How to go Ultralight Part 1: The Backpack

So youʻve heard of “ultralight” hiking or youʻve read my blog and watched my videos, now what? You're interested in backpacking and camping in the mountains and you want lighter weight and more comfortable gear, so where do you start? Right here my friend. The ultimate fact of the matter is that when you’re hiking up a ridgeline, say somewhere in the Koʻolau mountains, the less weight you’re hauling the more comfortable you’ll be.

Unnecessarily heavy gear load with my old pack, the Osprey Atmos AG 50-circa 2017

The three most important pieces of gear in your setup are your backpack, your tent and your sleeping system. In this post we’ll be talking about the backpack. I grew up using a Jansport external frame hiking backpack, and it was heavy AF and would always give me hotspots where it rubbed wrong. These days most packs worth their weight have an internal frame and are designed to be soft in some places and stiff where it helps to bear weight. Don’t get caught up with the fancy dancy “airspeed max titanium alloy cool gel twist top kool aid suspension” that has become more and more popular with the big gear manufacturers. The more weight you carry, the more energy it takes to drag your sorry carcass up the mountain. Don’t get me wrong, it’s vitally important to have a pack that fits well to your frame and doesn’t cause any major hotspots, but no amount of air mesh will keep your pits dry up in the tropics. 

No airspeed mesh, no problem

You should try to find a pack with an internal frame with a total weight less than 3lbs. Most standard packs end up weighing between 3-5lbs, but there are many affordable options out there in the sub 3lb range. My first recommendation is a pack I’ve been using for a few years now, the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 2400 in black. This pack is more expensive because it’s made of a super durable waterproof tech fabric, but it only weighs 2lbs, is rated to carry up to 40lbs (I usually carry 45-47) and doesn’t require any extra rain cover. There’s going to be a full review of this pack coming out soon so I won’t get into more detail about it here, but if you can afford it this is the pack I’d recommend. 

My typical pack- Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 2400

Another pack I can recommend is the Osprey Exos. It’s significantly cheaper, especially if you can find it on sale, and it clocks in at around 2.5lbs. It’s not rated to carry as much weight as the HMG pack, but if price is a concern this is the pack I would use. There are many great packs out there at different price points from different manufacturers (Gregory, Osprey, Hyperlite Mountain Gear, Mountain Laurel Designs, Gossamer Gear, Superior Wilderness Designs, Zpacks, LiteAF, Katabatic gear, etc etc), do your research and find something you think will work for you and that you will fall in love with. Many of the lightest weight packs will be made out of advanced fabric materials, and will be more expensive, but don’t think you need a pack like that to be ultralight. Some questions you have to ask yourself: How much do I want to spend? How much weight will I be carrying? What terrain will I be using the pack in? Do I need something 100% waterproof or just water resistant? Having an idea of what you’ll be carrying and where you’ll be hiking will help in choosing the right style of pack. 

Osprey Exos 48- Great choice for ultralight on a budget

Cutting out 1-2lbs of weight may not seem like much, but believe me it makes a huge difference when you’re hiking up and down and up and down and climbing and sliding and pulling yourself up ropes and going down on your butt over treacherous trails. If you can shave 1-2lbs each off your big three then that’s 5-6lbs total of weight savings and boy you will definitely feel that. As always, my advice is based on hiking and camping in the Koʻolau mountains. If you’re hiking in different terrain a lot of this will still apply, but some of it might not. Do your research and get the pack that will be best for you. If you have any specific questions or want advice then go ahead and shoot me an email. 

Find a pack you’ll fall in love with

A final word of caution regarding frameless packs. You will find that there are many packs out there that are less than 1lb because they don’t have internal frames. You might think, “Holy cow, I can save so much weight!” Don’t be fooled, these packs are designed to comfortably carry about 15lbs max, and with no frame to help distribute the weight across your back and hips the straps will dig uncomfortably into your shoulders.  I do not recommend getting a frameless pack for hiking and camping in the mountains. I’ve used one before and carried about 20lbs, and it was not a good time. 

