18kg for Eight Days Is Getting Tougher

A reader wrote to me a little while ago. She is 73, she carries 18 kilos for an eight day walk, and she said it is getting tougher. She wanted to know what to cut and she’s not the only one. Five people asked me a version of the same question in the last seven days, and not one of them wanted to go ultralight. They just want the pack to stop hurting.

After thirty-five years out in the Tasmanian wilderness I have worked out that the lightest pack and the smartest pack are not always the same thing, and one simple question makes the call every time.

Before any of the gear talk, I ask myself one thing: How remote am I going to be? Not how long the walk is. How remote?

Am I on a nice formed track with other people around, or am I a week's walk from the nearest road, off track in thick scrub, where if something goes wrong nobody is coming quickly?

That second one changes everything. The weather can turn on you in an hour, you can cop rain for days, and I have seen snow come through in the middle of summer. The more remote and wild the country, the more robust I want my kit. And here is the bit that surprises people. Going robust in the right spots is exactly what lets me go light everywhere else.

My rain shell is the clearest example. For years, in wild and remote terrain, I tried to go ultralight on my rain pants and every single time I actually needed them, they ripped. Torn on scrub, torn clambering over rock. The lighter the fabric, the easier the bush tears it. So I gave up, went to a heavier-duty pair, and I stopped replacing them. And I can still take my light weight pair for those easier trips with open terrain. The weight I saved on the pack paid for that decision twice over.

The tent is the same thinking. I own a proper ultralight tent, a lovely light thing, but it is not freestanding and it makes me nervous in the strong wind we cop so much of. So the moment I am expecting a beating from the weather, I leave it home and carry the bit of extra weight for the tent I trust. And on long remote trips it is boots, not trail runners, because the scrub and rock out there punish your feet and I like the bit of armour.

The pack itself is my single biggest saving. I went from heavy old canvas packs, three or four kilograms (around 7-9lbs) when empty, to a modern ultralight pack, and I brutalised one through Tassie's thickest scrub for years with no real holes. Light does not mean flimsy, not if you buy well.

A couple of kgs off the pack itself is free weight, because it is carrying everything else on your back. The stove is another easy one. For just me it is a tiny gas burner and a titanium pot, and going small there costs me nothing, the food still gets cooked.

Food is the easiest weight of all to drop. Back on our big Southwest Tasmania loop in 2004 I carried thirty-eight kilos (84lbs), because I had been told to take a kilo of food a day and I did exactly that. It flattened me by day two. These days I plan properly and I am down to around seven hundred grams a day, eating just as well.

And here is how I actually got light. Not by buying a shiny new kit in one weekend. I replaced one piece at a time, as things wore out, always reaching for the lighter option (where reasonable) when it was time to buy anyway. A few years down the track you look up and your whole kit is light or lighter.

Chasing the lowest possible number misses the point. What matters is which grams are buying you something real, a warm night, a clear head, a tent that stays up, and which ones are just dead weight you have talked yourself into carrying.

There is one place I go the other way on purpose, and it has nothing to do with safety. If I am out for ten days in rough country, I will carry a little camp chair. After eight days perching on wet rocks and damp logs, having something to actually sit on of an evening makes a massive difference to my head (and my back!).

Your body takes a hammering and bounces back. If your head goes, you are in real trouble.

THAT’S ALL FOR THIS WEEK

Thanks for reading Mowser’s Musings. I hope this helps you hike further and happier.

Until next week, keep exploring.

Mowser

Discover more. Hike further.

P.S. The full gear lists from all of my most recent walks live on Trail Kit, my dedicated gear directory. Every item with its weight, so you can see exactly where I go heavy and where I go light on a real trip. Have a look at some of my packs on Trail Kit.