[pct-l] Gear/Weight/Risk

[Paul Robison]

As for what melanie said...I did say I was surprised how many people plan to leave the trail with 30 lbs... But they won't stay that high for long...
... How many people make it out of California at that weight? ... Virtually none.

To the op,  do you have to increase risk or give up comfort to loose weight?  ... Yes, after a certain point. But that point is like 9 lbs... Not 20.  

I have found yu can has lots if safety gear, and comfort gear is 14 lbs easily ... And 12 lbs doable...  Past that your either giving up some creature comfort,  or loosing some of you 'backup' gear like firestarters etc.

Now personally I am not ultralight I'm 'no compromise ultralight... The gear I use is as light as I can afford forget away with... But I don't want to be left wanting on the trail in a long snow storm etc... My baseweight is 12 lbs...  And often I carry 25 ish leaving town, sometimes as high as 30, not more tha 30 without a bear can.

I'll quote qwhat jackass told me last year on the trail... " ultralight is about your comfort range... The wider your comfor range, so far as temperature etc... The less you can get away with carrying" 
... I'm not manly enough to enjoy a very wide comfort range,  so I make myself content with my 11.5 or 12 lb baseweight...

~Outpost

Sent from my iPod

On 2011-02-20, at 1:31 PM, <dnielsen at djmurphycompany.com> wrote:

> To those experienced through hikers, particularly anyone who has done large
> sections or completed the PCT:
> 
> 
> 
> I am a longtime backpacker since the 70's but not a "thu-hiker", yet.  Been
> wanting to do the trip since I read Eric's book in grade school. I have a
> 20lb base weight for 3 season trips. I was always taught to be totally self
> sufficient and use quality gear as your survival can depend on it. Old boy
> scout motto drilled into us was "be prepared" and it stuck. On my usual trip
> I generally know what to expect regarding weather and water and can plan
> accordingly, multi day/1 week trip.  What I am struggling with most on the
> pct is the wide range of conditions, from needing 2 gallons of water in the
> pack one day at low desert and then being faced with a potential snow storm
> at the top of a mountain the next day. (not to mention proper mountaineering
> gear for snow, not trail runners.) My 20lb base equipment will allow me to
> handle this with the level of safety that I am used to and my full frame
> pack can handle 50lb + (Although my back does not do as well anymore).  So
> if I have a 20lb base load, 8 quarts of water 16lb, 5 days of food at
> 11.5lb, I will have a 47.5 pound pack, excluding bear can. Very reasonable
> load in the "old days" but more than I really want to or can likely carry.
> 
> 
> 
> I have a lightweight set up that I use for overnight trips when I have a
> good read on weather and water and basically where I only need to carry 2
> quarts of water. Base weight is 11lb and my pack with food and water is
> under 20lb.  If things go really bad on the weather I just leave. There is
> however no way that I have been able to get comfortable with this setup for
> the wide range of pct conditions that I am envisioning.   This is a 1lb
> backpack and there is no way I want to put 16lb of water and 11.5lb of food
> in it not to mention that the gear does not seem sufficient for this "wide"
> three season range, i.e. 1lb 35 degree bag, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> I know people are obviously making it the entire way with these light base
> loads and packs I just seem to have a disconnect with it.  Perhaps my safety
> threshold is just higher than theirs. I have been in situations where my
> life truly did depend on my gear and that has burned in pretty hard.  It is
> one thing to talk gear online and another when you get multiply days of
> freezing rain, snow and 50mph winds.
> 
> 
> 
> 1.    I really want to carry less weight, questions is do I have to
> increase my risk level to do so?  
> 2.    What is the real weight of the ultra light people once they get all
> that water, food and bear can onboard?  And how the heck to you carry that
> in a 1lb backpack?
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks - all suggestions and info welcome.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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