so on Instagram the other day I got this question in relation to filmmaker /
hiker Kraig Adams which says "I was wondering what you thought on his gear
never any boots no GPS map practically no base layers or emergency clothing I
love his videos but would it be wise to copy him or take more gear"
so yeah great question, when does ultralight hiking become ultra dangerous and also irresponsible
so there's definitely a feeling among some members of the hiking
community that maybe going ultralight without the necessary safety equipment
is a little bit irresponsible so in this video I'm gonna unpack that a little bit
I want to share with you some questions that you can ask yourself in that moment
when you're packing your gear so that you can make safe gear decisions but not overpack.
But I have to admit I've never really cared that much about the weight
of my pack that I'm carrying more often than not I'm carrying a climbing rope
maybe a trad rack, you know, mountaineering gear skis so when I'm
actually just going hiking my pack already feels pretty light and I don't
really feel the need to go out and spend the extra cash on a backpack that's a
couple of grams lighter I kind of see ultralight hiking gear
As more of luxury rather than a necessity so I've just haven't stepped into that
world yet. but if you guys watch the channel you know that I'm pretty consistent on two things:
: A) getting strong and getting really prepared for
the mountains and B) not buying or promoting stuff that you just don't need
but I understand the element of ultralight hiking it's exciting coming
down your gear adds that little extra element that makes hiking
interesting so if you are exploring this concept that I want to share some advice
that might help you cull your gear safely and obviously this is not a
straightforward question what you carry in your backpack will be determined
ultimately by the circumstances of the hike that you're in but I want to share
these five questions with you that will help you maybe make that decision
process a little easier and the first one is weather so what are the typical
weather patterns like in the area that you're going hiking is it likely that you'll get
horizontal rain or a complete whiteout where you're going to need a
GPS is it possible that there's going to be snow and snow drift coming in
underneath your tarp and maybe you're better off taking a tent I think that's
the number one thing that's worth considering when you're going through
your list number two is what's your exit strategy so having a look at the trail
that you're hiking along is there an opportunity for you to come out onto a
road or get to a safe point if the weather does go really bonkers is there
an exit point that you can get out of Dodge if things do get a little bit heckers.
Number three is how long is the trip if this is a really long hike then
I recommend you maybe start out with a little heavier because you can always
donate things along the way maybe send them home and this is a great way of
just figuring out really what it is you need you can slim down on the trail I
think if you aim to be comfortable like 90% of the time let's say you're going
on a hundred day trip then you're gonna spend maybe ten nights of those we're a
little bit outside of your comfort zone but it's really those times where you
learn the most and you kind of fortify yourself a little bit under those
situations number four is considering who you're hiking with how much
experience do your fellow hikers have and is it likely that you're going to
end up in a kind of leadership role where you have to be holding the hand of
that person a little bit if that's the case then I'd certainly recommend taking
a few extra pieces of gear maybe some extra safety items just to make sure
that you're prepared to give them a good experience obviously if you're hiking on
your own and you're a little bit more experienced then you can certainly take
the opportunity to take a few more risks and go a little bit lighter and just
kind of challenge your own skills in the wilderness and so much of being out in
the wilderness is just building those skills knowing where to camp and
obviously do your research but so much can be learnt from just making mistakes
number five is having a look at what services there are on the trail is there
Hut's or refuges along the way that are going to be selling products or are they
just shelters that are unmanned that's a really important thing to consider
especially when you start taking into account safety equipment if there's a
huge storm that comes through and you really need to bunker down for a day or
two or more having firstly shelter but also communication to the outside world
will be super important if that's the case I think a lot of this comes down to
how familiar you are with the trail that you're going on
who you going with for me if I'm going back to an area that I know really well
where I know where all the campsites are I know the water sources and the terrain
that I'm much more likely to slim down my kit especially if I'm going alone
so if you're kind of ultralite curious like I am a good way to test the waters
is by repeating a trail that you know really well and each time just try and
cull down a little bit what you don't use or what you don't need
