Hikers' refrain: Go light, gain terrain

[7Sisters]

An article about the merits of reducing gear weight.

Hikers' refrain: Go light, gain terrain
Lightweight gear helps trekkers pick up speed


By ALAN WECHSLER, Staff writer
First published in print: Monday, November 3, 2008


Erik Schlimmer broke a record several weeks ago.

The outdoor educator and speed hiker walked the Adirondacks' Northville-Placid Trail in three days and eight hours in mid October.

The record for running the 133-mile route that cuts through the heart of the mountain range is 37 hours (with friends meeting the runner en route with food and dry socks). But Schlimmer did the route carrying all his gear and food, camping out along the way and receiving no support from anyone during the trek — breaking the "unsupported hiker" record by a day and a half.

The secret to his success — lightweight backpacking.

Schlimmer doesn't carry a tent, a heavy stove, an inflatable mattress, a water purifier or many other backpacker toys that can result in a 40-pound pack. He weeded his gear down to 7.1 pounds, including pack, plus another nine pounds of food.

Most people who hike the N-P carry far more, and wind up taking 10 to 15 days to do the route.

Schlimmer, who teaches outdoor skills at SUNY Oneonta and Adirondack Community College, said he was inspired to trim his pack weight after running into through-hikers on the Appalachian Trail a few years ago.

"These guys learned what to bring," he said. "All of them started out with heavy packs. Here I am talking to them, and they're wearing basically a bookbag."

This is nothing less than the greatest change to backpacking in a generation — perhaps not since books like ''The Complete Walker'' and ''Backpacking: One Step at a Time'' helped to popularize the sport in the '70s.

Now, whole companies and even a magazine — backpackinglight.com — have sprung up based on the idea of traveling light in the mountains. While many outdoor enthusiasts are slow to give up their four-season, six-pound tents and white-gas stoves, more and more enthusiasts are making the change.

Roman Laba, a Schenectady resident, is a 64-year-old climbing and mountaineering veteran. These days, he's able to do trips like a 45-day backpacking route across Spain's Pyrenees Mountains carrying only 10 pounds of gear, not including food.

"There's been a huge revolution in gear," he said. "You start looking at things you never looked at."

Laba wasn't always this light. He first learned to pare down his gear two decades ago while ski-mountaineering in the Sierras, after discovering he was lugging around a half-pound cup and a five-pound sleeping bag, among other things.

In ultralight backpacking, "necessities" long considered sacred no longer are. Take boots, for instance. For decades it was considered standard to wear heavy leather boots on trails during long hikes — the support was needed for carrying a heavy pack, the thinking went. But if your pack is light, why not wear sneakers, which weigh far less (although anyone who's hiked in Adirondack mud may feel differently)?

And is a one-pound water filter really necessary?
Though most hikers would never think to drink stream water because of the giardia threat, Schlimmer maintains the concern is overstated and said he's never had a problem (he avoids such risky sources as stagnant pools or streams below a camping site).

Some hikers are even rejecting tents, using floorless tarps instead (don't try that in the Adirondacks during black-fly season, though), and throwing away sleeping bags in favor of camping "quilts."

Schlimmer reduced more weight by cutting down a foam mattress and using Sterno-type fuel tablets to cook simple noodle dinners. He uses foil in place of a lid on his tiny, titanium pot.

It helps that LED headlamps, micro-thin waterproof-breathable jackets and other new materials have pushed gear weight into the ultralight category.

But there are limits. Winter backpacking will always be a heavy venture — when the Adirondack Mountain Club teaches its annual winter skills course, students must take ice axes and crampons, double boots, sleeping bag liners and other heavy implements.

Schlimmer says the lightweight approach has taken hold more slowly in the East than other parts of the country. And some local hikers say they aren't changing.

James Close, a Stillwater resident who backpacks a section of the Appalachian Trail every year, says he still likes his frame pack and 45 pounds of gear.

"They leave little margin for error when they do it to an extreme," he said of lightweight backpackers. "More power to them, but I'm not going to cough up an extra piece of equipment that they decided to leave at home."

Mark Lowell, an avid hiker from Canton, said he learned his backpacking skills from the Boy Scouts, which makes it hard for him to leave things behind.

"The idea is to be prepared," he said.

And George Miller, manager of Eastern Mountain Sports in Saratoga Springs, also likes his camp comforts: inflatable mattress, pack pillow, a flask of whiskey — all considered a luxury under a lightweight model.

"There's the stuff you've got to have and the stuff you think you might need," he said. The idea is to "prepare for the worst but hope for the best."

Alan Wechsler can be reached at 454-5469 or by e-mail at awechsler@timesunion.com.

Lightweight tramping

For more information on lightweight backpacking:

www.backpackinglight.com

www.golite.com

www.gossamergear.com

mountainlaureldesigns.com

Erik Schlimmer's gear list for the Northville-Placid Trail

Item Weight

GoLite Speed pack 10.8 oz.

GoLite pack cover 2.7 oz.

Z-Rest Lite 6.8 oz.

WM High Lite down bag 16.9 oz.

Tarp, six stakes, cord 13.7 oz.

6 Esbit fuel tablets, baggie 2.4 oz.

Homemade tuna can stove 0.7 oz.

Titanium one-liter pot 3.2 oz.

Lexan spoon, lighter 1.1 oz.

32-ounce water bottle 1.6 oz.

Three pair wool socks 7.0 oz.

Long sleeve shirt 4.4 oz.

