sure that I'd stick with backpacking if I had to lug around 40 pounds. But it's possible to be well equipped with 18 pounds, and that's easy to carry, even for the mature, impressive human beings who are north of 50.
It turns out that most of the weight on your back relates to four things: shelter, sleeping, cooking, and the pack itself. Tame these beasts, and the rest falls into place.
Shelter
I believe that the best approach to shelter is to imagine that you are solo backpacking. There are two reasons. First, you may in fact take up backpacking on your own (it's wonderful). Second, the world is full of people who are magnificent friends but miserable tent companions. (They thrash, snore, take more than their share of space, and smell funny.)
If you accept this premise, then forget tents. Even the lightest one person tent weighs at least 5 pounds, and that is too much. Choose a bivy, and cut the weight down to 2 or 3 pounds. (If you are backpacking with your Significant Other, then ignore my rant and bring a lightweight two person tent.)
Currently, the best bivys are made by Outdoor Research and Bibler. Here is the Bibler, which Backpacker Magazine described as "nearly perfect."
If you have never slept in a cocoon before, It may take you a while to get used to a bivy. Just hang in there.
Sleeping
The accoutrement of sleeping are the bag and the pad.
Sleeping bags come in two basic styles: synthetic and down. Synthetic bags have their defenders, but they are bulky and heavy, and therefore, to the ultralight backpacker, they are evil.
Down doesn't work when it gets wet, so it makes sense to buy a down bag with a water resistant shell. My bag weighs just 3 pounds and I can't count the number of nights it has made me a happy person. It is is made by Western Mountaineering, although there are a number of other outstanding sleeping bag companies.
I use a 3/4 length pad made by Therm-a-Rest, called the "Ultralight." It weighs 1 pound, 1 ounce. Thicker pads can be more comfortable, but this pad's weight and packability make me rejoice.
Although camp chairs are not really part of a sleeping system, I will mention them now. During the day, the Ultralight pad becomes part of a camp chair, also part of the Therm-a-Rest line. That chair feels sooooo good, and only adds about half a pound. During a trip in the backcountry of Patagonia, my wife and I were the only ones with camp chairs. The minute we got up, the rest of the group fought over them. Don't leave home without them!
Cooking
This is the easiest category. There are many clever, lightweight stoves on the market. I happen to use a Coleman Xtreme, which weighs 26 ounces (with its fuel canister). Look at the February, 2001 issue of Backpacker for other choices.
Cooksets are also uncomplicated. Any serious outdoors store will have a nice selection. Non stick surfaces are a good idea. The March, 2001 issue of Backpacker loved cooksets made by GSI Outdoors. My cookset weighs 1 pound, 4 ounces.
Water treatment is an interesting issue. Basically, there are not many places on earth where you can trust the water. But most filtration systems are bulky and tedious. My wife and I have used a product called "Potable Aqua" for years. We treat water in our Nalgene water bottles. The first pill is iodine, which kills the nasties, and the second pill is ascorbic acid, which removes the taste of iodine. The two little bottles weigh 3 ounces, and they have kept us healthy in some scary places.
The Pack
I was a little dense about the pack issue. I just concentrated on what was put inside, and it didn't occur to me that some packs weigh too much.
There is good news here. In the last several years, pack manufacturers have taken a critical look at all the zippers, loops, and pockets they were putting on packs. They realized that many of these features were useless for most people. In addition, they found new materials that are lighter, but just as strong, as good old Cordura.
Mountainsmith is making some wonderful lightweight packs. I use their Ghost model, which weighs a mere 2 pounds, 9 ounces.
Summing Up
When I put all of the foregoing items in the Mountainsmith Ghost pack, the whole thing weighs 11.5 pounds. It is easy to pack enough additional stuff for a two or three day temperate weather trip and stay within the 18 pound guideline. Heaven!
Don't feel that you need to rush out and buy all of these things at once. Start with the main offenders. Upgrade on item at a time, and enjoy the experience of researching. If you buy quality items, they are actually economical, because they last much longer than the cheapos. Here are some useful web sites:
http://www.backcountrygear.com
http://www.monmouth.com/~mconnick/chklist.htm
http://www.northernmountain.com/
http://www.ultralight-hiking.com/home.html
Two closing thoughts. First, nuke cotton (and that includes jeans). Just don't take it on a hiking trip. It is too heavy, and in wet weather, it stays cold and clammy forever. Stick with the synthetic alternatives.
Second, consider buying a headlamp called the Petzl Tikka. The Tikka is featherweight, simple, ergonomic, high performance, and lasts forever on 3 AAA batteries. It's too bad that trail friendly radios haven't risen to the same heights. But stay tuned to The ARS Sojourner!
Happy backpacking!
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Russ Carpenter, AA7QU, is co-founder of the Adventure Radio Society. He is a publisher and a former corporate attorney. Russ lives in a log house next to the McKenzie River, Oregon.
