[pct-l] Ray Jardine

[Matthew Edwards]

I love my old copy of the Thru Hikers Handbook. 
I remember getting it back in 1992 AFTER my first aborted attempt to hike the PCT.
In 2009 I actually used his 5 month itinerary as part of my resupply planning
for mail drops.
I like the gear lists.. Ray's 20LB base weight being such a controversial figure at that time.
I met people on the PCT with single digit base weights.
Avo, Tuna Helper, Lint, Frogs and Snorkel... these folks totally
impressed me with the strategies they used to get their packweights down.
Although things have progessed gear wise since 1992 and despite all the religiosity,
I still find Ray Jardines book to be inspiring.
I think that was the key for me to get my own packweight down to what I deem an "enjoyable" level.
What Ray's book and my own experience with actual hikers taught me was that gear was only
a part of the equation. 
The strategy involved in going "ultralight" is more important than brand names or the weight
of any single item carried.
To paraphrase one of my favorite lines from the book: Eliminating an item reduces it's weight by 100%.
How ironic that the accepted threshold for ultralight today is around 10lbs base weight.. Twice
what Jardine himself lists in his book from 1992.
I wonder which one of my friends today is going to write the next "groundbreaking" book?
-Iceaxe