[pct-l] Bookends

Mon Oct 18 21:34:42 CDT 2010

Well said, my fellow "bookend!"

Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
1106A Ski Run Blvd
South Lake Tahoe, Ca. 96150
    P: 888-996-8333
    F: 530-541-1456
    C: 530-721-1551
    http://www.mountaineducation.org
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CHUCK CHELIN" <steeleye at wildblue.net>
To: "PCT listserve" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 6:53 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] foot ware and Spring run-off

Good evening, all,

I, for one, am very grateful for Ned’s posts.  That may seem strange because
I’m a long-time, committed, and unrepentant ultra-lite hiker, while Ned
represents the opposite, more extensively-equipped, end of the spectrum.  He
will never convince me to go heavy and I will never try to convince him to
go lite.  We’re sort of bookends in this business.

The reason bookends are good is because new hikers and inexperienced PCT
hikers subscribe to this List to learn by gaining both perspective and
information.  Few of the posted questions can be answered with a fact:  If a
subscriber wants to know if stove “A” is heavier than stove “B” they will
generally look for the facts on the manufacturer’s website.  More often the
question is, “Which stove is better for PCT hiking?”

The answer to that -- and most other questions -- falls into the realm of
opinion, and we all know what opinions are like:  “Everybody has one; no-one
cares much about anybody else’s; they all stink.”   When reading PCT-L a new
hiker may begin to believe the gold-standard is a sub-10 lb. base weight,
and they may feel their 20-pound base is ridiculously high at 200% of “the
norm”.  Reading posts by the Neds of the world with 70 pound packs and
6-pound boots will clearly illustrate that their 20 pounds is certainly in
the ballpark, a weight that can be dialed-in – with more or less gear -- as
they gain experience.

So whose opinions should one believe?  It’s very human for us to believe
what we want to believe; to find an “expert” who will validate whatever we
want to do anyway.  My frame of reference when replying to posted questions
is that of a single, experienced, self-reliant long-distance, three-season
PCT hiker.  I don’t extend comments to include alpine mountaineering, winter
expeditions, SAR activity, group leadership for kids or adults, equipage for
wilderness trail maintenance, big game hunting, pack-animal usage, primitive
living-off-the-land, or field operations of an infantry platoon – all
activities in which I’ve participated, but which are not germane to
long-distance PCT hiking.

This List  would be very boring if the only approved answer to every
question was, “Dude, just hike your own hike.”

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09

On Sun, Oct 17, 2010 at 10:18 AM, Bill Burge <bill at burge.com> wrote:

> While I too would be interested in a gear breakdown from Ned, I know that
> the gear required for extensive snow travel is both "more" and "heavier".
>
> >From my time in a Sierra club wilderness course I know that the
> instructors are required to carry all the gear we students carry and then
> MORE because they are teachers. Some of it is shared teaching gear and 
> some
> is safety/rescue gear.
>
> Add in the extra "goodies" that some of the teachers carried to encourage
> students (one teacher was carrying creme broules! :-) and weights got big.
>
> BillB
>
> Typoed on my iPhone...
>
> On Oct 17, 2010, at 10:07 AM, "Wes Rose" <wb104475 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for answering for Ned, Reinhold.  I value Ned's contributions to
> the list.  Perhaps
> > it's prickish to ask about the pack weight of 90lbs, since it seems like
> an excessive amount
> > of weight to carry.  Ned promotes himself as an expert and outdoor
> trainer, which is not in
> > question.  90 lbs is a lot of weight and a curiousity, however.  Chris
> Townsend, in his book
> > "The Backpacker's Handbook", concedes to carrying a similar weight on 
> > his
> back, explaining
> > that he is an avid photographer.  One wonders what the payoff is for 
> > Ned?
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