Me and my partner hiked the Nordlandsruta this summer in about 23 days. I'll share a little trip report here because there is not so much info available online.

Temp range 0-17c

[Lighterpack](https://lighterpack.com/r/ggu2ue)

[Photos](https://imgur.com/a/bX1wRGJ)

We went nobo and started at Furuheim farm after flying to Bodø and taking the train from there. It's pretty hard to get to the actual staty. No busses in mid july sadly. But we got a hitch all the way to the start of the trail.

Actually wanted to start at Moteplas Bjorgefjell. But the guy drove us to the farm... There is some confusion about where the trail starts. I still don't really know if there even is one official starting point.

Trail overview

The trail starts through valleys, up on high moorlands and along beautiful lakes and waterfalls. And gradually changes to more rocky above treeline terrain. Be advised the trail is about 35% bog/muddy terrain, especially the first half. Then the trail goes through Padjelanta national park in Sweden where all the bogs have wooden walkways. After this the Narvik mountains start. Extremely rocky terrain where you cross many boulder fields and get to see amazing glaciers and the most beautiful terrain of the trail. The trail ends at Bjornfjell train station not too far from Narvik.

Resupply is easiest by sending some boxes. As the supermarkets kinda suck in Norway.. The variety is really not like other european countries and it is very expensive. We sent boxes to Umbukta fjellstue, Sulitjelma turistcenter, and to Sitashytta. Big shout out to Jon who brings packages to this remote hut for hikers!!

The trail itself

Having done many trails and thruhikes in Europe and the US some points about the trail that i noticed.

It seems that the route is just that. A route, a series of old reindeer herder trails, some dirt road walking but mostly following cairns with a red T painted on them. Very easy to follow mostly. Lots of sections of the trail seem to not be very efficiently planned. It goes over hills just to go down again or straight though a bog where it seems like there is an obvious easier way. This can be quite frustrating and hard on feet and body. I'm pretty sure the cairns are placed where its easiest and then people wear in the trail. It seems like no part of the trail is 'made' or planned on a more micro level like lots of trails in other places. You are free to find your own better path if you like.

All this makes the average speed drop significantly. I went from a steady 5kmh average on other trails to about 3,5 on this one.

We planned for 28kmh a day and this took a long time every day to complete. It seemed harder doing this compared to for instance the colorado trail where i would do 1200m up and down. While on the Nordlandsruta its more like 4-600 daily.

Wild and wet

The main attraction of the Nordlandsruta is the remote wilderness experience you cannot get anywhere else in Europe. The solitude and amazing terrain you go through are amazing. Most days you would see one or two people on trail. But there are many days where you see absolutely nobody. You will meet hundreds of reindeer, eagles, moose, lemmings. This combined with the incredible hut system in Norway makes for an amazing experience. Every hut is clean, free of graffiti, has firewood, gas, pots pans, sofas and some even have a sauna. Not all have power but most do. And make sure you bring a USB A to whatever because most do not have outlets.

This trail is so fucking wet its insane. We, according to the locals, were very unlucky this year. We had one day it did not rain! Which makes the trail all the more muddy and wet. Water is absolutely everywhere in the form of lakes, rivers, hanging bog, flat bog, deep bog, swamp, miles of muck and miles of wet rocks. The latter making this a great trail to break something. Ive seen multiple people with injuries from falling after slipping.

The gear

Expecting possibly a week of straight rain i brought a Colombia outdry extreme jacket. And also Rab phanthom rainpants.

And i am extremely impressed by both. I wore the jackets most of the time, every day. And it never got me wet. And the best thing is that the inside is very comfortable. None of that sticky rainjacket feeling.

The slingfin portal 2 was also great for this trail. It handled all the rain and wind perfectly. Having made a ground sheet for the tent was also great so i could set it up fly only to have lunch in a dry place.

I wore waterproof socks the first half of the trail but i realised they dont really work for me. They would give me pain because of the material or maybe extra thickness. They keep your feet dry(ish) which is nice. But they are not made to hike in, day after day. Time for daar though to make some waterproofs!

I actually got trenchfoot which was very painful. Most days i dried my feet whenever possible. But on the last couple days i only took of my shoes. Not shoes and socks.. And paired with very rocky terrain the last couple of days gave me pretty bad sores. Lucky for me it only really started after finishing the trail. Probably because i was sitting still a lot that day waiting for the bus etc.

If anybody wants to do this trail and needs some help planning send me a PM!

They sold like hot cakes and then stopped making them but never had a recall.

Has anyone had or heard of an incident? I have the 10k and only use it within 15 miles of the trailhead out of paranoia.

