Going ultra-light

It's difficult to ignore the allure of having a an ultra-light pack that doesn't strain your back and shoulders but I haven't figured out how to make it a reality yet. I'm not even certain it's realistic to go ultra-light on the routes I favour with the level of risk mitigation that I prefer.

We carry a relatively light weight 2 man tent that weights about 2.2kg. There are tents that are lighter weight but not by much. Our sleeping bags are -7C bags and only weight 600g. We could switch from Thermarest sleeping pads to foamies to reduce our pad weight from 680g to less than 200g.

As I've mentioned in my previous entry, I carry the MSR Whisperlite stove, which weighs 410g plus fuel. I could shave have the stove weight off by switching to the MSR SimmerLite or go with something like the MSR PocketRocket which only weights 85g.

I don't carry unnecessary clothing. My only rule is that I would have to be able to wear everything in my pack at once and it should be able to keep me warm and dry. So if we were caught in some wicked storm I could layer up and wait it out. So I don't bring pants and shorts. I figure if I tore my pants I could mend in the field or just hike out in my long johns. I always carry a gear repair kit. The weight is worth it and paid off on one backpacking trip this summer when the hip belt buckle broke on Dave's pack. Carrying a full backpack without a tight hip belt would be torture.

I'm not sure if I can get my food weight any lighter. Our dinners and breakfasts are all freeze-dried packaged meals. They're not the most delicious thing on the planet but they have the calories and they don't weigh much. Plus they're easy to clean up since you don't dirty dishes and they're vacuum packed and sealed so they won't attract wildlife. We still hang them with the rest of the food though. For mid day meals we eat powerbars, gels and other energy foods. Things you can pull out of your pocket, have a few bites and put back for later. The alternative would be to bring food that doesn't require any sort of cooking on short trips, thereby allowing us to forgo the stove and its weight. I enjoy a hot dinner and breakfast and a cup of tea around camp though so that's not really an option I'm willing to consider on most outings.

My 65L pack is heavy. I think it's around 3kg. I've experimented with ultra-light packs and they only work if your load is ultra-light as well. It's not worth saving weight on the pack when your load remains the same as the ultra-light packs are designed to carry ultra-light loads. The heavy pack is designed to carry heavier loads, so while you're carrying more weight, that weight is handled better.

So when it comes to going ultra-light, it's pretty much an all or nothing kind of thing. It's really hard to half-ass it. If I really wanted to I could probably lose 5-7kg with just the options above. Maybe 10kg if I lost the tent in favour of other shelter options. We'd move faster but we'd be less prepared for certain conditions. I'm just not that motivated since I still really enjoy the experience even when my pack approaches 20kg.

I'd say more often than not my trips are starting to involve more alpine objectives as well. When you add a harness, helmet, ropes and other miscellaneous climbing gear you quickly find your pack weigh has jumped another 10kg. Really serious objectives might even require ice tools, crampons and a smaller summit pack. Anyone else have more success going light? If so, what's your secret?

Gear Talk: Backcountry stove

I spend a lot of time debating my gear choices with myself. When you'll be carrying all the gear you'll have on your back you don't want to make a mistake and load up on crap at the expense of something else. I'm still finding my comfort zone between being prepared for every possible contingency and going as light as possible.

There are plenty of options when it comes to a stove for the backcountry. Each with its own set of pros and cons. You can't say that any one particular stove is best in all conditions. My choice will perform well in just about all conditions and doesn't tip scales. There are lighter stoves but I'm willing to carry the extra grams for the added benefits.

I've been using the MSR Whisperlite almost exclusively since 1994. I retired my original Whisperlite earlier this year. The newer models are supposed to burn a little more efficiently and I was beginning to worry about the components so I figured it was time. The Whisperlite burns hot in all conditions. It's relatively to light once you get your head around the priming procedure. And it takes white gas which is easy to find and refill.

Previous to the Whisperlite I'd been using an old Coleman Feather stove. A heavy, unstable lump of a stove that didn't get nearly as hot and was a pain to use, not to mention heavy. It was like hauling a brick around with you.

It's my opinion that the Whisperlite is the best all-round backpacking stove. If you want something that weighs less your options are limited and some have significant drawback. First are the micro stoves that run on those butane canisters. They burn hot but they don't like the cold. You can't refill the canisters so when you're getting low you have to carry another full canister or else you end up with a bunch of half used canisters. If you do end up carrying in spare canisters you also end up carrying out all the weight of those spare canisters. I enjoy the way the weight of my pack diminishes over the course of a trip.