Short sleeve shirt 4.5 oz.

Polypropylene top 5.0 oz.

Winter hat 1.7 oz.

O2 Rain Shield jacket 5.7 oz.

Ditty bag 18.0 oz.

First aid kit 4.3 oz.

Seven baby wipes 1.0 oz.

Headlamp with batteries 2.8 oz.

Total* 113.0 oz.

*—7.1 pounds, food weight not included

[shelterbuilder]

Over the years, I've found that a lighter pack doesn't destroy my knees, but I don't really hike that much faster. I get into camp feeling like I'm still alive instead of feeling wiped out, and THAT makes it easier for my body to recover overnight and feel refreshed in the morning.

But, as the article stated, going to the extreme with the lightweight concept CAN put you at risk if conditions turn ugly. The less equipment you have, the less you have to fall back on in an emergency. Common sense needs to have the final word. I'll always help someone if they are in trouble, but if they're in trouble DELIBERATELY, they'll get the help plus a lecture!

[Camp Counselor]

Originally Posted by shelterbuilder

Over the years, I've found that a lighter pack doesn't destroy my knees, but I don't really hike that much faster. I get into camp feeling like I'm still alive instead of feeling wiped out, and THAT makes it easier for my body to recover overnight and feel refreshed in the morning.

But, as the article stated, going to the extreme with the lightweight concept CAN put you at risk if conditions turn ugly. The less equipment you have, the less you have to fall back on in an emergency. Common sense needs to have the final word. I'll always help someone if they are in trouble, but if they're in trouble DELIBERATELY, they'll get the help plus a lecture!

I'm in the process of transitioning to lighter weight. For a 5 day trip my pack weight including food and 2 liters of water was 40 or so pounds. My goal is to trim 10 or more pounds out of that. I'm well on my way to that goal having cared for my pack, and tent. Next I'm looking at a new bag/pad and reviewing my clothing options.

However, I'm trying to balance weight, risk, and comfort as I do so. I do a lot of trips up in the Whites where conditions turning ugly is a more common experience. I've seen more than a few people freezing their tale off, or sitting under their poncho tent arrangement looking like a sad wet puppy. To be fair I've also seen many comfortable and well prepared UL'ers. Similar to your approach, I'll always offer aid to someone who is in serious jeopardy, but if they brought on difficulties themselves through minimalist gear choices and the situation isn't life threatening, I take a very different approach.

I guess it's a balancing act though, because I've seen the opposite many times as well. People who caused themselves difficulty or even injury due to a huge pack load. When I first started backpacking under "heavy" influence (pun intended) from more traditional old school thinking my weekend pack weight approached 45 pounds. Boy, those were the days... Not! I learned though, not because people came to my aid, but because people let me struggle a little and gave me sound advice for future trips.

So If I had to sum up my approach I started out in the Heavy Weight range for a couple years and then transitioned to more traditional somewhat lighter approach, and now I'm headed for Light Weight. I'm not sure If I'll ever be in the Ultra Light range but who knows... As the years add up and the knees tell me to I may yet get their.

[Garrett "Buster" Cole]

This is *VERY* interesting to me... I was attempting a 4 day hike of the same trail the third week of October in 2008, but turned back after 1 day and 33 miles because I kept turning my ankle and re-injured a dislocated shoulder bracing myself with my trekking poles. My base weight for that trip would have been around 8 lbs... if only I didn't feel like I needed those neoprene socks...

[Country Roads]

I tend to go pretty light. My base pack weight varies based on were I am going and how many days. I make sure I have what I need to be safe and comfortable. Although my idea of comfort has changed through the years. After every trip, I play ask myself what is the worst case scenerio if I don't have a particular piece of gear. Usually I have it just because, not because it is needed. I can go as light as 9 pounds including food and a liter of water, but most generally my base pack weight is around 13 pounds and I have everything I need, and even a small luxury or two. I carry the same things as other folks: backpack, shelter (tarptent), warm sleeping bag, nice sleeping pad, stove, cook pot, enough clothes to cover weather extremes, basic first aid kit, 2 ounce water filter, camera, SPoT unit; I just don't carry anything that I don't really need (well, except the camera) and I have spent several years putting together a lighweight kit. I am a small person and simply don't have a lot of choice. If I want to backpack for long distances, I have to carry a light pack. So for me it is go light or stay home (not an option).

[wolf23000]

I backpack by most hikers standards extremely ultra light weight. Hiking the JMT - 211 miles through the Sierra Mountains, CA my backpack gear weight was 18 oz total - everything included.

What many new and old hikers don't relies is gear and wilderness skill go hand and hand. I'll explain. In 2006, I headed southbound from Tenn. to Georgia against the March flow of thru-hikers. I've ran into MANY, MANY hikers that were either getting off the trail or FREEZING on the trail. They had a lot more equipment than myself but didn't have the experience that is so, so important to keeping warm.

Erik Schlimmer is an outdoor educator and has some skills in surviving in the outdoors. If he gets hit with bad weather, he should be able to take care of himself. Word of warning, many of the "ultra/light weight backpackers" sites records pack weight used only doing good weather. The author, if he/she gets in trouble they head into town. Not always possible or smart.

Wolf

P.S. No I'm not going to post a gear list so please don't ask. Posting one to others without the proper experience I feel would be extremely irresponsibility.

[whitefoot]

i agree with wolf. as my pack has gotten lighter, it has been through skill and experience, not through any fancy purchases.

the 'secret' to light hiking has little to do with gear.