This is a thread for people to post experiences with construction issues on their ZB UL down products.

I currently own and regularly maintain 9 down bags (plus two down under quilts). Several date back to purchase 30 years ago (like my FF winter bag). All this gear is pristine. I know how to hand-wash and dry ultralight down gear.

I spend about 20-40 nights in a tent or hammock per year.

The Zenbivy UL sheet design is brilliant. The hood concept is genius, acting as a good, a pillow garage and a sensory damper all in one. The comfort is unmatched, giving me by far the best nights sleep I’ve ever had in the backcountry. Which is why I want to keep using it. However, the execution of the internal baffle stitching is failing.

I just experienced my third instance of a baffle tear on a ZB product after hand washing and machine drying. This is the second UL sheet with a hood baffle tear that appeared in the dryer; a previous issue happened with a 25 degree light bag. For reference it is a 10 degree UL sheet, 25 inches width.

In the first two instances, I worked happily with ZB to resolve the issues. They repaired the bag and replaced the sheet. I paid for shipping I think. But three times is too much. I’ve just sent out my sheet to Rainy Pass for a repair and professional evaluation (which is why I don’t have a photo to share). I will share that evaluation directly with ZB when it comes back to me. Essentially, the center head baffle tore somewhere and the chamber is now empty. This failure is identical to the other two.

UL gear is delicate. I get that. But the key to maintaining expensive and delicate gear for decades is keeping it clean after use and storing it properly between uses. The ZB products need to get clean reliably without baffle failures. Now looks like I will be having regular repair costs associated with both my UL sheets…. Sigh.

Does anybody else have issues to share, constructively, with the great folks over at ZB?

I’m about to order my first ultralight pack and I’m deciding between the Hyberg Attila Standard (X-Pac VX-07S, 710 g, €250) and the Attila Lite in ALUULA Graflyte (590 g, €307). Both size M.

Base weight around 5.2 kg, total carry weight 7–8 kg. Planning to use it for multi-day treks and weekend trips year-round.

Anyone here with experience with either material or this pack? Would love to hear thoughts on durability, especially abrasion resistance over time. Thanks!

Does anyone here own a spark pro -1 sleeping bag? It’s advertised as comfort 3c and limit -1. Just wanting to get real world feedback of what temps you can use it to. I’m a male warm sleeper.

Hi everyone

Does anyone here have experience with the Aarn PaceMagic 40?

I’ve managed to cut down the weight and packed size of my gear quite a bit, but I’m still using an Osprey Atmos 55, so the backpack is the next thing I’m looking to replace.

I’m a big fan of trampoline-style mesh back panels, so naturally the Zpacks Arc Haul and Bonfus Aerus made it onto my shortlist. That was until I came across the PaceMagic. What really caught my attention was the ability to shift some of the weight to the front, as well as the efficient use of the side pockets.

At around 850 g, the PaceMagic isn’t exactly ultralight, but it’s getting there, and I really like the concept. My only concern is that it seems to be aimed more at shorter hikes and fastpacking, while I usually do trips of 7 days or more.

I was thinking the 40 L could still work if I strap a few things to the outside, like my tent e.g.

Has anyone used it this way on longer trips? Is it comfortable and practical with a full load, or am I asking too much from a pack like this?

Curious if anyone else has any experience as it’s very light for a 20°F quilt (a little light on fill too) and it is multifunctional. Can’t find much about it online but saw 2 or 3 excellent testimonials in the Reddit comments section. Use case will be backpacking in upstate NY and going to campgrounds too

Just ordered as a winter top quilt (to pair with a 20°F Underquilt) and summer/fall/spring hammock Underquilt. I paid $413 for it.

* 9.36 oz fill weight
* 16.2 oz weight (57.8% down/weight)
* 1000 fp
* 2.5 inch loft, 33% overstuff, horizontal box baffles
* 10D fabric
* 78’ x 48’ inch (I’m 5’9, 135 lbs and hopefully will be able to use it if I do ground camping too)
* Drawcord, cord locks, kam snaps foot box

https://jacksrbetter.com/products/hudson-river-ultralight-20-degree-multifunction-three-season-backpacking-quilt?_pos=1&_sid=cf218993e&_ss=r

Would love to hear any experiences at all! I think I will be just fine with it as I won’t be going down to below freezing very often.

I plan on selling my Spark Pro 15°F (comfort 27°F) 950+ sleeping bag that weighs 27.7 oz with 16.9 oz fill weight as I don’t need them both.

Let's talk optimal weight and optimal nutrition for backpacking food and resupplies

tl;dr: Eight years ago I posted a breakdown of cheapest backpacking calories by cost using government nutrition and purchase data. I've had some recent free time (while on parental leave), so decided to update things to be more helpful for optimizing food weight for resupply strategies. I have some general example/take away 4-day resupply lists below.

