Your Backpacking Base Weight refers to the total weight of all your backpack gear except consumables like food, water, and fuel. This includes all of your safety and comfort items like your backpack, shelter, sleeping equipment, clothing, rain gear, first aid kit, hygiene essentials, navigation tools, and more. Knowing your precise backpack base Weight is crucial for ultralight and lightweight backpackers who aim to carry as little as possible.
Benefits of a Lower Base Weight
Stripping your Backpacking Base Weight down has many advantages on the trail:
Increased Comfort
Carrying a lighter load feels noticeably easier on your body, especially your shoulders, knees, and feet over long distances. You’ll have more energy overall to hike further each day and feel better at camp. This makes the experience much more enjoyable.
Increased Range
With less weight on your back, you can cover more miles in a day more comfortably. This allows you to expand your horizons and take on longer thru-hikes that would otherwise be too physically demanding with a heavier pack.
Increased Agility
You’ll feel nimbler on the trail with a light pack, allowing you to better navigate technical terrain. Large boulders, fallen trees, and other obstacles become easier to manage. Stream crossings also become less risky without the imbalance of a heavy pack.
Decreased Injuries
Hiking with less weight decreases the strain on your joints and muscles over time, reducing the chance of impact or overuse injuries. This is especially important on long-distance treks over many months. Carrying too much weight often leads to painful knees, ankles, and back issues.
Increased Enjoyment
Let’s face it, carrying a heavy pack can be downright miserable at times. It’s less fun when you are focused solely on bearing weight and making miles. Shedding pounds makes the whole experience more pleasant so you can better appreciate your spectacular surroundings.
Strategies to Reduce Backpacking Base Weight
Lowering your Backpacking Base Weight without sacrificing critical safety or comfort takes research, investment, and smart choices. Here are the main strategies ultralight backpackers use to slim down:
Upgrade Your Big Three
Your “big three” items – backpack, shelter, and sleep system – typically make up the bulk of your base weight. Combined they can be 50% or more of the pounds you carry. Prioritizing the lightest gear in these three categories makes the most impact per ounce saved. Be prepared to spend more for the lightest tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, and tarps made with premium materials like Dyneema composite fabric, cube fiber, and 800+ fill power down.
Scrutinize Every Item
Get ruthlessly critical about every item in your pack. Analyze whether you need that extra t-shirt, heavy Swiss army knife, a three-ounce tube of toothpaste, or bulky biodegradable soap. Seek out lightweight alternatives for other gear like rain jackets, sleeping pads, packs, clothing, and backpacking stoves. Items that serve multiple purposes are ideal to save weight.
Take Only Essentials
Resist the urge to overpack comfort or “just in case” items no matter how nice to have in camp. Chances are you can live without that third lightweight pants, backup pair of socks, emergency bivy, or third stuff sack. If you end up truly needing an item, it’s probably not the end of the world to be without it for a few days. Travel as minimally as you safely can to keep weight down.
Choose Lighter Food Options
Ditch cans, bottles, and heavier bags in favor of lightweight, highly nutritional trail foods that you can prepare with just boiling water. Items like instant oatmeal packs, freeze-dried backpacking meals, nut butter, jerky, and powdered supplements shave critical weight. Calculate precise rations daily and resist packing extra food beyond what you need to reach the next resupply.
Leave Luxuries Behind
While chairs, thick sleeping pads, pillows, and electronics are nice to have in camp, these luxuries quickly bloat pack weight with non-essentials. Determine which comfort amenities you can live without when working to trim pounds.
Sample Base Weights by Trip Duration
How low you can drop your Backpacking Base Weight often depends on the length and resupply options of your intended backpacking adventure:
Weekend and Overnight Trips
On shorter 1-3 night trips with fairly close access to civilization, you can carry slightly heavier gear with less impact. Shoot for a Backpacking Base Weight between 15-25 lbs, averaging about 2 lbs per day out. This leaves room for a few extras or heavier traditional backpacking items.
3-5 Day Excursions
When covering longer distances into more remote areas, aim for an ultralight-style Backpacking Base Weight of around 12-18 lbs, depending on your fitness and risk tolerance. This averages roughly 1 lb per day on the trail. Additional food and water still need to be accounted for.
