Outdoor Spirit Group

Packing Light

People always ask ACMG mountain guide Murray Toft how he gets away with carrying such a small pack. “I’m not carrying junk in there. Everything has a purpose,” says the University of Calgary kinesiology instructor, who has long been a proponent of packing light.

“For a weekend trip, you should be able to get the whole shebang going on your back to well under 25 pounds. If you’re over 30 pounds you’re doing something dramatically wrong.”

If hiring a porter is not an option, and if you want to travel fast and light in the wilderness, Toft offers some hints on how you can shave weight off your load:

• A good place to start is with the pack itself. “Really think about what your needs are. If you want to go light, be fussy about the pack.”
• Many packs are over-engineered, with too many features. When buying a new pack, go for the lightest one that will meet your needs. A good quality ripstock pack is just as tough but much lighter than heavy duty cordura. Take a scale with you to the store, and put the pack on the scale to check what it weighs.
• Use lightweight stuff sacks to keep your stuff organized.
• Next, look at what you will truly need in terms of clothing, shelter and food. Sleeping systems and clothing systems can work together. You can save a lot of weight by taking a light sleeping bag and using your extra clothing for insulation. Synthetics, fleeces and polyester are quite comfortable against the skin and can become part of your sleeping system. For an overnight trip, Toft suggests taking a change of underwear and that’s it. “Forget that full change of clothes.”
• Once you arrive at your destination, you can strip off your underwear and clean yourself off, then put on fresh dry underwear and put your outer layers back on. This is what you can sleep in. For added warmth, consider opening out your jacket or wearing your jacket inside the sleeping bag. This way, you’re beefing up the sleeping bag and getting multiple use out of your clothing.
• Leave the second sweater at home. Instead, try a polyester cowboy bandana from a western wear outfitter wrapped twice around your neck to keep the chill off. Fill your water bottle with hot water.
• From about June until the end of September, consider using a synthetic overbag (aim for a maximum weight of 1.5 pounds).
• When it comes to shelter, pre-planning is important. Look at the weather forecast. Do you really need a tent, or can you get by with a Siltarp or guides’ tarp? For most summer backpacking or climbing trips, Toft says, you probably won’t need to take a monster tent along. “With a bit of creativity, you can do a lot with a tarp.” For instance, you can easily transform your tarp into a wind-proof three-sided shelter using ski poles and a few tied knots in the fabric to reconfigure the drape of the tarp.
• If you look carefully at your pack, sleeping system and shelter and take only the essentials, you can probably shave eight pounds off your load.
• On a weekend trip, you can also save a lot of weight by being meticulous with your food planning. It all goes back to map reading: think about each day you’ll be out on the trail, and your caloric needs. Are you expecting an easy day hiking down the valley, or are you heading over passes with a 3,000-foot elevation gain? What’s the weather forecast? Take food that contains long-lasting energy like nuts, dried fruit, beef jerky and fats. Stay away from food that needs a lot of cooking; think about what you can pre-cook, and what kinds of foods are more or less instant, so that you won’t have to carry a lot of fuel. For instance, if soup is on the menu, buy instant soups that just need hot water added, and don’t require boiling for 15 minutes.
• Take a look at the range of stoves on the market, and go for one that’s lightweight and compact. Forget huge stoves like the Coleman Peak 1.
• Think multiple use when it comes to such things as cooking utensils. For instance, try using a pot lid instead of a frying pan.
• Leave the book at home,” says Toft. As an alternative, he suggests tearing out the chapter you’re reading – “don’t take the whole book. Or better yet, read your map at night: practise your map reading skills; think about where you’re going. Make it a learning experience - you don’t need to be entertained all the time.”
• If you need new gear but can’t buy everything at once, put some of it on your Christmas wish list. Over time, you can accumulate gear that will work well for you.
• Finally, “the kicker is to get yourself a good set of scales that will measure things down to grams and ounces,” adds Toft, noting that you can get a kitchen scale to weigh things at a good kitchen supply store.

If you have any suggestions or tips of your own on how to "pack light" in the outdoors, please feel free to share them here.