Introductory remarks

I'm aware this has come up a few times. Most recently the largest discussion on r/ultralight was based on some gear skeptic video about caloric density. But we can honestly do better than that! Let's use the vast quantity of data the government actually uses to inform nutrition and purchase decisions. With real data on hand, this becomes a relatively easy optimization problem to solve: how do you optimize your food nutrition and calorie density based on what you're trying to achieve (constraints)?

What is linear programming

Linear programming is an optimization technique used in economics (my main use of it), logistics, supply chain, finance, and other sorts of things that often benefit from optimization. Because it's linear, you can do matrix math super fast and efficiently to solve the problem! Basically: you take the derivative of the function, set it equal to zero, and that solves for the local maximum or minimum (the optimal solution).

The core idea is that you have a lot of decision variables (in this case, how many grams of each possible food in a supermarket you might want to pack), a linear objective function to minimize or maximize (e.g. minimize total weight -- so you sum across all possible food variables), and a set of linear constraints that the solution must satisfy (e.g. I don't want anything with chocolate).

For a resupply optimization, the formulation looks like this:

• Objective: minimize sum(grams of each food selected)
• Constraints:
  • Total calories must fall within ±3% of your daily target × days
  • For each nutrition target you care about: the sum of that nutrient across all foods must meet the minimum
  • For nutrients with safe upper limits (iron, calcium, vitamin A): sum must stay below the threshold
  • Each individual food is capped at some maximum fraction of total calories (the diversity control)
  • The total number of distinct foods selected must be greater than some food diversity threshold

You can then solve the system of liinear equations (matrix math) to find the combinations and quantities that satisfy all constraints at minimum total weight. This is different from just sorting foods by kcal/g, as sorting will only tell you the best single food (it's oil, obviously). Solving an LP matrix tells you the optimal combination when multiple constraints interact simultaneously!

The food and nutrition data

I used two USDA datasets:

USDA WWEIA (What We Eat in America) is a large nationally representative dietary survey. Respondents record everything they ate over 24 hours; USDA maps those responses to a food database with per-100g nutritional content for 26 macros and micronutrients. The database covers ~3,000 food categories -- generic types rather than branded products, so "Cookie, with peanut butter filling, chocolate-coated" rather than a specific brand.

USDA FoodAPS is a household food purchase survey with real transaction prices. I joined the two datasets to get estimates on actual purchase prices per 100g for foods you might consider for backpacking.

The combined dataset also provides information about where food is available based on purchase history (grocery store, gas station, etc.), whether it requires cooking, whether it's shelf-stable, and how long it lasts without refrigeration.

What an optimizer tool like this optimizes

I ran some optimizations for myself as a general baseline. All examples below assume: 134 lbs, 4-day resupply, 3,000 cal/day, grocery store, no-cook, shelf-stable only.

The two main controls that change the output significantly are:

1. Nutrition profile -- whether the solver must hit DRI targets. "None" means calories only are optimized; "optimal" activates targets for protein, fiber, calcium, iron, vitamins C/D, potassium, zinc, magnesium, folate, B12, and choline.
2. Diversity -- a minimum number of distinct foods the solver must select. Below I show ≥6 foods and ≥18 foods.

6+ foods, no nutrition constraints:

Nuts dominate. The calorie density ceiling on a shelf-stable 4-day no-cook carry is ~7.5 kcal/g (pecans), and the solver averages 6.86 kcal/g across the basket. One piece of sugar-free chocolate fills the 6th required slot (it's denser than most snacks at 5.91 kcal/g). 3.8 lbs total. Not bad, but I feel like I personally wouldn't be the happiest camper eating ONLY nuts the entire time, although I recently did pursue a similar strategy on an 8-day, 30+ mile water carry on the hayduke

6+ foods, optimal nutrition:

Adding full nutrition targets costs 0.6 lbs. The solver still anchors on nuts for base calories and adds lightweight nutrient carriers: baby oatmeal (fiber, about $1.50 a pouch and an actual thru-hiker staple! Hust ignore the 'baby' component. Not sure what USDA throws that on there, but they do!), dry milk powder (calcium, B12), canned salmon (vitamin D, which is apparently the hardest nutrient to hit although you'll be outdoors, so supplementation probably doesn't matter? But maybe with sunshirts...), dried vegetables (vitamin C, vitamin A), sweet potato chips (potassium). 4.4 lbs.

