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?