Re: Lightweight gear sources (was: RE: [pct-l] Corn pasta et al)

[reynolds@ilan.com]

Last year I say some wonderful homemade gear.

The packs were awesome. Some weighed less than a pound and use the sleeping
pad as a stiffener. One tip here: A couple of people who used ultralight
packs, homemade or otherwise, felt that the suspension was not enough fully
laden with food and water. Probably a pack should be designed to carry 50
pounds because of water carrying requirements in some areas.

I took a tip from what I saw and stripped my  heavy codura nylon bag from
my Jansport [external] frame and simply lashed my gear on the frame using
llightweight stuff sacks. This saved two pounds.

Rebecca Williams had an awesome tarp made by Jack Stephenson. I was
impressed by the size, at least 12 foot on a side. The top tent choices
were the Stephenson 2r [less than 3 pounds] and the Wanderlust Nomad Lite
[under 2 pounds if you use hiking poles]. Walt and Pat, 'The Happy Hiking
Couple" had a wonderful two-person tent that was cheap [about $99 and
abouut 3 pounds] Anybody remember the brand?

I lent Greg "Number 5" {formally "strider"} a couple of lightweight [13
ounces] relatively cheap [about $60] Stuebi ice axes from Austria. Any
report Strider?

Lastly on Food: Regardles of what Ray Jardine did, does or doesn't
reccommend, the best source of calories for a given weight is NOT corn
pasta or any other pasta or carbohydrate for that matter. The best
calorie/weight ratio is fat not carbohydrate -- peanut butter, cheese,etc,
etc,etc [and ex-lax]

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