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Re: [at-l] Serious questions about going lite

Hi Kahley,

At 04:52 PM 3/20/97 PST, kahlena <kahley7@ptd.net> wrote:
>For instance, right now, I'm trying to figure out how to have a warm
>layer, a wind/wet layer, camp clothes and sleep clothes and still stay
>under forty pounds with five days of food and three liters of water.
>I've packed and unpacked my fleece pants a dozen times.  I'm buying
>clothes a size too small just to cut some ozs.

I've been doing the same thing as my winter project.  According to my
computer, my "cool weather" weight is around 24 lbs (no food or water), and
my summer weight is about 21 lbs.  My first overnight of the year is coming
up in April, and I'll probably post my gear list around then.  Currently, I
haven't even loaded up the pack, so I don't REALLY know what it weighs,
much less how it works.

If my numbers are right, I dropped about 10 lbs of gear since last fall.
The "big ticket" items were:

	leaving lots of stuff at home
	5lb tent -> 3.5 lb bivy+tarp combo
	7lb pack -> 4 lb 10oz pack
	bought a 2 lb 40 degree bag for the summer
	switched from a whisperlite/msr pot to a Trangia Westwind alcohol stove
		(still backordered) and a Titanium pot.

My clothes allowance is pretty tight: long johns for camp, shorts, t-shirt,
long pants, long sleeved shirt, shell, fleece top (cool weather only).  My
assumption is that I'd crawl into my sleeping bag right away in cold
weather.  I've thought of ditching the gore-tex shell during the summer in
favor of a coated nylon jacket - the theory being that I'm not likely to
use it except in camp.  If I was hiking with a group, I'd probably take
more clothes so I could sit around and talk with folks.  Again, I don't
know how that will work in practice yet.  I've been testing things out
during walks, but that's not the same thing.

By the way, I'm 6'2" and wear a men's large bottom and large/tall top, so
much of my gear is a bit heavier than yours.

I had two goals: save weight, and make things simpler.  For example, I went
with the bivy partly because setup and breakdown is so simple.  I don't
really like fussing with a tent.  And it's far from the lightest bivy on
the market, but it does have a big, mesh backed, door for ventilation.
Similarly, the alcohol stove doesn't require priming... just light and cook
(in theory... when the stove actually arrives I promise to post a review
and some test results).

>And about  food...no one ever says what food they take and how much.
>I realize that food consumption amounts vary from person to person,
>but what does an average day's food look like.  Previously, I rarely
>hiked hard enough to really get hungry, and didn't take much food. 
>But I can see the problems involved in low energy on day four or five.

The food I take is all cold or minimal cook (mostly bring to a boil and let
sit).  I use supermarket ingrediants and home dried stuff.  I usually have
some sort of cereal (museli, quick cook (not instant) oatmeal, quick cream
of wheat, "poha" (an Indian - from India - grain product), quick grits,
cornmeal, etc.) for breakfast... sometimes with a a carnation instant
breakfast as well.  Lunch starts after breakfast, and continues until
dinner -- just trail snacks.  Dinner is some sort of one pot meal
(couscous, instant rice, instant mashed potatos, poha, etc.) with dried
veggies, some nuts or seeds, and spices (often curry or chili based), and
some dried fruit (usually raisins).  I often add cooked and dehydrated
lentils or instant black beans.  Sometimes I'll make up a soup.  I find
that cooking without oil makes cleanup much easier... I get most of my fat
from nuts and seeds.  I can imagine carrying olive oil in a narrow top
Nalgene style bottle for extra calories on longer trips, though I can also
imagine what would happen if the bottle ever opened up in my pack.

For planning purposes I've been assuming 7 days, 2 lbs food/day, 2 liters
of water, and 16 oz of fuel.  That puts my "overhead" at 19 lbs.  My goal
has been to get my total weight under 40 lbs... I won't make it for cool
weather!  For a "real" 7 day trip, I'd actually pack 8 days of food.  Also,
the 2 lbs food/day figure is an arbitrary "long trip" figure... based on my
limited experience, I'd only take 1 1/2 lbs food/day on trips up to 10 days
or so... that seemed to work ok.  On a 9 day trip I lost about 10 lbs,
which was just fine by me.  I was never overly hungry, and had lots of
energy.  For anything longer I'd obviously need to eat more.

>None of this stuff used to be important to me.  We always just loaded 
>up and went until we were tired and then stopped.  But this idea of
>commiting to a goal and doing what's necessary to reach it is kinda 
>catching. 

Yup.

-- Jim
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