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Hygiene
There’s the “must’ve been out for a hike” scent, and then there’s the “thawed out from permafrost after a thousand years” aroma. Depending upon how long you’ve been out doing what you do, and how frequently you get a chance to wrastle a bar of soap, your presentation can be somewhat arresting. Inconsistent personal…
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Multi Tools
Like headlamps, you’ll never know how perfect a small multi-tool would be for the conundrum at hand until you don’t have it. There are too many variations on the multi-tool to count, but if you’ve been reading this series, you’ll already know that we like to avoid redundancy in our kits, and we like to keep things simple.…
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Headlamps
If you’re staying out past dark, or even if you didn’t plan on staying out, having a good headlamp in your kit can be the difference between safety and your own version of the Blair Witch Project. Then there’s cooking, gathering firewood, answering Nature’s Call, looking at maps – its fundamental needs are most obvious…
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Apparel
The right clothing setup can make or break your pursuits – simple as that. The wrong ensemble can absorb sweat and water, restrict movement, make you vulnerable to bug attacks, and smell like the contents of a fish monger’s laundry hamper cooked on high in a microwave. With the technological advancements available in…
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Water Treatment
Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink? Not likely. There are myriad ways to ensure that if there’s some of that precious liquid around, you’ll be able to safely gulp it down. There are pump filters, gravity filters, squeeze filters, UV Pens, treatment tablets, and/or drops. How much time do you have? How…
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Hydration Vessels
Consider that a liter of water weighs close to two lb. What you carry that essential liquid in shouldn’t add to that already substantial weight. There are two options; bottles or bladders. There are pros and cons to both, some not as obvious as others, but one thing should be clear – well, two things actually – your water…
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Kitchen Cookware
A trusted mug, pot, or spoon can be favorite pieces of gear in a backpacker’s kit. Despite discoloration from flames, dents, dings, and permanently burned-in food, a good piece of cookware is often retirement-proof. In the realms of ultralight, a good item should be able to serve a few roles. Can it be used for eating…
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Ultralight Backpack
Whether you’re a backpacker, thru hiker, backcountry packrafter, bikepacker, climber, or world traveler, the one thing everyone could all give three cheers to is the mighty pack. No one is getting very far in their pursuits without one that’s accommodating, dependable, and comfortable. As you might expect, we’ve got a few…
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Chasing Ten With Rebecca Sperry
How long have you been going light? I have spent my entire life being a minimalist. The less I have, the happier I am, and when I discovered ultralight backpacking, all my wildest dreams came true. I started hiking in 2015 and went on my first backpacking trip in 2019. Right off the bat, I started focusing on weight,…
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Chasing Ten With Dylan Suhr
How long have you been going light? 7 years. What’s the base weight of your pack before adding consumables like food and fuel? 10.98 lb. Beyond the “The Ten” items, what other kinds of gear do you make room for, and why? I stick to “The Ten,” but I do know the areas within “The Ten” where I could shed weight but choose not…
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Chasing Ten With Samuel Martin
How long have you been going light? Five years. What’s the base weight of your pack before adding consumables like food and fuel? 8.8 lbs. Beyond the “The Ten” items, what other kinds of gear do you make room for, and why? As a commercial photographer, I always make room for a camera body and one or two lenses. Going light…
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Chasing Ten With Taylor Bracher
How long have you been going light? Five years. What’s the base weight of your pack before adding consumables like food and fuel? 12 pounds, 8 ounces. Beyond the “The Ten” items, what other kinds of gear do you make room for, and why? I spend most of my outside time in the backcountry of Alaska, where we usually hike…
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Chasing Ten With Christopher Johnson
How long have you been going light? As soon as I began backpacking five years ago, I knew I needed to lighten the load I was carrying. I was unaware at the time that ultralight backpacking existed and did the best I could with the information I had. In 2017 I completely revamped my kit before an end-to-end hike of the…
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Chasing Ten With Tyson Perkins
How long have you been going light? I started really getting into backpacking with a few roommates at the time around 2012. With my limited funds, I had to stick to cheap, flimsy packs purchased at army surplus stores or hand-me-downs. One of my first packs was an external frame pack from the 80’s called the ‘Everest’. I’m…
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Chasing Ten With Mike St. Pierre
Making an effort to put together an ultralight backpacking kit will reap you immeasurable rewards. You’ll be able to travel more efficiently in greater comfort with less fatigue. With every extra pound of weight you carry, the effort required to move it increases. It's simple physics. In the current mainstream outdoors…
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Chasing Ten With Tina Currin
I think I was born ultralight. My parents split when I was young and ended up in different states. I commuted between North Carolina and Florida several times each year and I hated hauling a large bag. I was kind of small and spindly, so I got really efficient at packing. I’m a 12-year-old girl, and I’m like, “Forget Teen…
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Stoves
Alcohol stoves, small burners screwed into fuel canisters, JetBoils, and even open fires. There are quite a few choices when it comes to heating and cooking food outdoors. Each one’s success can depend on the skill of the user, the location, and the type of food you want to eat, as well as other factors like the number of…
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Sleeping Pads + Pillows
If you’re the type of person that can fall asleep anywhere, or you have a propensity to push yourself in your chosen pursuits until you can fall asleep anywhere, you might not give much attention to sleep pads. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t! A good sleep pad can help provide actual rest – a need as critical as any other…
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Ultralight Tents + Shelters
From pyramids to tarps to as-of-yet-unnamed geographic shapes, there are plenty of options and degrees by which you can protect yourself from the elements. At their core, that’s a shelters most basic job. But there are other less tangible effects of having a great mobile space; familiarity, comfort, livability, and even in…
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Stuff Sacks + Pods
We talk a lot around here about efficiency, but to clarify, it’s not solely about robotic, austere speed. More than anything it’s about knowing the contents of your kit inside and out, spending as little time as possible digging all the way to the bottom of your pack for a jacket when the drops start falling or having to…
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Sleeping Bags + Quilts
What could be said about the importance of a quality sleeping bag or quilt that wouldn’t be universally understood? There’s a lot at risk with a tired body and mind in the wild. The near-universal temperature rating system for bags can be subjective to each user, so for the sake of this symposium, we’ll consider sleeping…
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INTRODUCTION: OUR CASE FOR ULTRALIGHT BACKPACKING
Thoughts by Hyperlite Mountain Gear CEO, Mike St. Pierre Making an effort to put together an ultralight backpacking kit will reap you immeasurable rewards. You’ll be able to travel more efficiently in greater comfort with less fatigue. With every extra pound of weight you carry, the effort required to move it increases.…