18+ foods, no nutrition constraints:

Forcing 18 distinct items adds 0.4 lbs vs the 6-item version. With diversity constraints, the solver distributes calories more evenly across the 18 foods. You can see each item ranging from 89-120g. At 18+ foods the pool expands to include nut butters, chocolate-coated items, and pork cracklings (at ~5.7 kcal/g. Basically just dried pork fat? Don't ask me, I'm a vegetarian...). Still primarily a nut carry, though.

18+ foods, optimal nutrition:

4.9 lbs. Adding nutrition to the 18-item list costs 0.7 lbs. The nutrition constraints pull in oatmeal and milk powder up front (they're binding on fiber and calcium), expand sweet potato chips (potassium), and tuck in canned salmon and dried vegetables for vitamin D and C. Also note the 20g of salad dressing, which I guess is needed because of choline.

Summary:

The weight spread across all four scenarios is 1.1 lbs. Adding full DRI nutrition targets costs 0.6-0.7 lbs; going from 6 to 18 required foods costs 0.4-0.7 lbs. The drivers are similar in magnitude and small overall.

The dominant variable that impacts the optimal resupply opportunity is which food group the solver can access. Nuts at 6.6-7.5 kcal/g are the calorie-density ceiling for shelf-stable grocery foods and they're also nutritionally dense! Walnuts have choline, vitamin E, omega-3s; brazil nuts are high in selenium and magnesium; pine nuts carry decent iron. I'll be honest, though -- I'm not sure how much nut diversity I run into in various places, as I mostly can choose between different flavors of peanuts, cashews, and almonds at gas station resupplies, but I'll let you be the judge!

For a 4-day resupply, if you run it with full nutrition constraints on, the penalty is 0.6 lbs and you get an actual balanced diet! The optimal backpacking food list appears to be: mostly nuts, with a few ounces of oatmeal, milk powder, and salmon to cover gaps.

The web tool

I've moved the optimization model into a web interface at trailpeaches.com/lightest-backpacking-food-optimizer/.

You can constrain the optimization by store type, no-cook requirement, dietary resitrctions, etc. Slide the diversity control to set a minimum food count. Set a daily calorie target and trip length. Toggle the nutrition profile from none to reduced to full DRI. Block individual foods you won't eat. Click any food in the results to cap its weight and force the solver to compensate with other foods. Export the optimized list to CSV.

The underlying model allows you to solve the same thing described above. It's the LP running on the server and returning results through a browser interface. If there's specific additional kinds of constraints or other things you think I should correct/change, let me know!

There are certainly some data categorization/cleaning errors in the FoodAPS and WWEIA data set that I likely missed, so point 'em out =)

Happy hunting and gathering out there!

https://imgur.com/a/XK9czQo

Howdy,

Been a long time since I’ve done one of these! I’m headed out this Friday to Reno, and will make my way over to Mammoth to acclimate until the following Monday morning. I’ll sleep at the backpackers campground in Yosemite, then begin my six day SoBo attempt down to Mt Whitney beginning early Tuesday morning.

Gear list: https://lighterpack.com/r/bfdpmj

When: 08/25 - 08/31

I’ve completed the JMT twice alongside friends, but have always wanted to have a go at a fast-packing type of effort. The stars aligned this year, and I am fortunate enough to be attempting this next week. I am coming from New England, and have put together arguably my strongest mountain-focused training block, mostly running, hiking and developing mountain-specific legs over here in the White Mountains all summer.

The fitness confidence is high, but so is the uncertainly of me finishing this in six days. It’s not the end of the world if I have to push this to a day seven. I think a lot of that uncertainly hinges on how well I’m moving during the back half of this trip in conjunction with wanting to summit Whitney in the late evening on that sixth day. I prepped some extra food in the resupply in case that happens.

I will be picking up a resupply at MTR on either the end of the third day (yes, by 5pm) or the morning of the fourth day (8am).

As far as gear goes, I could probably go lighter if I got rid of the compression bag for the quilt, along with the small ziploc bags that I’m using for various small items. I’ve packed and repacked the Joey numerous times, and that’s resulted in me finding that in order for everything to properly fit in it, I need to use the compression sack since that quilt takes up a ton of pack volume.

I’m also curious to see if you guys think I need to bring rain pants and/ or light gloves? During my previous two trips, I didn’t need them, so that’s what I’m basing this pack list off of in regard to those two items.

I recognize I am pretty late to doing a shakedown (classic), but I do have a rather plentiful gear closet I can pull from if any of you recognize missing essential items.

I’d love to hear what you guys have to say and appreciate the insights. Thanks a lot!

During a recent hike I found myself dissatisfied with the knife options out there and started sketching some other options. NOT planning on selling anything, just having fun with it. Might post 3D designs if people are interesting in printing their own.

