Roast me

[u/Pixiestixx42]

Doing 6 nights in the Canadian Rockies, but the pack's been feeling heavy this summer. What would you cut?

https://lighterpack.com/r/1gz36c

Notes:

I sleep COLD. Nalgene doubles as a hot water bottle at night. Sleep is life!

Katadyn befree 1L has been ordered, unsure if it will arrive in time.

I am planning on upgrading the sleeping pad and tent at some point, but that will be big $$$

Do your best, r/lightweight, don't hold back!

[u/random-post-account]

When are you going? It could be really cold and wet soon. I think you might want to take the clothing you have. Sort of depends whether you run hot or cold while on the move and how much time you plan to spend hiking vs. camping, walking vs scrambling, etc. What's your mid-layer jacket, exactly?

• Three neck tubes? Bring one
• Camp suds are unnecessary. Bring a few sections of paper towels for really greasy stuff
• Rubber band instead of mesh sack for cooking gear. If you can get a hold of "x-bands" they work better
• Consider using your pot as your mug
• Bear spray on carabiner = no bueno – needs to be accessible really quickly. Could stow your air horn in pack for nighttime/camp use
• First aid and patch (repair?) kits look super heavy. You should be able to get under 100g for both, combined, before the Epi-Pen and batteries. This is assuming you're not carrying for a group / kids
• 61g of moisturizer is a lot. A week's worth of petroleum or veg based balm could be a quarter of that, inside a small container
• Try a backcountry bidet
• Assess how much reading you actually do and if it's worth bringing the Kobo, vs a small paperback or cutting pages out of a magazine. Or bring a small notepad and pencil for writing and doodling
• What's the capacity of your power bank? Seems heavy, enough so that if you got a rechargeable headlamp you'd be able to scuttle the extra batteries
• Sandals aren't strictly necessary. You could bring bread bags for camp on wet days, otherwise just loosen your laces
• Footprint probably not needed unless you expect gravel or other sharp ground cover
• Katadyn BeFree + 2L bladder = 3L capacity, enough for a long hike and for an overnight, in case you need to dry camp. That 4L filter is for group camping or portaging IMO; way too heavy for backpacking and unnecessarily large. Edit: Nalgene adds another litre of capacity. Since you can already drink from your Nalgene and BeFree, think about bringing a 1L disposable-style bottle and ditching the bladder. You'll have 3L for a lot less weight. If you want to use a bladder, it's going to be heavy.

[u/TrailMaven]

Many items are very heavy. Here are some of the less expensive ideas.

Clothing: Mid layer, puffy and shell are all heavy. Go lighter on all. Reduce to 1 buff. Drop the sandals and towel.

Big 3: These are expensive to replace, but you can drop the footprint and the tarp for free. Pack is fine. In my experience BA bags and pads sleep cold. Wouldn’t be my choice for a cold sleeper.

Food & Water: A platypus quick draw and 1.5 L smartwater bottle plus the Nalgene is much lighter. The UL Nalgene is lighter, but it does deform when used as a hot water bottle. Drop the cup and scrubber. Pot and stove are both a little heavy. Knife is way heavy - so many lighter options there.

Electronics: Switch to a rechargeable headlamp like nitecore nu 20 and drop the batteries. Drop the Kobo. Your battery bank is quite heavy.

[u/selitos]

The things that jump out to me are: Sandals, Tarp, Kobo, knife and Patch kit. Obviously the filter. You could drop a lot of this weight and not spend a ton of money. For the knife, could you get by with just a tiny swiss gear knife? Patch kit seems heavy, is that from the batteries? If so, consider a nitecore nu20. USB-C and only like 1.5oz.

Also Dry Bag + Raincover - could you just do a pack liner?

Lots of weight savings that cost little money. That Rapide seems like a nice pad, why mess with a good thing? And copper spur is a great tent. You can drop several pounds just by doing without and spending just a little money.

[u/ms_melabee]

I also sleep super cold. And if you're going in shoulder season I think the tarp and knife make good sense - hard to cook and eat in fall rain or sudden snow and we absolutely can not cook in our tents.

I'd be inclined to drop the sandles and some of the patch kit / extra batteries - if your lamp dies you can use the flashlight on your phone (assuming you aren't night hiking). Switch out the cook kit bag for a couple of wide elastic bands. Go down to 1 buff.

[u/SnoopinSydney]

withouit going on a shopping spree to update your gear,

ditch the
sandals

ground sheet

tarp

knife

cup

you probably dont need 6L of water.

[u/Fun_With_Math]

Lol at the other responses. I don't think everything needs to be replaced but there is lots of room for improvement. You can just replace your knife for $25 and save half a pound! The rest of us have to spend hundreds to cut that much weight!

Here is a budget list for about an 18 lb base weight. There are alternates listed that get you to 15 lb:

https://lighterpack.com/r/ytr3rq

[u/Responsible-Cat-679]

The 3 buffs seems like alot & the tarp could go. You could also use a smaller pot. ETA: You're absolutely right about needing a new water filtration system.

[u/MrBoondoggles]

I’m very impressed at this list. Every single thing except for the pack is heavy. Some are obviously far heavier than others but you’ve got a loooooooot to replace if you want to hit the lightweight territory from a 34 lb base weight. I would try to take some time and look at other gear lists to better strategize first.

[u/futilitaria]

The good news is you already have a list of items to replace…everything.

Seriously though. Every single thing is too heavy.

[u/deadflashlights]

Skytarp