I've been getting a lot of questions about the gear that we used when we
attempted to fastpack the Tahoe Rim Trail
in late June of 2019. So i'm going to run through all of that now
talking specifically about what worked as well as what didn't and where i might
try to improve in the future. If you haven't watched
the documentary yet about our adventure on the TRT
I'll include a link to that in the description below along with a list of
all the gear I mentioned here with amazon affiliate links where
applicable. So let's jump right in starting with what i would consider the
foundation for any fastpacking trip which is the pack.
The pack that I used on the Tahoe Rim Trail is the Salomon S/Lab Peak 20.
It's actually a 22 L vest-style pack with a single large compartment on the
back, pockets on the front as well as
additional storage on the shoulders plus room for two 500 mil flasks.
This was my go-to pack for quite a few years for all my overnight adventures
as well as my two multi-day races in the Alps, the 205 mile
Tor Des Geants and the Swiss Peaks 360k which both had a lot of required gear
but since then i've been using the new Salomon XA 25 L pack which is
designed specifically for fastpacking with a top loading
roll-top design. I've got a detailed video review on the XA 25 which i've
linked to below in case you want to learn more about
that pack. The shelter that both Adam and I used was the
Outdoor Research Alpine Gore-tex bivy. Now buvies definitely
aren't for everyone but I like the simplicity and durability of a bivy sack.
It's super quick to set up after a long day on the trails
it's a breeze to pack up in the morning and there are fewer points of potential
failure or parts to keep track of. This gore-tex bivy is quite a bit
heavier than most at over 800 g or 30 oz for the older
model that i have here and even at 587 g or 20.7 oz
for the newly redesigned model that Adam managed to hold out for
but it's pretty much bomb proof and perfect in my opinion for the more
harsh environments that we tend to encounter here on the West Coast.
You could go to sleep in a rainstorm and wake up in a puddle and still be dry
and I appreciated the extra warmth for the Tahoe Rim Trail where
temperatures dropped well below freezing overnight. Even with socks a full merino
base layer, a thin merino wool toque and
a lightweight down puffy jacket, I was still quite cold our first night
in my zero degree sleeping bag so I'm thankful that I didn't risk
bringing anything lighter. In warmer months though on the TRT you could
definitely get away with a much lighter-weight shelter and sleeping
system. I'm planning to invest in a lighter bivy myself
for my summer adventures probably something like the Outdoor Research
Helium bivy. For quite a few years now my sleeping
bag of choice for shoulder season and summer in the mountains has been the
Western Mountaineering Summerlite which is an 850 fill down sleeping bag
rated to 0 degrees celsius or 32 degrees
fahrenheit. I originally bought it for the
Grand to Grand Ultra which is a multi-day self-supported trail race where you need
to carry all your own food and sleeping gear for the week
and the Summerlite was one of the lightest and most compressible bags I
could find at the time to satisfy the required minimum 0
degree rating for the race and I've been really happy
with it ever since. Now, having said that I've found it
much too warm for many of my sub-alpine summer adventures.
I end up sleeping with it not only open but also without wearing any of the
additional warm layers I tend to pack like my
lightweight down puffy. This is obviously a huge waste of space and weight
so I'm going to try to optimize the system for warmer weather.
My plan is to try a lightweight quilt instead along with any of the additional
clothing layers that I might already be carrying. I've been pairing this with the
Therm-a-rest Neoair Xlite sleeping pad which folds
up to about the size of a water bottle and it comes in at just 384 g or 13.5 oz.
For the run I was wearing shorts a t-shirt
a hat and sunglasses along with arm warmers when I got a little cold
as well as a pair of cycling gloves that I always wear when I'm using poles for
an extended period of time. I brought the Salomon Bonatti WP
jacket for rain as well as for some extra warmth
but no change of clothes other than one backup pair of running socks
which I would change into at night but we did have a full change of run clothes
in our resupply bags at the halfway point.
As I mentioned already, I also carried a full set of merino wool base layers from
Icebreaker to sleep in - tights, a long sleeve a light toque
and gloves along with an Arc'teryx Cerium SL down
jacket which is super light and compressible, also to
wear while cooking at night and breaking camp in the morning.
