[pct-l] On the Dangers of the UL Mentality

[giniajim]

This is a good post, thanks for the contribution.  I would make a comment about the clothes-sleeping bag choices.  The selection of more clothes is probably dictated by the need to be warm while in camp between hiking (when you're generating heat) and sleeping (when you're in your sleeping bag).  So assuming you can wear your camp clothes at night in your sleeping bag, you can get away with a lighter bag.  Does that logic work?  

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Yoshihiro Murakami 
  To: Steve McAllister 
  Cc: Pacific Crest Trail List 
  Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 3:59 AM
  Subject: Re: [pct-l] On the Dangers of the UL Mentality


  Experience doesn't always mean good judgment nor outdoor skills.

  I strongly agree. We have limited resource and experience, but the
  hikers and climbers ( at least in Japan) tend to rely only on  their
  experience. Some times, the tragedy occurs.

  I will try to write my feeling of  UL briefly, because I have limited
  ability of writing and time ( I am at slavery job).

  I had read  Ryan Jordan (ed.) Lightweight Backpacking and Camping
  (Backpacking Light) , and I think I could understand their opinion,
  but I  could not agree with several points. I felt their movement
  contained a tendency to return to the primitivism and radicalism,
  sometimes lacked rationality or scientific findings.

  My first impression of Ryan (photo) was he was wearing too many
  clothes. In UL, it was frequently asserted that the weight of tent,
  sleeping bag and backpack should be reduced. But the reduction of
  weight induces sometimes difficult problems.

  --Clothes and sleeping bag--

  Why he wears many clothes? I think he reduced the weight of sleeping
  bag and pad. When  assumed total weight of clothes and sleeping bag to
  be constant,  the warmest combination will be a thin clothe and a
  thick sleeping bag. When we walking, heat is generated, we need not
  thick clothes. I think it is better to minimize the clothes and
  maximize the sleeping bag.

  --Footwear --

  On the footwear,  boots vs shoes dispute appeared in this ML, there
  are also many opinions. There are many variables concerning footwear,
  and  I had consulted the scientific research. I found several papers.

  ---Energy consumption

  Contrary to our expectation,   the energy consumption of shoes and
  boots is  equal, when walking speed is 5 km/h.  This was a limited
  experiments by G.R Tack et al. XXI ISB Congress, Poster Sessions,
  Wednesday 4 July 2007.

  When we are walking by shoes,  prominent jerks are observed and
  consume more energy. Boots is heavy, but they need lesser energy to
  stabilize our body. Then, on the energy consumption, boots and shoes
  may be equal.

  Matthew, et al. ( Gait and posture, 28, 427-433. 2008) also executed
  the walking experiments and proved that the ankle fixation does not
  increase the energy consumption.

  ---Injury

  I had already posted on this issue. Stewart et al. (Wilderness and
  Environmental Medicine 20, 250-256, 2009 ) investigated long -distance
  hikers, and found that the injury associated  only  with pack weight
  not with the footwear type. Boots are disliked sometime, but they were
  innocent.

  So, the boots vs shoes problem cannot be solved easily. The boots will
  be appropriate for a man like me, heavy body weight and traditional
  backpacking style, but not appropriate for a light weight man.

  I will omit the backpack, and tent vs tarp problems. But many people
  know the backpack without waist belt is not appropriate for hiking,
  and will select the backpacks with waist belt (which has extra weight
  ! ). Concerning tent vs tarp problem,   the very light tents exists.
  For example, Terra Nova Laser Photon Elite weighs only 1 lb 6 oz (624
  g).

  The important thing is to reduced the total pack weight within the
  secure range, this range is  different for individuals.

  I will walk JMT with very bulky and heavy backpack in this summer. I
  must carry English dictionary (If my English ability is superior,
  this  can be omitted, but I cannot.) and a heavy DSR (my hobby! ) and
  the necessities as a foreigner. But I will reduced my total pack
  weight within my secure range.



  -- 
  Sincerely
  --------------- --------------------------------------
  Hiro    ( Yoshihiro Murakami )
  HP:http://psycho01.edu.u-toyama.ac.jp
  http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/CompleteWalker/
  Backpacking for 30 years in Japan
  2009 JMT, the first America.
  ------------------------------------------------------
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