but obviously I'll leave it up to you to decide what you need but I'm telling you
if your first hike is a thru-hike in Alaska then now is probably not the
right time to be going ultralight and if you are new to hiking and you're a
little bit apprehensive then my advice is just to start small you know start
with something that's 1 to 2 hours away from your house just a short hike where
you can gain some confidence when I started hiking as a teenager in Tasmania
we would just take whatever gear that we had access to and we would go out and
make mistakes and hope not to die before YouTube people would just go out and
make these errors and learn from them and build those skills so you know
obviously do your research but making mistakes is one of the best ways to
learn that sort of stuff really sticks with you so now let's get into the gear
itself we're gonna take a look at the typical ultralight gear list that maybe
Kraig or someone like Jupiter hikes would bring on an ultralight through
hiking adventure and I'm gonna talk about maybe what I would add your
followers in that situation I want to preface this by saying that the hikers is
I'm referencing in this video I have a huge amount of respect for and this
should not be taken as any kind of beef at all. Going ultralight and doing it
well comes with a lot of practice and experience and we all come from
different backgrounds and experiences and my aim here is only to point out the
differences and show another perspective that hopefully you can learn from so the
first thing that I would change is probably base layers. I'm a huge fan of
wool it is a natural fiber it stays warm when it's wet it's anti microbial so you
can wear it for two weeks and it doesn't smell and they're really just a great
backup plan. I think if you're heading into a cold environment that's like the
number one thing to take maybe that and a jacket and speaking of jackets I
noticed that Jupiter hikes he has this super ultralight frog togs thing I can't
speak experience I've never had one of those
but they're like 20 bucks on Amazon so I actually bought one the other day so I'm
gonna test it out and see how that goes but most of the time I'm taking a proper
Mountain hardshell the one I have right now is from Cortazu and I'm gonna
test that out in a video coming soon another thing that crops up I get a lot
of questions about is maps and GPS units I typically bring a Magellan GPS unit if
I'm going into true wilderness but honestly most of the time I'm pretty
comfortable in the areas that I'm going to. In the past I've used it in mainly
Tasmania and New Zealand situations where you're potentially going to be you
know whiteout or you just there's no trial markers and you really need to
know exactly where you are. But the one thing I'll point out with these
ultralight thru-hiking guys is they do have GPS units just happens to be on
their phone and we can download complete topos, you have a GPS unit even if you
don't have actual reception and it's just as good as a GPS unit in my opinion
as long as you can keep it charged so it does take a little bit of learning and a
little bit of I guess expertise and having the right apps and enough space
for the topos but essentially having a phone is a GPS unit one thing that I
have noticed from ultralight gear lists is there's a huge lack in the first-aid department.
God is my first aid kit!
I guess coming from Australia I'm used to taking
a pretty huge first-aid kit with snake bandages and antihistamines for
all kinds of different insects but what you tend to see on through hiking
gearless is just like advil and some painkillers that would potentially warn
me I haven't hiked the PCT but if I was going to I'd probably be taking a pretty
standard first-aid kit one thing that I would definitely be bringing is just
just standard emergency blanket that is always in my first-aid kit so I weigh
nothing I'm not sure why don't see those on ultralight through hiking kit West
very often the heat is being conducted out of my backside when it comes to
boots I get lots of questions and lots of feedback about boots because I hardly
ever wear hiking I'm a trail runners kind of guy I like
to keep it nice and light that's a huge topic in itself so I'm gonna make a
whole another video I'll link it up here if you're interested in the whole kind
of boot trail shoe discussion and it's something that Kraig and I did talk
about in depth on the podcast so you can check that out as well there's a link in
the description but you might by now have started to realize that I've kind
of changed my tune on ultralight hiking and there's been some things that have
happened recently and I started getting into trail running and I guess the most
significant thing is that I decided to hike the GR 11 and the GR 11 is 820
kilometer through hike from the Atlantic coast going all along the border of
Spain and France through the Pyrenees I'm doing that this September I'm doing
it solo and I'm going to be documenting it so if you're interested in seeing
those videos then hit the subscribe button so you get notified when I post
that stuff but for now if you want to dive in and a little bit more detail
into the bird discussion I'm gonna carry on that here in the next video I'll see
you on the summit