My shoe of choice for years on longer adventures and races
has been the Salomon Sense Pro. They fit me like a glove straight out of the box
and the 4mm drop is just right for cooking. We brought an MSR
Pocket Rocket along with a small pot. The fuel fits inside of it along with my
collapsible cup for coffee and a spork and I've since upgraded to the 750 ml
pot from Toaks which weighs just 110 g or 3.9 oz.
A small fuel canister still fits inside which is just enough for
two people for 2.5 days on the trail.
Of course, I could save even more weight by just cold soaking my food and
skipping the stove all together but I love warm food after a long day on
the trails as well as a cup of coffee in the morning.
So this is probably about as minimal as I'll ever try to go with my cooking
system but who knows maybe I'll try cold
soaking one of these days. So our plan was to spend 5 days on the trail
starting from South Lake Tahoe and picking up our resupply at the halfway
point on day 3 in Tahoe City since. We'd be arriving
around lunch time for a resupply we could also plan on getting a high
calorie meal in town for lunch on day 3 so that
left just lunch and dinner on day 1 breakfast lunch and dinner on day 2
and then breakfast on day 3 in our initial set of supplies along
with one small fuel canister to share and run food for each day in our
resupply. We then have dinner for day 3
breakfast lunch and dinner for day 4 and breakfast and lunch
for day 5 plus a new fuel canister to share
and run food for the remaining 2.5 days. We actually got lucky and
found the store at Echo Lakes open for business so we are able to get another
thousand or so calories which really helped with what turned out to be
a very long day. Now you might be wondering why we would
stop to cook lunch - it's both time consuming and it requires extra fuel
but Adam and I have just found that when we're putting in these really big days
it's nice to break it up with a warm meal and a big hit of calories
otherwise you can end up rolling into camp just completely wasted and calorie
deficient which is okay for a single day on the trails
but it doesn't really set you up for success
over back to back days. Now let's talk about some of the other essentials as
well as the safety equipment that i carried.
We knew there'd be plenty of water on the trail this time of year so the plan
was to never carry more than a liter at a time relying
instead on flasks with a built-in water filter like the Katadyn Befree.
Since then i've begun using the new Salomon XA Filter Cap.
You can check out my review of the Salomon XA Filter Cap with a comparison
to the Befree in the video linked below. I carried the
Petzl Reactik+ headlamp along with two extra batteries which I find are good
for about 8-10 hours each. We weren't planning on running
throughout the night but we figured there'd be at least a couple of hours of
travel in the dark each day. Bears are a big problem on the TRT but
we obviously couldn't carry a big canister like this while fast packing
so instead of started using an Ursack bear bag which
is designed to be tied to a tree low to the ground. If a bear does come to your
site it's likely to still find the bag but it's going to have a difficult
enough time getting through it that at least in
theory it should eventually just give up leaving your food at worse a little
slobbery and smashed up but you know the bear is not going to
get the food which is the main goal. Both Adam and I relied quite heavily on
our Hillsound Trail Crampons for traction on the snow
which slip on right over your trail runners. The snow was at unseasonably
high levels so we were forced to put these on by about
midway through our 1st day and they basically never came off again
there's no way we could have sidestepped some of the slopes we encountered
without them. I always carry a small first aid kit
with a pocket knife, some blister care and a few other items like Ibuprofen and
salt tabs. I also had sunscreen lip balm, bug spray
and a small amount of Body Glide as well as a toothbrush toothpaste and
some toilet paper. I brought one of these small Power Ponds
and cables to charge both my watch and my phone.
We relied mostly on my Suunto 9 for navigation
along with a paper map and a compass as a backup. I also brought my trusty
two-way satellite communicator for emergencies.
At the time I had an older inReach Explorer model but I've since upgraded
to the smaller and lighter inReach Mini. You can learn more about
the safety items i always carry with me in the backcountry
in my '10 Essentials for Trail Running' video which I've linked to below.
So all in my gear had a base weight of about 12 pounds
not including food or fuel. Now that's about as heavy as I probably ever want
or hopefully need to be when fast packing given that I was carrying some
extra gear to deal with the shoulder season snow.
I've got more videos like this in the works about fastpacking as well as a
bunch more from my adventures this season so be sure to subscribe
to be notified as soon as those are released and if you've got any questions
or even any suggestions for how I might have
been able to improve my gear choices let me know in the comments below.