[pct-l] A Question UL Credibility

[Ron Moak]

Personally I respect all of the efforts Ned puts in toward educating people
for backcountry exploration.

Ned's posts about gear and dangers of backcountry travel seem to appear here
on a weekly basis. His distaste for ultralight gear is readily apparent. As
is his general ignorance of ultralight gear or its proper usage. In order to
properly evaluate something, you really need to use it over a wide variety
of conditions and preferably spanning multiple years. 

While Ned may have used the gear occasionally from time to time, he has not
used it enough to form what I'd consider to be a educated opinion. Let's
take a look at one of his recent rants. 

>>
I wouldn't want something statistically lighter than anything comparable if
it,

--was uncomfortable (thinking packs, pads) 

It's not quite clear what Ned's referring to here, UL Packs, light weight
packs or some combination thereof. Personal Experience; Standard Framed
Pack: 3000 miles, Lightweight Internal Frame Pack: 1000 miles; UL Frameless
Pack: 2000+ miles.

I've been carrying a UL frameless pack for the last decade and wouldn't go
back to a framed pack unless carrying heavy loads, which fortunately I'm too
old to do anymore. 

As to pads, I don't need much anymore. I used to use a closed cell foam pad,
the switched to a thermarest when I got older. Then I discovered that if I
slept on a harder mattress during most of the year, I wouldn't need much
when backpacking. Now I'm comfortable on a 1/4" Reflix bubble pad. Not that
I'd recommend it to most people.

--fell apart too soon requiring frequent replacement (thinking clothing or
shoes) 

Personal Experience: Standard Heavy hiking boots: 2000 miles; High Top
Lightweight boots: 800 miles; Trail runners 3000+; In the ten years since
switching to trail runners, I've crossed every trail condition one's likely
to find and have never felt the need for a heavier boot. If I was to ever do
technical mountain climbing again, I might pick up a heavier pair of boots
for use with crampons. However there are some crampons that work well with
trail runners now days. 

When I wore the Heavy hiking boots, I wore out one set of soles in 800 miles
and had to get the whole bottoms re-stitched in another 600 miles.
Fortunately in those days you could find a good cobbler in most small towns.
Then Damascus, VA had a cobbler and no pack shops. Today they have three
pack shops where you can buy shoes and no cobbler. I'm not sure you could
hike an entire thru-hike on a standard pair of heavy boots without some sort
of resole or repair. Plus heavy boots take days to dry out. Trail runners
can go from soaking wet to dry in a few hours.

--historically caught tables and forests on fire (thinking alcohol stoves) 

Personal Experience: Seva Stove: 2000 miles; Whisperlite: 800 miles;
Canister Stove: 600 miles; Alcohol Stove: 3000 miles; I've unfortunately
burned several tables and almost started a forest fire with a malfunctioning
white gas stoves. They are complex, difficult to maintain, noisy, heavy, and
expensive. They do heat up water fast, work great for larger groups and are
relatively easy to get fuel. Canister stoves are more difficult to ship the
canister and harder to determine how much fuel is left. They are a bit
quieter than white gas stove and will heat lots of water. 

I've used alcohol for most of the last 10 years except during winter. It's
silent, doesn't breakdown, cheap and light. 

--didn't keep me warm enough on enough nights (sleeping bags) 

Not sure what's the problem here. A few years ago there was the whole
Jardine polyester quilt thing. But like most fads that's run its course.
Virtually every ultralight hiker I know carries either a down sleeping bag
or quilt. For the most part I use a down quilt however, for an upcoming
Sierra hike ,in a couple of weeks, I'll be switching to a down sleeping bag.
However, I'll be using the sleeping bag like a quilt. 

--was difficult to use, comparatively (small-mouthed plastic soda bottles as
canteens) 

Believe it or not. I'm one of the first people to actually carry a Nalgene
bottle on a thru hike. In '77 they were only available in chemistry labs and
weren't found in any outdoor store. I was luck to get some carried them for
the entire thru-hike. It wasn't until several years later that they started
showing up in outdoor store. 

As someone already mentioned, the wider mouth Gatorade bottles make great
water bottles and I've carried one for at least a thousand miles before
replacing it. They are certainly lighter and cheaper than Nalgene bottles. 

--or was unsafe (twist-locked hiking poles) 

This one is downright weird. Each year literally thousands of hikers take to
the hills carrying hiking poles, racking up millions of miles in the
process. While poles can be temperamental at times, so can stoves as I've
discussed before. If I had to list which one was more unsafe, hiking poles
or gas stoves, the stoves would win by a far margin. 

Personally I don't use hiking poles. Nor do many ultralight hikers. Reducing
your pack weight allows you to travel easier without the need for poles.

Conclusion:

I'm not saying that you shouldn't listen to Ned when making gear choices.
Nor should you take my words as gospel. In fact your best served listing to
a wide range of people who've successfully completed a thru hike. If someone
trash talks some piece of gear or hiking style, hold off on any judgment
until it's confirmed by multiple sources. 

Most importantly, understand what works for someone else may not work for
you. It's ok to be cautious just don't be afraid to adapt and change when
the need arises. 

-----------------------------
Fallingwater