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

Fri May 7 11:00:17 CDT 2010

Good morning, Jim,

That logic works.  In fact, there’s an old ultra-lite saying – only
partially tongue-in-cheek – to the effect, “On a cold night if you don’t
sleep wearing everything you brought, then you brought too much.”

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09

On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 7:18 AM, giniajim <jplynch at crosslink.net> wrote:

> 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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