[pct-l] Fw: Re: On the Dangers of the UL Mentality/EXPERIENCE

Fri May 7 16:15:35 CDT 2010

--- On Fri, 5/7/10, Edward Anderson <mendoridered at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Edward Anderson <mendoridered at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] On the Dangers of the UL Mentality/EXPERIENCE
To: "Yoshihiro Murakami" <completewalker at gmail.com>
Cc: pct-l at baclcountry.net, brooklynkayak at gmail.com
Date: Friday, May 7, 2010, 9:14 PM

Hello Hiro,

Your post is an excellent contribution to this forum.  There is much to be learned from those who visit this forum. My thanks to Scott for making it available.

I want to share my thoughts on both "experience" and "good judgment".  Defined and fully understood by WHO?  I have nearly six decades of experience in the wilderness (most of it hiking, climbing, backpacking, or riding a horse alone. I usually go alone because that's my preferance} - - - yet, I am still learning. Suppose that I wanted to do the JMT in June. While I have experience on snow and ice and often carried an ice axe. I would definately take advantage of Ned T's course to learn more.

While I choose to go alone - because, for me, I consider that approach to be safer - especially if I'm riding a horse. I realize that this attitude will raise some eyebrows and most will disagree, but for myself, I trust my own judgment of what to do if confronted with a situation that might involve risk of some kind. And "risk" will also be variously defined. That's sometimes the problem if you are hiking with others.  The leader (or the follower), might be more of less confident about judging the safety or do-ability of this particular crossing of the snow or of whatever - - -.  What has he/she experienced?  How brave, how bold are they. Are you traveling with a "risk taker"? Are you one? The wilderness is unforgiving of the mistakes of  we humans.  Don't rely on luck or prayer to get you past a risky situation and to where you have commited yourself to be at a particular day and time. Give yourself permission to turn back and seek a
 safe detour if your own judgment says that you should. Know when to try to bail out and also when to "hole-up". Know where to locate your sleeping spot - especially if a storm might happen. Have along a barometer.

Going UL involves taking a calculated risk, yes Austin, less for those with lots of experience and good judgment like yourself - but for most just, going LIGHT would be a lot safer and allow them greater flexibility and independance when faced with the unexpected. A few extra pounds might make all the difference.  Too many hikers on the PCT seem to seek rescue when the weather turns bad.  They simply are not prepared for it.  Always have along adequate rain, snow and cold protection.  On my PCT ride I brought along a tent and a self-inflating 48" air mattress (what a luxury). My sleeping bag was good down to about 30 degrees. I also had a liner that could be washed and aired. If it was especially cold I could sleep in my cloths. And, if necessary, I could also pull a small tarp over the sleeping bag.  I never slept cold.  While riding I wore a riding helmet and carried a knapsack with what I would need for survival if my horse ran off. It
 contained my sleeping bag and my extra cloths (in a trash-compactor bag in case of rain), food, water, matches, whistle, first aid kit, signal mirror, my SPOT, etc.

Here is a Quote from Wallace Stegner that comes pretty close to describing myself and what I seek to achieve when traveling in the wildnerness:
        "The answer to the challenge . . .
        to be invincibly strong, indefinately enduring,
        uncompromisingly self-reliant, to depend on 
        no one, to contain within himself every 
        strength and every skill"

Happy trails,
MendoRider

.  

--- On Fri, 5/7/10, Yoshihiro Murakami <completewalker at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Yoshihiro Murakami <completewalker at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] On the Dangers of the UL Mentality
To: "Steve McAllister" <brooklynkayak at gmail.com>
Cc: "Pacific Crest Trail List" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Date: Friday, May 7, 2010, 7:59 AM

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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