Zpacks Nero frameless pack. Good for what it is, but not that comfortable.

Aloha, 

Braddah Codes

What is Ultralight Hiking?

If you’ve seen the Lord of the Rings movies, you know that Frodo and Sam hiked miles and miles through treacherous forest, across deadly marsh and over sharp rocks while carrying a full set of cast iron pots and pans. Well, Sam carried the gear while Frodo carried the heaviest burden of all… yeah right. Sam’s pack is what we would call “Ultraheavy,” and in the real world there’s only so far someone can carry an 80-100lb pack full of cast iron. On the other hand, ultralight is a philosophy of hiking with the least amount of weight on your body in order to get the most out of your hike/camp/cook experience. Lord of the Rings trivia aside, there are different interpretations of what ultralight means, and what I call ultralight may not be ultralight to someone else. For some people, ultralight hiking means using specialized (or wholly unspecialized) ultra lightweight gear to achieve the least amount of weight possible. These are people who try to reduce their base weight (total weight of all gear sans food/water) below a certain number. You can often find these people on the great thru hikes (Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail) wearing threadbare clothes, using fishing line for shoelaces and cutting the handle off their toothbrushes. For others, ultralight hiking means using some pieces of specialized ultra lightweight gear in order to bring along other pieces of “luxury” gear that would otherwise make their pack too heavy. I fall into this second category. Does this make me wrong? No, but if you think so then come at me you filthy dirtbag. 

10 extra pounds of “luxury” strawberry guava

The most important pieces of gear in the ultralight philosophy are the Big Three- the backpack, the tent and the sleeping system (usually air mattress/sleeping bag). Usually the easiest way for anyone to lighten their pack is to start by upgrading these pieces of gear. Frodo and Sam slept on rocks and roots and seemed to have an okay time, besides being hunted by the Nazgul, but most people will want something a little more comfortable. People will often find that money is an issue when it comes to ultralight gear, and they are 100% right. Specialized niche gear made out of nautical sail fiber costs more than Jansport or Coleman. It doesn’t have to be that way of course, but my big three easily cost more than 1k combined, and for me it’s worth it. It took me years to slowly build up and experiment and figure out exactly what I wanted and what would work for me. It’s important to know exactly what your needs are based on where you’ll be hike/camp/cooking.

For a complete list of the gear I use refer to my gear reviews, but I try to keep my big three as light as possible so that I can bring along other items that drastically improve my experience out in the mountains. An “ultralight” cot that keeps me off the rocky and uneven and wet ground, a cook system that performs well in high wind and allows me to cook real food, a heavy audio/video system with tripod that allows me to film and sometimes an “ultralight” chair, so I can relax and enjoy the time I spend in the mountains. All of the gear I used is specifically tailored to my environment and to the experience I want to have. Ultralight gatekeeping aside, the most important thing is that you enjoy yourself and are comfortable (to your definition of the word). 

Living the good life up in the mountains

I call myself an ultralight hiker, and I stick by it. My pack is usually around 45lbs with all my food and water, and I could bring that weight down if I made cup o noodles instead of beef bourguignon, but that’s not the experience I want. I’m somewhere in between Sam Gamgee with a full set of cast iron and Forest Gump when he runs across country with nothing but the clothes on his back. If I didn’t use the ultralight gear that I have, there’s no way I’d be able to hike up into the cliffs and camp and cook in the heavy wind and rain. So in conclusion, if you’re thinking about going ultralight, take some time to reflect on the experience you want to have and the environment you’ll spend time in. This is your experience and the gear you have can help make it either positive or negative. Go ahead and watch the extended edition of LOTR if you want to know what kind of gear you’ll need to have a second breakfast on the trail. If you want to be a weight weenie, then by all means go for it, but I’d rather kick back in my chair, crack open a nice room temperature IPA tall boy and enjoy being in the mountains while my osso bucco simmers away. 

Is beer a luxury or necessity?

Aloha,

Braddah Codes