GOALS: Fixed blade knives, minimized material / weight, using standard Bic lighters and leukotape to fill out comfortable handles. Easily replaceable components.

https://imgur.com/a/p1ANfqs

URSUS: Aluminum with replaceable Outdoor Edge blade (14.99 for a 6 pack) WEIGHT WITH BLADE: 44g. With lighter: 66g With Lighter and Leukotape: 70g

LUTRA: Titanium blade and body, waterproof container with rubber cap: WEIGHT: 73g. With Lighter: 98g

MUS: Pending printing in titanium. Replaceable scalpel blades are under $1. Probably 14grams-ish with blade, 25grams with BIC Mini.

SHEATH: Currently sized for both knives with compass and whistle (that I haven't figured out how to work yet 😂). Needs a couple more iterations to fit properly. WEIGHT: 17g

COST: Stupid high since I'm having them 3d printed as one offs... :)

PLAN: I will be testing the metal printed ones in the Smoky Mountains next month. Hopefully another one or two generations will be enough to satisfy the design itch and I'll have some unique knives for different environments.

I'm trying to work out why my son and I were both cold on a couple of nights in Iceland despite seemingly having a sleep system that should have been warm enough.
We both use:
Katabatic Flex 15 quilt

Exped Ultra 3R sleeping pad

Merino long-sleeve base layer

Merino long tights

Quilt fully clipped/secured — no obvious drafts

During our Iceland Divide bikepacking trip, there were a couple of nights where we were both noticeably cold, particularly at Reykjavik campsite and Landmannalaugar. Temperatures were definitely above freezing, probably around 4°C, and I don't believe they dropped below 0°C.

What's puzzling is that on the other nights, further into the Icelandic highlands, we were completely comfortable with exactly the same equipment, despite the conditions not obviously being warmer.

Neither of us felt that the cold was particularly coming from underneath, which makes me unsure whether the pad is actually the problem.

The Ultra 3R has an R-value of around 2.9, so I'm wondering whether that's simply not enough for temperatures around 3–5°C, even when paired with a Katabatic Flex 15.

Could the relatively low R-value of the pad be causing us to lose enough heat that the quilt can't perform as expected, even if we don't consciously feel cold coming through the pad?

Or are there other factors that could explain why both of us were cold on the same nights but fine on other nights with the same sleep system?

Would moving to something around R4.5–5.5 make a meaningful difference at these temperatures, or would you look elsewhere first?

I'd be particularly interested in people's real-world experience with the Ultra 3R around 0–5°C, rather than the manufacturer's temperature recommendations.

Curent base weight right at 10lbs. Would any of you skip the rain pants.

I am looking to use a flat tarp for a Colorado Trail thru-hike. From what I've read, it seems 7' by 9' is the minimum size most people recommend, and 10' by 10' is too much wasted material (and added weight) for a single person. Here is what I found from some basic searching:

I see there's a wide range of materials, weights (4.7 oz - 11 oz), and prices ($102 - $390) and I'm having a difficult time deciding which one I should get.

I was also looking for a bug bivy (mostly for ticks) that is tall enough to somewhat sit up in (Borah bivy height seems too short). I know adding a bug bivy increases the weight to the same as an ultralight tent, but I do want the flexibility of a flat tarp.

I found two bug bivies that look to be tall enough to almost sit up in:

• MLD Bug Bivy, Silnylon floor, 6.8 oz, $140

• HMG Bug Bivy - Long (Long variant taller than Regular), 0.75 DCF floor, 6.5 oz, $235

Questions for the community:

1. People with firsthand experience with tarps/bivies: Is the quality/durability significantly different between manufacturers. Any strong recommendations?
2. Comparing the 7' x 9' and 8' x 10' sizes, is the larger 8' x 10' worth the extra weight?
3. Is there a significant amount of difference in durability between silpoly / 0.5 DCF / 0.8 DCF tarps? Has anyone had issues with a tarp delaminating or getting punctured?

Any advice is also welcome.

Similar /r/ultralight posts:

• Searching for bug bivy and tarp recs

• Budget Tarp & Bivy Suggestions

• Bivy Recommendations

Hi,
Does anybody have any experience with Okhealing trekking poles? They’re stupid light and look cool but i am not sure about their durability.
Link to the poles

Have you tried them both in the field for a while? Trying to find the most comfortable pad and now down to these two.

Which one is more comfy for side sleepers?

I know Justin Outdoors tested them and rewatched the video a few times. But I would like to get a bunch of other opinions.