Thru-Hikes & Extended Trips
For hardcore long-haul journeys over months or years where every ounce counts, an ultralight Backpacking Base Weight under 12 lbs or less is necessary for most hikers to maintain the mileage. Legendary hikers like Andrew Skurka and Justin Lichter have pushed this under 5 lbs at times! This is the realm where expensive gear investments offer the biggest gains.
Of course, these are just general guidelines and your optimal Backpacking Base Weight depends on many variables like location, weather, mileage goals, resupply options, fitness level, risk tolerance, and style of hiker. Finding your perfect base weight is a personalized process.
Backpacking Base Weight – What it is and how to lower it
What type of backpacker are you?
First, decide what style of backpacking suits you best, as this drives how low your Backpacking Base Weight can practically go. Casual backpackers favor amenities and durability over low weight. Ultralight backpackers obsess over cutting every ounce possible to enable longer, faster hikes. Most fall somewhere in between with a “lightweight backpacking” focus that balances pack weight savings with functionality.
The Big Three Gear Items
Your backpack, shelter system, and sleep system (sleeping bag/quilt) typically make up over 50% of your total Backpacking Base Weight To significantly lower your base weight, investing in lighter versions of these big three items has the biggest impact per ounce saved. This usually means spending more money on premium materials like Dyneema composite fabrics, advanced alloys, or 800+ fill power-down insulation with a very high cost-to-weight ratio.
First Aid & Hygiene
You can trim nearly a pound by minimizing your first aid kit and hygiene supplies to the absolute essentials needed between resupply points. Instead of a whole separate toiletry kit, multi-use products like Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap pull double duty to save weight. Alternatively, just bring a travel toothbrush and mini toothpaste tube and leave most hygiene habits for the town.
What is considered a lightweight backpacking base weight?
A lightweight Backpacking Base Weight for multi-day backpacking trips generally falls between 12-20 lbs. This allows for a reasonable measure of comfort and flexibility while keeping pack loads manageable for covering longer distances. With discipline, base weights of 15 lbs or less are realistic for 3-5 day trips even with fuller-featured gear.
What is considered an ultralight backpacking base weight?
Ultralight backpacker base weights trim down below 12 lbs and sometimes as little as 5 lbs is claimed for those highly-experienced hikers tackling extreme long-distance trails. This requires expensive investments in the lightest cube fiber, Dyneema, and titanium gear along with Spartan rationing of non-essential comfort items. Ultralight hiking leaves little room for error in emergencies. Most backpackers settle on a lightweight rather than strictly ultralight Backpacking Base Weight system.
Calculating a ‘Good’ Backpacking Weight for Me
Ultimately there is no universally ideal Backpacking Base Weight. Choosing your optimal balance depends on your specific trip plans, risk tolerance, skills, and the importance you place on various backpacking factors. Here are some key points to help find the “right” base weight before investing in new gear. Consider:
- Duration & Resupply: Short 1-3 night trips allow heavier packs vs month+ long thru-hikes better served by ultra-light loads.
- Conditions & Hazards: More remote routes or extreme weather may demand extra safety items, adding weight. Go lighter in lower-risk areas first.
- Fitness & Health: Those in poor shape or with prior injuries often handle lighter loads better over many trail miles.
- Risk Tolerance: Minimalists eager to move fast accept more hazards with ultra-light kits. For novice or solo hikers, 12-15 lbs offers more safety margin.
- Hiker Style: Grizzled ounce-counting thru-hikers need far fewer amenities than recreational hikers who value camp comforts.
- Budget: Premium ultra-light titanium, Dyneema, and cube fiber gear costs exponentially more per ounce saved vs mainstream gear.
Calculate everything you intend to carry besides food, water, and fuel to know your starting base weight. Then use the above factors to set a goal weight more suited to your needs before investing in new pricy upgrades. Remember that every pound off your shoulders counts over long distances! With strategic sacrifices, shaving 25-50% of Backpacking Base Weight is reasonable for most backpackers as a starting point.
Conclusion
As this guide illustrates, reducing your base pack weight reaps huge dividends in comfort, efficiency, and expanded hiking possibilities. While trimming ounces requires diligence and sometimes greater expense, even modest weight savings add up significantly over trails measured in hundreds or thousands of miles.
