Backpack weight

[Peter]

Peter,  I think you are making assumptions that we are "blokes"

True. It did seem to me that the majority were blokes. My bad.   


Fernman.. I am definitely in the 'older' category, though strength has never been a problem. Energy is another matter 

[Owen]

Anyway, we are all different, carry different weights comfortably or uncomfortably.  Cutting down to the point with no towel, toothpaste etc. is going a bit far in my opinion - maybe ok for a weekend, but 16, 18 days and beyond without a towel?   After all isn't it supposed to be pleasurable but each to their own, just not for me I prefer to carry lightweight gear but with sufficient kit to be comfortable.

Yes, for a weekend I can get it all down to around 7kg, but for long trips it's more like 7kg + food. On my last trip I had a few extras (tracker, solar panel, fell shoes for river crossings - and there were three or four every day) which bumped it up to around 8.5kg + food. I would generally recon on a 17kg pack for a two week trip but some how it managed to creep up to 20.5kg. Definitely noticed those three and a half extra kilos at the start of the walk.   

[Owen]

check my hair every day

Hair? you've lost me there!

[gunwharfman]

I always camp so I always check for bugs and other little nasties attaching themselves to my skin!

[Owen]

Sorry that was meant to be a joke. When I wrote "Hair question mark" I was referring to the fact my hair is long gone. 

[gunwharfman]

Sorry, I misunderstood.

[KimE]

Last mountain trip was 16kg+ candy=18kg for 6days with food for one day extra. Including fishing gear. I have now bought a lighter 65l (2,45kg)backpack that will save 0.55kg. The biggest overweight item are the tent it weights 3,2kg I should buy a lighter one then i mostly use it alone anyway. Whiskey and candy could be diskussed if they are essential but I think they are:)

[fernman]

Prompted by this thread and another one, 'Light rucksack', on a freezing and gloomy Saturday afternoon, I just carefully weighed my 30 years-old Karrimor 75 litre rucksack and I was amazed to find it is 1386g, which is as light as if not lighter than similar-capacity current-day backpacks on the Ultralight website.
I wasn't intending to buy a new one but I always wondered if I could save a bit of weight. Now I know I needn't worry.

[Doddy]

If not clear already backpack comparisons are usually on stated base weight i.e pack weight less food, consumables and water; they change and are used up. Believe it or not I do have twig toothbrushes and a deodorant crystal.
As ever on weight discussions it depends; for a few days walk  I guess weight hardly matters. Taking on a  multi month hike that some of us have undertaken one hardly sees a heavy pack; and if you do, although happy, people with them are walking short distances-8-10 miles a day-because of the time spent on rests.
Three days from the southern start of the Appalachian Trail at the Neels Gap Outfitters each year they send tons, yes tons, of heavy unwanted gear back home to people as they buy lighter gear. After three days walking people have seen what other people are carrying and have discussed gear a lot and reduce base weight. Also a lot quit there as the trail is not what they thought it would be.
Opinions on here are anecdotal, including mine, but there are studies by the Arthritis society, the US Military and US Universities on the incremental trauma on the body of weight, also on weight and the energy cost of carrying or running with backpack.
Yes you can carry it but there is energy and possibly a body price to pay and if  the calories are not replaced effectively on long trips you have to quit as fatigue and injuries occur. Replacing calories in a wilderness means carrying more food which is- err heavy.

[old geezer]

when i last walked the PW IN 1996 I Remember seeing a pile of black sacks in the corner of the site hut at Crowden.I was told these were stuff people had left behind after the first leg,so i know what you mean.I would think the object is to get the baseweight down as much as possible so that you can carry food etc.How do people say they don't carry food.Between Hebdon Bridge and Hawes re-supply is awkward without going out of your way.I can only think of May's and Gargrave on the route.In '96 i met a fellow on the trail at High Force.He was a rugby league player and built like a brick outhouse.He was heading for the campsite at Middleton and complained of his backpack weight.Mind you,it did look like a kitchen sink on his back but it goes to show how you can overestimate your own strength,paticularly as you get older.Since i raised this subject i have read the posts and have reduced the weight of the basics,pack,s/b and tent from 6.4kg to3.5kg so i can shove a couple of Mars bars in.I'll keep trying.

[fernman]

Three days from the southern start of the Appalachian Trail at the Neels Gap Outfitters each year they send tons, yes tons, of heavy unwanted gear back home to people as they buy lighter gear. After three days walking people have seen what other people are carrying and have discussed gear a lot and reduce base weight. Also a lot quit there as the trail is not what they thought it would be.

Yes, they showed something like that in the film Wild, about Cheryl Strayed's walk along the Pacific Crest Trail, where they removed half the contents of her backpack.

And we've all seen overburdened teens struggling along on their D.O.E.s, haven't we.

Finally, OG you made me laugh this morning with your bit about trying to shove a couple of Mars bars in     I suppose if your pack is full.... Sorry, it's the way my mind works!

[Doddy]

I have done the PW a few years ago. Years ago on another time on it I saw you short New Zealand girl with a massive pack put it on somehow by laying down alongside it and scramble up. I think recently on the TV I saw some soldiers do a similar thing.

[Peter]

I have done the PW a few years ago. Years ago on another time on it I saw you short New Zealand girl with a massive pack put it on somehow by laying down alongside it and scramble up. I think recently on the TV I saw some soldiers do a similar thing.

On D Day my dad (and the rest of the troops) carried 120 lbs. (55 kilos) They could not lay down to avoid being shot because they couldn't get back up.

[Doddy]

I read an article the other day, can't find just now, explaining weight carried by soldiers has been studied before Roman times, including Napoleon and the WW campaigns. Weight different for marches and combat with the gunners and ammunition carriers carrying the most. Logistics clearly important when horses and vehicles could help and provide cooking stations so many days food need not be carried. Fitness conditioning was, and still is, a major factor on being able to carry military packs.

[old geezer]

You don't get feeding stations in the Airbourne.In 1964 in what was then the Trutial Oman States (now the United Arab Emirates),we done a 10 mile desert march in which our burgans weighed 60 lb plus weapons,amunition,hand grenades and plastic explosive.I remember it was along the coast from Dubai,which was a million times smaller than it is now.I don't remember the temperature but it was bloody hot.About half way along we were ambushed in a wadi and had to run for cover.It was the hardest thing i have ever done and it was only a training exercise.Some dropped out,mainly through heat exhaustion.It was the army that got me hooked on walking and my pursestrings that got me hooked on carrying my house on my back.I reckon i can get my pack weight down to 10kg and still be comfortable.By the way,back then we carried 24 or 48 hour ration packs.They were brilliant,i wonder if you can buy them.