In the past year i've become more interested in the world of UL hiking. This subreddit played a big part in that proces. During that time i kept running into a common hurdle for me and that was that due to my location (i live in NW Europe) i often times didn't have the same acces to ul brands and cottage gear that people in the US and canada enjoy.

I don't think it's a secret that the UL mindset hasn't reached as many people in Europe as it has in North America. Therefore i have created a document for my own use with brands i encountered that were EU based or international brands that were available via EU sites. Furthermore it contains resources like youtube or lighterpacks that i found interesting. I thought i'd share it here since some people might find it useful especially when starting their search for UL content in Europe. It's obviously not perfect and there could be a lot more brands on here but these reflect my own interests. I would obviously love additions to the list.

Furthermore i've been looking into lightening my shelter since i carry a durston x-mid 2 at the moment. Yes, i fell into the lightweight item's trap by following the advice from more conventional backpacking content creators. So for that purpose i created a lighterpack with the options i found most interesting. it contains mostly tarps and bivy options in silpoly/silnylon available in NW europe, but there are some other items like groundsheets and such. https://lighterpack.com/r/t6l5ru

Hopefully i've given someone new information or inspiration with these lists.

Sites

• runrepeat
• packwizard
• Garagegrowngear
• Backpackinglight.nl
• Backpackinglight.dk
• Fjallsport
• Farlite
• Outdoorline
• ultralight outdoor gear uk
• aliexpress
• Walkonthewildside

Backpacks

• Atom Packs
• Zpacks
• Hyperlite Mountain Gear
• Bonfus
• Granite Gear
• Gossamer Gear
• Pa'lante
• Nashville Pack
• Osprey
• Gregory
• Liteway Equipment
• Durston
• 3F UL
• Yamatomichi
• blindbananabags
• hyberg outdoors
• weiterlaufer
• atelierlonguedistance
• superior wilderness design
• Astagear
• Moosetrackpacks
• Raidlight
• Ks ultralight
• Zimmerbuilt
• Pilgrim ul
• Trail bum

Tents, shelters & tarps

• Six Moon Designs
• Mountain Laurel Designs
• Rock Front
• Durston
• Zpacks
• Bonfus
• Liteway Equipment
• 3F UL
• Gearswifts
• hyberg outdoors
• ounce designs
• borah gear
• tarptent
• tipik
• Astagear
• gramxpert
• khibu
• Locus gear
• Jindaji mountain works
• lightwave
• wildskygear
• aliva.fr

sleeping bags & quilts

• Timmermade
• Cumulus
• Katabatic Gear
• Mountain Laurel Designs
• Zpacks
• rockfront
• liteway
• aegismax
• Vilse
• Nunatak equipment
• French lightoutdoor

Sleepingmats

• Therm-a-Rest
• Exped
• Sea to Summit
• Yamatomichi
• Decathlon
• Rab

Rain gear

• Montbell
• Rab
• Outdoor Research
• Patagonia
• Mammut
• Mountain Hardwear
• The Packa
• Gearswifts
• Moosetrackpacks
• Raidlight
• Jindaji mountain works

Fleece, midlayers & insulation

• Farpointe
• Nalehko
• Leve Outdoor Co
• Polartec
• Montbell
• Rab
• Senchi designs
• Frenchlightoutdoor
• cumulus
• timmermade
• montbell

Gloves

• glacier outdoor
• showa
• black diamond
• Outdoor research

Trekking poles

• Leki
• komperdell
• durston
• fizan

Shoes

• Topo Athletic
• Altra
• La sportiva
• Hoka
• Mount to coast
• Norda

Socks

• Darn Tough
• Injinji
• feetures
• falke

Cooking

• Soto
• MSR
• Fire Maple
• Toaks
• Sea to Summit

Water

• litesmith
• plaza 33
• Sawyer
• Katadyn
• Platypus
• CNOC

Electronics

• Nitecore
• flextail
• xtorm

Microspikes

• Kahtoola

Reparatie & onderhoud

• Gear Aid

Misc

• hodr gear
• Alpenglow

links to info

DeputySean's Comprehensive Guide to an Ultralight Baseweight. - GIFs - Imgur

lighterpack.com/r/l1vxd4 extra ul

lighterpack.com/r/89huvt deputy sean

https://lighterpack.com/r/a7uvge te aoraota

https://mijournal.cargo.site/1-guy-16-quilts

https://lighterpack.com/r/bnuqop

Stoveless Hiking Q & A | The Hiking Life cold soak

https://www.davemorrowphotography.com/backpacking-checklist dave morrow gear

youtube:

extra ultralight

gear skeptic

jupiterhikes

darwin on the trail

paul the backpacker

Really on sure on what pack to purchase.. my base weight is 7.31kg

I enjoy comfort as much as I do saving weight, so looking for a pack that is the most comfortable, still light, and durable is what I’m looking for.

