[at-l] Pack weights of yesteryear

[Sloetoe]

--- Raphael Bustin <rafeb at speakeasy.net> wrote:
> 1990 is only relevant as an arbitrary
> point-of-reference.
### The key word in *your* statement is "arbitrary."
Clue. Word.

> Toe and I disagree about the nature of the trends.
### Yeah, I guess. You discount history. I recognize
history.

> Relevant to me in that I'm fairly sure my rig was
> dead-on "mainstream" for an AT thru-hiker in 1990.
### No one has contested this, to my knowledge.

> My hike was as well-researched as can be, under the
> circumstances.
### Excepting the ones I cited earlier, Manning,
Fletcher, Garvey... or the memoirs from ATC (I read
two, prior to 1979. "Cut weight" was the message,
always always always.") or Rodale-published pack
weights.

> No other generalization can be made.  The same
> rig is clearly out of the mainstream in 2006.
### You been to Springer any spring lately? You want
to call Neels Gap and ask "How's biz?" Clearly *not*
out of the mainstream, for early Spring on the AT.

> 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 ...
### We all could, rafe. I once started a trip with a
gallon of red wine in a glass bottle. My Springer pack
weight was 49.5 pounds with ~ 3 DAYS worth of food --
that's a base weight well above FORTY POUNDS.

You ain't getting this yet.

Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.