Ultralight Backpacking: August 2010

I'm very passionate about ultralight backpacking and as such my friends and acquaintances who find themselves interested in finding ways to lighten their pack are often asking advice or looking to borrow gear. Since I have both ample advice and gear to give out I enjoy being able to lend a hand or an opinion when it's solicited.

I have a friend here in Bozeman who is an ice climber, backcountry skiier, and backpacker. She recently got sick and tired of toting huge loads miles into the backcountry in order to attempt a remote peak and has since begun the process of refining and re-thinking what she carries on long approaches. She is a realist however, and understands camping comfort when the situation allows it. This approach has proven to her that carrying less of something can mean more of something else so she's trying to find that magical balance between a comfortable load and a comfortable lifestyle.

Last evening she came over to my house to look at my alcohol stove collection. She, a friend, and two dogs will be trekking into the Wilderness around Jackson, Wyoming and they will have a Snowpeak 900mL pot and the associated Caldera Cone and "Coke can" stove from Trail Designs to match.

Lend out and teach a friend to use a piece of UL gear and you just might find a new partner for your next trip into the backcountry!

Over a weekend in late July and early August Chris Wallace and I had the opportunity to instruct a group of excited students in the ways and (dare I say) art of ultralight backpacking. We were working on behalf of the Backpacking Light Wilderness Trekking School and operated a three day course out of Jackson Hole Wyoming in the Bridger Teton National Forest.

Chris and I have had the opportunity of backpacking together previously and regularly exchange gear-related chats via various Internet channels so I know what his strengths were. He is a gear and nutrition nerd, plain and simple. Ask him a question about a piece of gear and he will provide you a well-researched and fact-based explanation of it. Ask him a question about caloric density of food or what he suggests as a ratio of protein to fat to carbs and he'll have an answer for that as well.

Chris provides a good balance to my style which is a bit looser. I know gear also but from a more theoretical point of view basing my knowledge more on fabrics generalities and broad design elements rather than specific brands. I'm also blessed with having spent myriad days in the backcountry of the Rocky Mountains and having walked thousands of trail miles with only a map as my guide.

I was able to offer up to our students a light-hearted, humorous attitude with an anecdote for just about every situation and Chris was able to provide qualitative, verifiable data for any and all serious questions posed by our more technical students.

The students who enrolled in our course were of a broad background. We had semi-retirees from Florida, vagabonds from Wyoming, alpine enthusiasts from Oregon, and a solo-trekker from Quebec. The students were well-versed in a good chunk of info regarding the ultralight backpacking ethos but all yearned for more and also particularly wished to put these techniques into practice in the backcountry and have help doing such from instructors like Chris and myself who've done so many times. According to post-course feedback we were successful.

But enough with all this writing - - let's look at some photos because we all know they're worth a thousand words. For full photo set please visit my Flickr photo page.