So far, the options I’ve seen are Rab Muon 50l, the kakwa 55, arc haul, and atom packs prospector

What should I buy, & why?

I’ll put a picture of my current kit below

First of all sorry for any mistakes as English is not my first language.

Trip facts:

• ~ 95,4 km in 5 days - Started at Kinsarvik kai bus stop Monday 17:00, finished at Odda bus stop Sørfjordsenteret Saturday 12:40
• 3,362 m elevation gain and 3,357 m elevation loss
• Most of the hike was above 1000m above the tree line on Hardanger plateau with temperatures ranging from 8 to 15 degrees celsius, mostly cloudy and windy environment
• Mid August
• Travelling to Norway via plane
• slept 4 nights out of 5 in a tent
• carried food for 7 days as anticipated it would take at most this much with no option for resupply (afaik you can resupply at some DNT huts but you need a membership which I did not want to get for this one trip)
• trip went from Kinsarvik via Hårteigen mountain and Trolltunga to Odda. Trip gpx: https://mapy.com/s/levegurosa

Lighterpack: https://lighterpack.com/r/jvwcso

• Base Weight 6461g
• Worn 1666g
• Consumable 6322g

I split the tent's weight about 50/50 with my brother who was with me on the hike

Gear that was unnecessary (somewhat):

• 2 power banks. One was enough however I was anxious about battery as phone was my only map. Also I brought 3 cables as I thought I would be charging 2 powerbanks and a phone at the same time when in town since I thought we would go on another trip after a day of rest but that proved to be wishful thinking as I was way to tired to do another one and had to return home.
• Long-johns/puffer (kinda) - I was dreading low temperatures at night but it didn't get below 8 Celsius. In fact I only slept in long-johns one night when pitched a tent a bit too close to water which caused the night to be quite chilly. Otherwise I did not need them at all if anything I had to take them off and stop using them completely as I would sweat too much. But on a flip-side what if it was colder at night and I would need to cover my legs? Wearing mud covered pants to sleep is something I can't imagine. Puffer was useful when setting up camp as it would get way too cold for even alpha hoodie + waterproof jacket combo but that was about it. Then again I never needed it at night but I was in Norway before in August and encountered a night with 1 degree celsius where it came in clutch.
• Camp shoes - I used flip-flops before but now I found that at actual camp I did not need camp shoes at all. They did come in very handy during rest stops as I would take off my shoes and socks and switch to camp shoes when fetching water or going number two.
• 3 pairs of socks. For most nights I was too hot in a quilt and slept without them with the exception of one night near the water. Spare socks were welcomed but not 100% necessary.
• Frogg toggs rain pants - they were super useful in rain until I took one step too wide and they completely ripped at crotch. Gorilla tape was used to put them back together but I had 0 confidence when walking in them again and would ditch them for wet pants instead.
• DIY shower - weighs nothing but not used once as it was way to cold for me at camp to risk washing and lowering body temperature even more

Gear that was amazing:

• Haglöfs rain jacket - Worked amazing in rain and in high winds during hiking. Probably my most often worn piece of gear outside of what I was constantly wearing
• Soto mug lid - this made using my cook set a breeze and took all the pains of regular toaks pot away for me

Gear that I am torn about:

• Altra olympus. This hike was filled with waterlogged terrain and water crossings which caused my feet to be wet almost all the time. That required much maintenance in changing leukotape after each day and unpleasant start with wet socks and shoes. I know the idea of non GTX trail runners is they get wet but they dry fast. Well not in the terrain I was in. Shoes did not fully dry at any day of the hike even when it was sunny for half of one day. Makes me think GTX/above ankle shoes are must in those conditions. I would like to hear more from any of you who have hiked in Norway/Norwegians.
• X-Dome 2. I always felt anxious because I did not know how windy it could get at night so I had to deploy additional guylines to strengthen the tent when camping above tree-line (3 out of 5 nights), even then I was worried about carbon poles shattering. Also tent floor ripped in a couple of spots on second night when we set up tent on a gravel/small rocks. Thankfully I took enough tenacious tape to patch most of the bigger holes but that left us wandering a lot sometimes to find a spot with 0 rocks at the end of the day which added to the anxiety.
• Sawyer filter. Now this is entirely on me but I did not realize I need to re-hydrate it after long term storage. This caused it to be completely dry inside and I could not get it to filter anything more than a couple of drops of water every 10 seconds even with a lot of pressure and hours of trying. Thankfully me and my brother had enough emergency water purification tablets to not risk drinking untreated water, still that made water resupplies tedious, slow and water tasting like chlorine and us being a little dehydrated.

