This is Anne at the start of a nine day trip along the Richmond Ranges . On this trip we carried camping gear and enough food for the nine days.
We were wearing:
Sunhat
Light polypro top
Nylon shirt with long sleeves
Shorts or light ¾ longs
Underpants
Socks 2 pairs
Boots
Camera in shirt pocket
Wallet
Watch with altimeter
We were carrying:
Personal Gear
Pack and sleeping mat 710 grams
Pack liner plastic bag 55grams
Sleeping bag 850 grams
Parka 175 grams
Over trousers 135 grams
Polypro top 200 grams
Long johns 200grams
Underpants 50 grams
Fleece 420 grams
Polypro balaclava 50 grams
Polypro gloves 30 Grams
Socks for hut, 20 grams
Spork 14 grams
Cup 15 grams
Pudding bowl Plate 40 grams
Washing gear 55 grams
Headtorch 61 grams
Bag with pocket knife, needle and thread, duct tape, compass, pen, can opener, whistle, lighters 175 grams
First aid 100grams
Water bottle 40 grams
Personal gear total 3.395 Kg
Party Gear
Map 45 grams
Tent 1 kg
Billy 220 grams
Locator Beacon 250 grams
Radio 60 grams
Cell phone 65 grams
Meths Stove 28 grams
Fuel bottle 40 grams
Total party gear 1.708 kg
Total party gear per person 854 Grams
Consumables per person
Meths 250 grams per person
Toilet paper 75 grams
Food 5.4kg
Total consumables per person 5.725kg
Totals
Personal 3.395 kg
Party gear 854 kg
Consumables 5.725 kg
Total. 9.974 kg
Going light isn't rocket science.
The first thing is to concentrate on the heaviest items.
Pack, sleeping bag, tent, should all be below 1kg each.
Then every other item you put in your pack should be the lightest you can lay your hands on. Some of these items may require spending money but others cost very little or are free. For example take a plastic soft drink bottle instead of a hydration system , take a small cake of soap and a couple of chux cloths to wash and dry yourself. A take away cup makes a good lightweight cup esp the cardboard ones with the lid. The hut socks on the list were free from some airline. The billy at 220grams came from cheap Asian goods shops and cost $5
Make it yourself. ?
Some of the items can be made at home.In fact when I first started out I made two sets of gear for around $135 dollars each. This included our packs shelter and sleeping bags.
The parka and overtrou can be made from silnylon. This can be obtained over the net and is very reasonable. As the materials are so light they are easily handled by the home sewing machine. I purchased a new sewing machine for below $200 this is less than a fancy parka.
A good meths stove can be made from a coke can or tuna can. These really work. The fuel bottle is simply a plastic bottle.
Food
The heaviest item in your pack is usually food. The weight can be reduced by careful planning. We take 600 grams per person per day but we make sure that we take a lot of fat or oil. These items have the greatest number of calories per gram . So we pack lots of cheese, salami full cream milk powder. The other aspect to consider is cooking time. Rice for example takes a long time to cook and requires a lot of fuel. This is fine if you are cooking on a fire but not with gas or meths. Heat and eat meals are really the best . Freeze dry meals are good for being fast and light. However we dry our own and this not only tastes better it is a lot cheaper. While it takes a little time to hydrate it takes little time to cook.
Other fast dinners are tuna and 2min noodles or potato powder. Make sure it is tuna in oil and put lots of butter and milk powder in the potato.
Breakfast. This is usually porridge .Half a cup per person with some raisins. plus numerous cups of tea .
Lunches .These are usually crackers ,cheese salami, sadines in oil etc.
Snacks are chockolate, nuts, tararua biscuits.
To get the right amount per day I put out the breakfasts and dinners I know we will use and then add lunch and snack
foods until the scales tell me its 600 grams per day per person.
For an excellent food article press the button
Tuna Can Stove
This is my version of the Tuna can stove. Two sets of 4mm holes are bored in a small tuna can.
To light, pour the meths into the can as far as it can go and light.
Wait until the lighted meths is boiling a bit them place a small pot on your stove. The flames will then come out the holes at the side heating your pot.
Good for cooking for one or two.
The stove dosn't last forever but the price is right.
For a number of trips we take just one of these Trangia Dixies each.They hold enough for a meal for one and are both cookpot and plate.
We always carry shelter. To the right is our first lightweight shelter. A Warehouse fly , sprayed with silicon and a sort of tent end added at one end. This kept us sheltered one trip during a storm when we couldnt reach the hut.
To the left is our 1kg tarp tent. It has a floor and is insect proof. It wont survive a storm on the tops, but I dont intend to camp in conditions like that. Ultralighters climb high but camp low. The photo is on the Bibbulmun track in Australia.
To find out more on Tarptents click on the Tarptent button.
