Thanks for everyone on the forums for their help and advice even if you don't know you gave it. Cut a lot of weight from my pack and back. All due to you guys and gals.

Cut my base weight, without water, from 35-40lbs down to 15-18lbs. I know that's not super UL but for me it's F'n awesome. Went out with my new pack and gear to train for an upcoming trip. Did a 7-9 miles hike with a full load to "break" it in. Felt Fantastic! Felt like I could hike forever compared to my older and heavier gear.

Didn't cost me an arm and a leg. The Gear Swap forum helped and so did the Gear Deal forum for sales. Overall thank you greatly. Thinking about paying for the membership now.

Thanks again-


"May the road rise to meet you"

Edited by Sixguns01 on 07/21/2010 15:16:24 MDT.

I had nothing to with with it, but congratulations and you're welcome! HA!

-vip-

I'm feeling the same way -- thanks in large part to this community and the almost overwhelming amount of information here, plus reading the BPL book and Ray Jardine's "Trail Life" I've managed to get my trailhead weight from around 65 pounds to under 40.

I need to get a scale to measure it, but I'm already pretty pleased -- and the main reason that I'm happy with "under 40 pounds" is that lightening everything else means that I can carry a 4x5 camera with extra film and a changing bag.

Mark,

Your Subject thread sums UL backpacking up for me.

Forums are great and I have found people to be extremely generous with their advice and patience in asking questions.

I have carried as much as 90 lbs before and now my base weight is between 10-11.5 lbs.

Hard for me to imagine carrying a traditional load again, plus the ability to fly down the trail and pound out high mileage has allowed me to take the limited vacation time that I have and see more, do more, and enjoy more once I was freed from the load stone that was my "heavy" pack.

Congrats to you....whole new world opens up for you.

Get a subscription....the research that is available to you will help you save a ton of money by allowing you to buy the right UL products the 1st time, which pays for the membership easily.

Happy Adventuring!

-Tony

Hi Mark

could you post your big 4, ie SB, tent, sleeping pad, and the backpack.

Thanks

Pack- Medium Golite Pinnacle
Sleeping Bag- Summer Bag Lafuma X600
Looking for a Mountain Hardware Phantom 15
Tent- Big Anges Fly Creek UL 2
Pad- Thermarest Prolite 3 or Thermarest Z-Lite

Doing this cut 9-12lbs off my back

Have a good one

"lightening everything else means that I can carry a 4x5 camera with extra film and a changing bag"

Holy cow, that's hardcore. I still have my 4x5, and it's a nice kit, but I haven't shot much with it in a while. I sure wouldn't take it on a hiking trip (though I suppose your primary purpose is the photography.)

Are the Readyload style film packets still around? I cut a lot of weight and time (and dust and PITA) using those instead of standard film holders. Of course, they did cost a fair amount.... (But I do have some semi-fond memories of standing in the darkroom loading film holders before a shoot. Photography used to be a quieter, more contemplative job back when we spent long hours processing and printing film.)

To the OP -- congrats on the positive changes.

I just did Mt Adams as a two-day with maybe 18lb at the trailhead, including ice axe and steel crampons. It was pretty awesome hauling by all those people with 50lb packs.

Carrying a heavy pack is just no fun. Having less stuff means you can:

-go faster/further
-be more leisurely/relaxed
-have less stuff to fiddle with
-carry more "other" stuff (camera gear, fishing gear, packraft, climbing hardwear, etc)

You can even do more than one at once! Everyone wins!

You can read about my first significant trip with the 4x5 (the trip that inspired me to look into ultralight backpacking) here on my old blog:
http://tamerlin.blogspot.com/2009/08/road-to-asgard.html

My new site is at www.WhiteCranePhotography.com :)

I shot Quickloads (the Fujifilm version) for a long time, but Fuji discontinued them recently. Now I carry 4 cut-sheet film holders instead; they're pretty light, and with a film changing bag I can reload them in the field rather than needing to carry a dozen of them. The Quickload holders are a lot more convenient, but they also weigh almost a pound each.