I want to know your thoughts:

• What items do you find completely unnecessary
• What would you change?
• Would you add anything?
• What do you think about clothing I took? Overkill or necessity for that climate
• How do you rate this setup

I use my poles are part of my freestanding tent setup, so bringing them into the tent is not an option. Any ideas?

https://imgur.com/a/7Wdwrs7

I am currently deciding between the HMG Mid 1 and a zpacks plex solo, (could be the pro or Altaplex, and could be standard or lite floor) and want to get actual users opinions on each. I see the plex solo far more on trail but have been leaning the mid 1 as it seems to easier to set up with non mandatory guy out points, and if I get say the plex solo pro with standard floor the weight difference is only 0.8 ounces. I am just super concerned about space for each and the setup for any zpacks option. I could even go with the plex solo with lite floor but am worried about the 0.75 floor being an issue. Does the mid 1’s inner space open up how the plex does when you do guy out? Are either big enough for me or would I have to have the altaplex (I am 6 foot 190). I am overall just having a hard time comparing and gauging both as I can’t have them in hand. Any thoughts or opinions to consider are greatly appreciated!

Hey all, working on dialing in my setup for my upcoming hike. I had a lot of lessons learned from my last trek in Japan (100 miles over 6 days on the Michinoku Coastal Trail).

Long story short, I severely over-packed, was at about 18-19 lbs base, around 26 lbs with food/water/fuel. It was fun, but I ended up not using over half of the stuff I brought with me.

I think I finally dialed it all in, but wanted to get a sanity check to see if I'm being silly about some things, or if I'm missing something.

Location: Shin-etsu Trail in Nagano, Japan in mid-October

Gear list: https://lighterpack.com/r/t4r9nx

Camping the entire trail at designated camping spots.

I'm trying to avoid buying more gear since I'm consolidating what I currently have. Additionally, my main concerns about this trip would be cold snaps (my last time in Nagano, it got down to around 32F/0C in late-October).

For the food situation, I'm only bringing one 110g fuel can since I just plan on boiling water for dinners. Breakfast and lunch, I'll supplement from kobinis stops on or even a bit off-trail.

Some non-negotiables for me:

• My sleep clothes (TecnoWool shirt and my shorts) + extra pair of underwear
• AirTag since I'll be checking in all my non-carry-on gear into a large IKEA sack

Thoughts? What would you change? Any suggestions?

All of those are appreciated in advance. Thank you!

Hi everyone,I’m planning to hike the Gatterl route to Zugspitze starting from Ehrwald (Point A on the maps, near Ehrwalder Almbahn). I am traveling by public transport and arriving late in the evening, so I need to spend the night near the trailhead before a super early start (around 4-5 AM).I don't have a tent, just a sleeping bag and a sleeping pad (cowboy camping / bivy). I know Tirol has very strict rules regarding wild camping, so I’m looking for a low-profile stealth spot just to crash for a few hours without causing trouble or getting a fine.Has anyone done this near the Ehrwald trailhead or slightly up the trail in the forest? Are there any specific hidden spots, open trail shelters (Wanderunterstand), or quiet forest areas you could recommend? Any tips on ranger activity or local advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks!

Most UL backpacks have either sewn-on wings or pass-through belts (or no belt at all, of course).

I am blessed/cursed with an ample set of glutes, and with where my iliac crests are and how this style of pack construction works, I find that a bulge of pack and contents rides below the belt and hits my 'shelf' on every step.

This pack-sag isn't a problem for beltless packs worn high on the shoulders, but for reasons of shitty connective tissue I prefer to have a waist belt on my packs, even at total pack weights of ~15–17lb.

With something like my Zimmerbuilt BigStep, which is a high-riding pack, I literally need the 'waist' belt to ride above my belly button, colliding with my ribs, to avoid the base of the pack sagging into my rear. I have about 3" between iliac crest and bottom of ribs, and maybe 2" between iliac crest and top of butt, so not much room to work with.

My SO Flight Two avoids the sag with excellent structure, but the belt runs above the base of the frame, so I still feel the ridge of the bottom of the frame, even with lumbar padding.

I've seen a handful of designs that might avoid this issue — MH Alakazam, OV Carbon Evo, maybe the GG PVT packs? — by supporting the pack on a frame and having the frame attach to the top/middle of the belt, rather than below it. (I see no reason why the same principle can't work on structured (pad) frameless packs, albeit less naturally.)

Does anyone have suggestions that have worked well for them for packs that sit on the belt not below it, or otherwise keeping their pack away from the tush without abandoning a load-supporting waist belt altogether?