[pct-l] base weights and ultralight packs

[montypct]

Hey Jeff!
Hope things are good.
Where's the next hike?

When people ask me what pack to get I say "Don't".

The pack is the last thing to get.  Know what goes in it and where you are 
going.
Besides, when people ask me why they should go ultralight, I say they 
shouldn't.

I do things for MY reasons, not theirs.

I'm stopping home overnight and back out in the morning.  A friend and I 
just finished 80/three nights miles at baseweights of 8 and 7 lbs.
I used my old Golite Breeze........... heavy duty material.  She used the 
pack you saw me with when we hiked Sobo in 2005.

The Breeze is in great shape with 2000 miles on it....... PCT and 
bushwacking.........some desert bushwacking.
After 1500 on the other we did an on trail restitching on one of the main 
stresspoints.

The other has a patch on it from taking it out in the same desert.

In 05 and 07 I made 2 packs for each year.  I'm rough on packs and don't 
expect to get more than 1000-1500 miles on a silnylon pack that usaes 1.3 oz 
material.  2.2 is good for a lot more miles.

This year I used a couple of  Gossamer Gear packs, getting the second in 
Ashland hiking Nobo.

I have ideas for my next packs, but my time vs value of my time would be 
like paying $1000 for two new custom packs.

I bid on a Six Moon Essence at ALDHA a couple weeks ago.  (Seven bids and 
still lost!)  I'm shooting for the CDT in 2009 and this thing fit much 
better than ANY commercial pack I have ever tried on............. for the 
way I use a pack.
I haven't tried them all yet.  Never tried ULA but Joe and Scott seem to 
like them pretty well.

I guess I'm lost in the same predicament of not knowing what pack to get.

I need a heavier duty for our Wilderness Basics Course this winter 
too????????????

Tomorrow morning I'm hitching back to the trail with my gear-chick friend.
We are using Silnylon packs that weigh 4.3 and 3.9 ounces, heavy material in 
all the right places, and padded straps and belts. Our baseweights are 4 and 
5 lbs though.  No one makes these packs.

The closest is .......................... Jeff named it ................... 
www.zpacks.com
I may have subultralighted the PCT last year, but it was this zpacks guy 
that really impressed me.  Samuri Joe (Valesco)

Please let ME know what the best packs for an ultralight CDT hike

Monty







Warner Springs Monty
Pacific Crest Trail 2650 Miles .....Again.....and Again
Sign my Guestbook
www.trailjournals.com/monty
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeffrey Olson" <jolson at olc.edu>
Cc: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] base weights and ultralight packs


>I second the use of the Golite Gust, or similar pack of spectra cloth
> (or semi-spectra).  There seem to be three kinds of packs I've seen on
> the trail.  The first two are lightweight.  Most use one where you use
> the foam pad as a kind of frame - it goes in a slot next to your back.
> The other is the Gust, where you wrap your closed cell foam pad into a
> circle, put it in the pack, and pack everything inside of it.  My pack
> is 22 ounces.  I've carried 40 pounds this way and not been
> uncomfortable.  The other way is the ultra-light way where it's just a
> little sack with shoulder straps and mesh on its outside, no hipbelt, or
> only a webbing strap.  Warner Springs Monte can talk about this level of
> gear.  My base weight these days, including a book as extra, and not
> much else, is 12 pounds.
>
>
> I use a quilt (Nunatak Arc Alpinist) and a full-length blue foam pad and
> Tarptent Contrail.  The first thing that goes in is an airline plastic
> bag - the ones you use to protect your pack when you fly.  This is
> fairly thick plastic, and weighs a couple ounces, but boy is it
> waterproof and fairly bulletproof.  I never have to worry about a pack
> cover or my gear getting wet.  It is protected 100% of the time.  I
> don't carry long pants or rain pants either (except when hiking on snow).
>
>
> Then the blue foam pad goes in as a tube.  I put spare clothes on the
> bottom, then the food I won't be using that day, then miscellaneous
> gear, stove, water bottles, etc., and then the quilt in a plastic
> garbage bag.  (I've never stuffed the quilt and after six years of
> hiking, it still has its original loft and is good down into the 20s.)
> I'm always surprised that there is very little I don't use every day.  I
> have a couple ditty bags with drugs and fire and emergency garbage bags,
> duct tape, etc.  Together they weight in at 2lbs or so.  I don't carry
> much beyond the essentials, so the sleeping bag takes up one third to
> half the pack volume, depending on how many days of food I'm carrying.
> I've carried a bear vault cannister and hate every moment of it.
>
>
> I think if I were in the market for a pack (I have two Gusts, one of
> which has over  1500 miles on it, and the other a couple hundred), I'd
> get the Blast with a belt.  My Gust is 4500 cu in or so.  The large
> Blast is 3200 cu in. I'd have to stuff my quilt more I guess...
>
>
> http://www.zpacks.com/backpacks/blast.shtml
>
>
> Jeff Olson
> Martin, SD
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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