Another option I've seen in the backcountry are the ultra-light weight methyl alcohol stoves. Basically a small vessel that holds some fuel that you light. The open fuel burns and heats the pot above. It weighs next to nothing. I encountered a group using such a stove on my last outing. Aside from a little trouble lighting it and having it go out after simmering for an extended period of time, it worked well for their dinner. Then a major weather system came in over night dropping 20cm of snow and sending the mercury well below zero. The whisperlite had no problem boiling 2L of water for us in a few minutes, while the methyl alcohol alternative was nearly impossible to light. We had broken camp and were on the trail before the other party had warm water. In the Canadian Rockies you shouldn't be surprised by those kinds of conditions even in the middle of summer.

I consider my stove an essential piece of equipment that absolutely needs to work all of the time. If it fails the trip is over. I guess that's why I'll never succeed as an ultra-light backpacker.

Another Defeat

I really need to update this site more. I think the issue is that I also post trip reports on other sites. Sites that easily allow me to upload my GPS data and overlay it on a map.

The hiking season in this part of the country appears to be coming to a close for the year. The season has ended with a significant amount of precipitation. There are still routes but for me it's time to transition to other pursuits while waiting for the snow pack to stabilize and the temperature to really drop to winter levels. We're in that awful transition phase right now that results in deep slushy snow everywhere that's no fun.

I got snowed on during my last two outings. We went out to Kananaskis for the Labour Day long weekend. We had planned to hike into Aster Lake on the first day, the go over the Northover Ridge to Three Isle Lake the following day. Then hike out on the third day. I had done the route twice before and it was the last hike I had ever done with my father so it will always be a special route to me. This time I took my sister along so she could see the country our father loved so much.

The trip started out well enough. Some mixed cloud in the skies. A little light rain and a short but intense hail storm as we arrived at Aster Lake. We made extremely good time, so we set up camp and prepared dinner and explored the area. I showed Keri where my father and I used to camp back before the parks department created an official campsite. Our campsite was far superior but in a more fragile area so I can see why they wouldn't want the hordes camping there now that there's a semi-official trail.

We went to bed with high spirits, looking forward to the highlight of the trip; the walk across the Northover Ridge. We woke up to roughly 20 cm of snow. Heavy, wet snow.The weight of the snow had caused the side of Keri's dome tent to collapse on her and the tent of another group in the area completely collapsed on them. The skies were socked in and the snow was continuing to fall in large flakes. I weighed our options and decided that without knowing the conditions on the ridge it would be safer to return the way we had come the day before. The return route wasn't free of challenges either. A significant portion of the descent was very exposed with large cliff bands above and below the trail. There were even a couple short steps that were interesting when dry so I had some concern that we might be stuck high in the alpine.

We broke camp before 6am and suffered an immediate blow to our moral as the a simple rock face that we ascended to camp the previous day became a very difficult descent when covered in deep snow. Although we didn't know it at the time, that proved to be the most technical portion of our return. The next significant challenge was the complete disappearance of the trail. A large portion of the trail is a faint alpine trail that doesn't cut deep into the landscape. Large sections cross hard rock and it sneaks its way through dense forest. With that much fresh snow the trail across the the rock sections was invisible and the weight of the snow caused many trees to bend, often blocking the path in an innocuous way that caused me to follow the wrong trail a couple times.

Despite the adverse conditions I had a great time though and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I had to break trail the entire way down and was exhausted by the end of it. As we descended back to Upper Kananaskis Lake the snow had turned to rain. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground but nothing significant. We put it in high gear and walked those last, extremely boring 5.5 km as fast as could. We arrived back at the car around noon, soaked through but in high spirits. We had left refreshments in the car in anticipation of our return the following day. For once the cold weather proved a blessing and we found our beverages nicely chilled.

The trip report on Everytrail.com with GPS data.

The following weekend I decided to do a short scramble. I'd bought a new pair of mountaineering boots and on my previous two outings in them, they had left one of my feet blistered fairly badly so I wanted to give them one more try before attempting to return them.

I had an idea what the conditions in the mountains would be like from the previous weekend so we chose Heart Mountain because of its location in the front range and relatively low summit. The day started out with intermittent light showers and some occasional misting drizzle. It was still mostly sunny though and we enjoyed a nice lunch in the sun on the second summit.

As we approached the third summit the weather changed. The wind picked up, the temperature dropped and precipitation started to fall. At first it was a rain and then quickly turned to sleet. As we made our way around the ridge the snow started to fall as the wind howled. It was as though the wind was trying to drive the snow through us. It wasn't cold so I battled on for a while. My lower half protected by good alpine pants but the wind quickly took its toll on my ears. I had to stop and put on my ninja-clava. I was told the entire side of my face and neck were completely red from the driving ice.

We hurried down the ridge and the snow changed back to rain and began to fall vertically as opposed to being driven horizontally. As we completed our descent the rain stopped and the skies opened up again. It was almost as though someone didn't want us to be on that mountain.

Heart Mountain on Everytrail.com with GPS data.

All told, it was a fun day and my boots performed perfectly this time. I guess I'll have to give them another shot with crampons. I hope it's not the crampons causing me to walk differently that's causing the blisters.