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Ultralight Backpacking - Getting Started
By Steve Gillman, Thu Dec 8th
Want to run up that ridge, just to see what's there? Want toeasily carry your pack up those fourteener's, so you can go downby any route you choose? Want to feel good at the end of atwenty-mile day? It's time to liighten your load. Ultralight - The First 3 Steps 1. Buy a light backpack. Mine weighs 14 ounces, and I've usedit on week-long trips. Don't go over two pounds. 2. Buy a light sleeping bag. I stay warm in my 17-ounce bagdown to freezing. Don't go over three pounds. 3. Buy a light shelter. My tarp weighs just 16 ounces with allstrings, but if you prefer a tent, keep it to three pounds. The "big three" above are where you save the most weight. Afterthose, consider each item carefully. Do you need it? Whathappens if you don't bring it? Are there lighter alternatives?After you've cut down your weight, you can always add back aluxury or two. But then, ultralight is a luxury initself. Money helps reduce weight. The lightest gear can be expensive.If you don't have much money, well...decent rain jackets cost asixth of the great ones, and weigh almost the same. There aremany options. Learning Ultralight Techniques Knowledge allows you to use a tarp instead of a tent, to carryonly a pint of water (depending on location) by filling up atevery stream, and to eat a belly
full of berries instead ofcarrying fruit. Read, learn, practice, and will belighter AND more safe.In the meantime, walk a few times a week on uneven ground (notdown the sidewalk). This strengthens your ankles. You'll lovehiking in running shoes instead of clunky boots, and you cansafely do this if your ankles are ready. Problems Of Ultralight Backpacking There are limitations to consider with lightweight backpacking.Some techniques require practice, for example. Learn to pitchyour tarp, or you'll get wet. Keep your down sleeping bag dry,or you'll get cold. Don't try to carry thirty-five pounds inyour new ultralight backpack, which brings up the next point. Ultralight gear can be fragile. My 14-ouncewaterproof/breathable rainsuit, for example, is not as tough asan expensive, heavier nylon/Gortex one. Still, I've used it forten years, from Michigan forests to Ecuadorian glaciers. At $50,compared to $300 for high-tech rainsuits, I figure I can replaceit a couple times in my life, and still save money and weight.
Bottom line: The problems of ultralight
are smallcompared to the advantages. Become an ultralight backpacker andyou won't go back to the traditional routine of struggling andsuffering.
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