…turn left at the old iron calvaire (cross)…
Weights and Measures – Weighing an Ultralight Load
Here are a few definitions and ways of considering different aspects of the loads we carry on backpacking trips. You don’t have to wait for your next long trek to practice and plan for the lightest possible load. Any trip, whether weekends away with a suitcase, or a daily commute, is an opportunity to test your ideas and practice the concepts of ultralight travel.
A key goal of longwalking is to carry the lightest, most efficient load consistent with achieving your purpose. This is related to, but also quite different from “minimalist” backpacking, which is more extreme in weight reduction and freely eliminates weight at the expense of anything, including some creature comfort, not deemed absolutely essential to travel from here to there with some sense of safety. A traditional backpacker with a love of photography might haul an SLR camera and a couple of lenses, maybe even film. An ultralight walker might carry a small digital “point-and-shoot” model. The minimalist might well carry no camera at all.
It really depends on so many individual factors that you have to decide on your own list of “essentials”. The important thing is to cut weight at every opportunity, so that you carry only the minimum that you actually need. As the saying goes, “It’s your walk.” Every person and every hike is different, so we each have decide what makes sense for a given walk, taking account of the terrain, season, climate, duration, remoteness, and other such factors.
I make no value judgments on others’ choices, although there have been many times I’ve been glad I wasn’t carrying those choices. I’ve frequently passed overburdened walkers, so loaded down that it hurt me just to see them. None of them ever seemed happy.
Here are a few reflections on weight to consider when planning a trip. Some items in your kit belong to more than one class; there is definite overlap, and some “weights” are more philosophical than physical. With a bit of forethought, practice, and experience, it’s possible for anyone to longwalk in Europe (and elsewhere) indefinitely with a Total “Skin-out” Weight of no more than 9 kilos, or 20 pounds (including water and a picnic). That’s not to say you can’t carry less, and you may be happier with more, but there’s little evidence that beyond some practical minimums, added weight becomes an increasing liability, risk to enjoyment, and potentially more dangerous.
