I flared both my knee injury and lower back injury quite severely during our climb of Unicorn Peak this year. One of the big contributors to those injuries was the rather heavy pack full of trad gear for that hike (32.6 lbs for my pack, ~21 lbs for Cassie's).I'm taking a few months off to heal, and in the meantime I'll be digging into reducing my pack weight.
Backpacking Gear
tl;dr: spend $2 on water bottles.
Here's my current gear list:
| Category | Gear | Weight (g) |
|---|---|---|
| Backpack | Millet Axpel 42 | 1570 |
| Tent | Nemo Dragonfly 2P | 1389 |
| Sleeping Bag | REI Igneo 15 | 852 |
| Sleeping Pad | Thermarest Neoair XTherm | 432 |
| Wind Shell | REI Flash | 122 |
| Puffy | REI Co-Op 650 Down | 294 |
| Essentials Bag | (See separate list) | 205 |
| Cook Pot/Cup | Olicamp 750mL Titanium (with silicone grips) | 127 |
| Stove | Aliexpress Isobutane Stove | 89 |
| Cook Fuel | MSR IsoPro 110g (full) | 210 |
| Water Bottles | 2x 1L Essentia Bottles | 82 |
| Water Filter | Sawyer Squeeze | 101 |
My only recent upgrades are the titanium pot, the sawyer squeeze, and the essentia bottles. Everything else I've had for many years. The weight savings of carrying less water and getting rid of Nalgenes alone is far and away the biggest improvement I've made. In the past, I'd commonly carry 3 liters, which is often not necessary if there are lots of water sources on the hike. Nalgenes weigh 6.2 oz / 176 g versus the 1.45 oz / 41 g of the Essentia bottles I like. Going from 3 Nalgenes to 2 Essentia bottles saves a staggering 51 oz / 1446 g. That upgrade cost me $2...
Next on my list is likely getting a lighter pack. I've even seen some $100 packs on sale that would save 300 g or so. Beyond that, there's really not much improvement to be made without getting specialty gear. I like my gear; I've used it for years and probably won't be making any expensive upgrades beyond the pack to shave off grams.
Total Pack Weight*: 17.2 lbs / 7802 g
Base Pack Weight**: 12.0 lbs / 5443 g
*including 2L H2O, 3x Clif Bar, 3 serving Mountain House, and 162 g fuel can;
**fuel can only, no food, empty bottles
Essentials Bag
It's always a work in progress, but here's the current list:
- Nitecore UL400 Headlamp
- Wenger Swiss army knife
- Sea To Summit Titanium Spork
- 1 oz Sunscreen
- SPF Chapstick
- 3x Drink Packets
- Toothbrush and homemade paste tablets
- 8x water treatment tablets
- Pills: Ibuprofen, caffeine, melatonin
- Bic Mini Lighter
- sub bag: toilet paper, paper towel, bandaids, alcohol prep pad, patch kit
If I'm soloing I would add a compass, and I need to find some backup matches to put in there. However normally the redundancy of having another party member with a phone and lighter makes this unnecessary imo.
Water Boil Test
How much fuel do I need to make a 3 serving Mountain House?
Test Conditions:
- Ambient Temperature: 73F
- Altitude: 107 ft
- Water Temperature: 38F
- Water Volume: 473 ml (16 oz i.e. enough to make one 3 serving Mountain House)
- Stove: Aliexpress ripoff MSR Pocket Rocket
- Fuel: Coleman Butane/Propane Mix
- Pot: Olicamp 750 ml titanium pot
I boiled the water with the lid cracked a bit so I could measure the water temperature. Burner was set to max. Boil time was 3m17s for 473 ml, consuming 11 g fuel.
Fuel efficiency would have likely been much higher if I didn't run it at maximum.