[at-l] Pack weights of yesteryear

[Raphael Bustin]

At 08:06 AM 9/25/2006 -0700, FallingWater wrote:

>The first ultralight hiker I met was in Maine in '77 and carrying a pack
>with a base weight of sub 8 pounds. This was nearly 20 years before Jardine.
>But honestly I'm not sure what the point of all this really is. 1990 is no
>more of a pivotal date than 1977 in terms of overall backpacking. Even
>though they maybe of immense importance to us individually.


1990 is only relevant as an arbitrary point-of-reference.

Toe and I disagree about the nature of the trends.

Relevant to me in that I'm fairly sure my rig was
dead-on "mainstream" for an AT thru-hiker in 1990.
My hike was as well-researched as can be, under the
circumstances.

No other generalization can be made.  The same
rig is clearly out of the mainstream in 2006.

We are all creatures of circumstance.  I know this
sounds crazy but I was a nut-cake "ultralighter"
compared to any of my hiking buddies of the '80s.
I could tell some crazy stories about the stuff we
carried.  [Backgammon at 1 AM at Tuckermans
Ravine Shelter on Thanksgiving night, 1989; temps
hit minus 10 F by dawn but we were snug.]


rafe b
aka terrapin