Ultralight Purposes and Techniques
- Class summary -

Define Ultralight

Ultralight Purpose

The purposes of Ultralight Backpacking are:

1. Better experience
2. Have fun ! Taking 20 pounds off is like taking 20 years off.
3. Not exhausted
4. Reduce injury
5. Do more
6. Go further & longer
7. Stay active longer
8. Stay safe

- Traveling Light is more comfortable, less dangerous, and releases you to the experience, rather than chaining you to your stuff !

- "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." Hans Hofmann 1880 - 1966.

- Ultralight is the healthiest thing I can do !

• Who might be interested in UL Backpacking:
• Retirement aged folks who are looking to lighten up and keep hiking as long as possible
• Anyone seeking backpacking as a way to connect with the outdoors and become more empowered
• Young adults just getting into the sport
• Those recovering from injuries or illness
• Parents backpacking with their kids
• Photographers, Fishermen, and other gear carriers who want to start with a much lighter pack
• "Tech weenies" and "gram weenies"
• People who want to try or have completed something really big, like a thru-hike!
• Who may not be interested:
• People who accept or are satisfied with the weight they carry

Ultralight Techniques

How do you get an Ultralight pack setup? If you have an unrelenting goal of Ultralight, these are the methods to get you there:

1. Take less stuff.
2. Use a spreadsheet to scrutinize and compare your gear list and plan reductions.
3. Weigh Everything with scales. Put all the weights in your spreadsheet. Use gram or ounce scales to compare weights; such a scale with a maximum capacity of 5-pounds should be fine.
4. The 'BIG 3': Backpack, Tent, and Sleeping systems have the biggest weight loss potential.
5. Shop the cutting-edge cottage industry. If a company's website does not give product weights in grams, they may not be truly ultralight; the words 'ultralight' and 'lightweight' are often abused.
6. Analyze each item and system one at a time for continual weight reduction. Reducing your pack weight is usually an incremental effort based on your previous pack and your personal choices, unless you get to the final answer faster by using one of our gear lists.
7. Use the lightest gear choice for each item and comparison shop for alternatives. A 1-ounce penalty on each item of maybe 100 items is +100 ounces or 6 1/4 pounds!
8. Use a system to identify what gear you did not use on a trip. Keep notes during trip; divide gear into 3 'use piles' after a trip; use a spreadsheet.
9. Repackage sunscreen etc. in small containers. (You know your an ultralighter if you are in a store and you are more interested in the product packaging rather than in the product.)
10. The lightest part of "Be Prepared" is your Skills, NOT your "what if gear". The what-if gear reflects our fears, and the weight of our fears can be heavy.
11. Carry a small backpack.
12. Emphasize multiple-use of every item you carry; then it becomes a system. Think carefully about single-use items.
13. Try out new gear ideas in a variety of weather on training walks, hikes, overnights, short trips, and even your back yard before you commit to a new idea on a big backpacking trip.
14. Make Your Own Gear (MYOG) is a common way to reduce some of your pack weight.
15. Read: Learn from more experienced people on the internet and in books. Compare their ultralight gear lists. Our Ultralight webpage is a really Great place to start !
16. Read: Monitor the Ultralight community for new ideas.
17. Reduce water weight by “cameling up” at last water source, and arrive empty at next sure-thing water source.
18. Reduce food weight by carrying foods with more than 125 calories per ounce.
19. For long-distance thru-hikers, reduce food weight by hiking more miles per day.
20. Plan to re-supply food, gear, and supplies on longer trips.
21. In bear country, reduce need for new regulations requiring heavy bear resistant canisters by hanging food. Don't train the bears.
22. Take Ultralight classes.
23. Go backpacking with Ultralight backpackers and share ideas.
24. Develop your experience and skills with more trips to explore and expand your UL comfort envelope.
25. Teach others.
26. Reminder: Hike Your Own Hike, HYOH.

How can I tell if my pack is too heavy? The point at which the weight of my pack detracts from the experience I seek.

Have Fun,
Paul