So it finally happened: the ultralight tent I have been wanting went on sale, 25% off to be exact, so I bought it. Whereas my old tent (which I plan to keep) was about 6.5 lbs, this new tent is about 3 lbs. My pack is otherwise empty, so I put my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, pillow, and tent inside of it, and it measures a dead-even 13 pounds.
Oh, sure. You can go lighter. This tent is your traditional stand-alone tent with poles. You can buy a souped-up tarp for about the same price, and it might weight 1 lb, which is impressive. Those also pack down super-small, so you can go with a much smaller backpack. They often, however, require a hiking pole to stand up, which is fine for some people, but I think I prefer the “base-camp” style of backpacking, and if I have camp set up so I can explore surface ruins nearby, I’m bringing both of my poles with me.
You can also go with a lighter pack. Whereas external frame packs were the standard decades ago, internal frame packs dominate the hobby today. But you can go a step further and go frame-less, and shave pounds off your gear in one step. That’s often what these crazy ultra-lighters do, and when all your other gear is super light and packable, you no longer need the larger size in the first place. But I’m not at that point. I also fell in love with this pack early on, and I think it’s a great pack, but it does weigh about 5 pounds. Which, I mean…go cry if you think that’s too heavy. Modern light-weight fibers are pretty amazing already. I don’t think 5 pounds is asking too much, but you can go lighter if you really want.
It’s important not to forget, too, that money often compensates for lack of skill or physical ability. Your gear is only as good as what you can physically tolerate. If you can barely walk yourself up a steep hill, all the ultralight gear in the world is not going to help you. I could really benefit from being in better shape, but hiking 28 miles on the Colorado Trail in two days was a huge personal victory for me, and that’s when I decided I wanted some lighter gear, price be damned. I’m pretty excited about having a BPW of 13 pounds.
Of course, it’s still easy to add tons of weight by bringing too much and not being judicious with your gear selection. For example, after being soaked by rain on several hikes over the years, I finally bought some rain-proof pants last year. But they were expensive, and heavy, and I’ve never actually used them. There are far better options that I need to investigate, as these are just bulky and heavy enough that I really would not want to bring them backpacking. Also, the mid-layer jacket I have is great for snowshoeing in freezing temps, but it’s kind of heavy, too. My puffy, for sitting around camp, was cheap, and while it works well-enough, if I want to keep camping above tree line, I really think a higher-quality version is ideal, and one with a hood. Seriously, it’s BS to have a puffy for keeping warm and then not having a hood when you really need it. If you have a hood and don’t need it, you just…you know…let it drape down the back, like a normal jacket. It’s just borderline stupid to me, in retrospect, how most of these puffy jackets don’t have a hood.
I’ve also realized that I’m not a huge fan of dehydrated meals. I mean, they taste good enough, it’s just that they often have too much in them. Unless I’m on a really long, multi-day hike, I’m probably not going to want to eat 800 calories of dehydrated Pad Thai. My stove is one of the best, but it’s also a bit on the bulky side, when there are more lightweight alternatives. For one- or two-day stints, I’m pretty happy with water, granola, chocolate, and other snacks. I just don’t get very hungry while hiking.
Anyway, it’s all a process of learning. It can be very expensive though, so as always, you have to be vigilant in your gear selection. I’m just excited to be learning what works best for me. Having the right setup can be the difference between misery and enjoyment in the backcountry.
EDIT: I guess technically base pack weight considers the other things you bring, excluding food, water, and fuel, but I find it more useful to calculate the weight of the major components without which you really can’t go backpacking. Knowing that the core of everything weights 13 pounds is cause for reflection when you find that your other items add about 8 pounds. How many items of clothing do I really need? Should I bring the stove or not? What is the cost of these other miscellaneous items? Is my jacket unusually heavy? I think these questions are more valuable. After watching a few YouTube videos, it also occurs to me that there is a very heavy bias toward ultralight backpacking these days, which I don’t think is fair. After adding clothes, jackets, headlamp, etc. to my pack, I found it was weighing around 21 pounds, minus a few items I would need to throw together just to test the weight, so I’m suspecting that WITH food and water, I might come in under 30 pounds, which is still pretty light, but probably not “light enough” for some people. Oh, well. This makes me want to write more on the subject, though. It is pretty amazing how fast 8 pounds add up. If only everything weighed those 13 pounds, that would be pretty amazing, but I’m afraid doing that sort of thing has significant trade-offs.