[pct-l] Base Weight Calculation

[Ikem Freeman]

I love this question, and I don't think it gets asked enough!

I like the term "true base weight" ... dress like you are leaving for campo,
including your loaded pack, treking poles, hat, gloves, wallet, watch,
everything you'll have in your pockets (are you taking your car key and
house key, and if so, WHY?), your empty fuel bottle and empty water bottle,
and any food containers (tubes, baggies), etc. Don't include any fuel, food
or water (consumables). Step on the scale.

Now, step off the scale, take off all your clothes (and your hat). Step back
on the scale.

The difference between your body and simi-loaded back less the weight of
your naked body is your "true base weight".

This is an important question because I hear so many people on the trail say
that their base weight is 12 - 15 pounds, but I know that are NOT including
the weight of their treking poles, boots, the clothes they are wearing,
their wallet, stuff in their pockets, etc.

In '08, the Beadman was walking SoBo in S. CA, and I swear that he was
carrying at least 3 lbs of assorted car keys, key remotes, etc. It weight
almost as much as a camp chair, and I sure know that I'd much rather be
carrying a camp chair than useless car keys!

Hope this helped!

O. (Oscar) Ikem Sofar
http://100biketours.blogspot.com

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 6:35 PM, Vincent Rupp <vincent.rupp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> This might be a rather foolish question, but how exactly does one compute
> his base weight?
>
> It sounds simple - weight of everything in your pack other than food and
> water - but the contents of my pack change throughout the day.
>
> For example, it's a cold rainy morning so I put on my extra shirt and
> waterproofs. The afternoon is sunny and warm. Which clothes do I count in
> my
> base weight? If I'm planning to wear all my extra clothes for a whole hike,
> can I exclude them from base weight for the whole hike?
>
> Or if I'm walking down a road and stick my trekking poles to my pack. Did
> my
> base weight just change?
>
> What if I take off my safari hat and let it dangle behind me? Or swap out
> my
> contacts for eyeglasses?
>
> What if I get really hungry and eat my extra socks? Do I reclassify them as
> food and recalculate my base weight for the remainder of the hike?
>
> I have a water bottle made of crackers. Is that base weight or not?
>
> If a bear attacks me, I kill it, and I make a necklace of its claws and
> carry bear meat in a bag made of bear hide, how the heck do I figure in
> that
> extra stuff? Does it change if the bear meat is actually a trophy and not
> intended as food? What if I intend to use the bear hide as shelter the
> first
> night and wear it as a loincloth on the second?
>
> This is a very complicated subject, but I would like to be able to share
> stats with fellow thru-hikers I may meet along the way. Thank you all in
> advance for your wise and cogent answers.
>
> -Vincent
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