Determine the style of backpacker you are and calculate a goal Backpacking Base Weight appropriate for your typical trips, skills, and risk tolerance. Scrutinize the “big three” items of your pack, sleep system, and shelter first when upgrading, then pare down secondary items ruthlessly.
Though it demands sacrifice, you’ll be amazed at what you can live without to achieve a lighter, easier-to-carry Backpacking Base Weight capable of taking you deeper into amazing landscapes.
FAQs About Backpacking Base Weight
What is the base weight in backpacking?
Your Backpacking Base Weight includes all gear except consumables like food, water, and fuel. It’s the fixed weight you must carry everywhere.
Why is base weight important when backpacking?
A lighter Backpacking Base Weight makes hiking long distances much more comfortable, efficient, and enjoyable by reducing strain on your body.
What qualifies as an ultralight base weight?
Ultralight backpackers carry less than 10 lbs base weight. Some extreme minimalists drop below 5 lbs. This requires expensive upgrades and spartan kits.
What is considered a lightweight base weight?
Lightweight base weights range from 10-20 lbs typically. This balances weight savings with more gear flexibility and amenities than ultralight kits.
What is the lightest viable base weight for thru-hiking?
For hardcore extended trips, base weights under 10 lbs are recommended so total pack weight stays under 20-25 lbs with food/water. 5 lb base weights are rare but possible.
How low should my base weight be for a long hike?
A good general guide is 1-2 lbs of base weight per day on the trail. So for a 10-day trip aim for 10-20 lb base weight range.
What are common items I can upgrade to drop base weight?
Focus first on the “big 3” of your pack, tent/shelter, and sleeping bag by investing in premium lightweight versions to make the biggest impact.
What comfort items can I leave out of my pack?
Items like camp chairs, pillows, electronics, and second-hand clothing layers are handy in camp but cuttable when chasing Backpacking Base Weight savings.
How do I know what is safe to leave out of my base weight?
Stick to essential safety and survival gear first, then continuously analyze if more comfort-oriented items are necessary based on conditions.
Can I get my base weight down without spending a lot of money?
Some savings come through leaving non-essentials at home. But the biggest cuts require spending more on lightweight gear made with premium, expensive materials.
What features should I prioritize when buying a lighter backpack?
Look for backpacks made with lightweight materials that maximize comfort and features relative to ounces, not necessarily absolute weight.
Is it worth spending more for cube fiber backpacks?
For hardcore ounce-counting hikers, the highest cost-to-weight ratio comes from premium materials like cube fiber, Dyneema, and carbon fiber despite high prices.
Where can I trim weight in my sleep system?
Upgrade to an 800+ fill power down sleeping bag, higher-priced options cut weight. Sleep quilt saves weight over mummy bags too.
How do I choose a lighter shelter and tent?
Dyneema composite tents and tarps offer the best weight savings but at a high cost. Carefully compare weight, cost, livable space, and durability.
Should I switch to a tarp tent to cut base weight?
For dedicated ultralight hikers, tarp tents provide essential weight savings but sacrifice living space and weather protection. Evaluate your priorities.
What food changes help drop pack weight the most?
Calculate precise calorie needs, then pack dried, dehydrated, or powdered meals instead of canned, bottled, and heavier bagged options.
Can I leave my hydration pack at home to cut weight?
Ditch bladders for lightweight water bottles and purification instead since every ounce counts. The flexibility is usually worth it.
What first aid and hygiene items can I leave behind?
You can shed nearly a pound by minimizing supplies to just essentials between resupply points. Multi-use items help cut weight too.
How do I make my rain jacket lighter?
More expensive rain jackets made with proprietary waterproof/breathable fabrics offer the best weight savings if you can afford them.
Will upgrading my gear allow me to comfortably carry 25% less weight?
It’s reasonable to expect a 25-50% total base weight reduction after strategic investments and sacrifices. But better fitness helps most.
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My name is David James I am an adventurous hiker based in California. Through this weblog, I percentage my passion for exploring nature’s wonders, documenting breathtaking trails and hidden gemstones.