[pct-l] Gear question?

[Bob Bankhead]

You are just seeing the on-going verbal debate between the different backpacking types, grouped roughly as follows:

1- traditional...........20 pounds or more base weight
2. Ultra-light (UL)....10 - 20 pounds base weight
3. Super UL (SUL)....less than 10 pounds base weight
4. Ludicrously UL (LUD)....less than 5 pounds base weight (a knife, a space blanket, and a Snickers bar)

The lighter you go, the less "traditional store-bought" gear is available for these niche markets. These folks - of necessity - favor the Make Your Own Gear (MYOG) movement and trumpet the so-called "cottage industries" like ULA (makes mostly lightweight backpacks), Six Moon Designs (SMD), Mountain Laurel Designs (MLD), Tarptent, etc., who specialize in light weight and/or custom gear not available in national chain stores.

Everyone is trying to point out the advantages of their particular choice over whatever you might foolishly have selected. It's like trying to see who has the biggest _ _ _ _ ; as if it matters. Enjoy the debate, but make up your own mind. THAT's what matters!

Wandering Bob

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Nicholas Fey 
  To: pct-l at backcountry.net 
  Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 6:13 AM
  Subject: [pct-l] Gear question?


  This post may not sit well with a moderator, but still I wish to put it out and 
  see what the general feedback is from it. What's the situation with outdoor 
  people and their condemnation of brands, I have never heard such a strong stance 
  against name brand items until I joined the ultra-running community mail list. 
  Then here, reading the archives all the way back to 2008-nearly every gear 
  question included numerous subtle comments suggesting that anything which can be 
  identified by its brand is absurd or a poor choice. 


  Which leads me to my question of: Is it just that I am misinterpreting a 
  persons reply to a gear question or is that honestly on the overall a large 
  number of people on here have personal issues with brands? 

  By brands I mean like these:
  MSR - Any question about stoves lead to saying a home built alcohol stove was 
  better
  Any backpack brand other than "ULA" (who they are I don't know) is just bulky, 
  heavy, and no good
  Any tent question lead to that manufactured tents are as above bulky, heavy, and 
  no good that a tarp would serve better

  Those three are of course just the most consistent items I saw during two years 
  worth of traffic. 


  In closing please don't take me as Trolling because I ask this in earnest, due 
  to my in no more then four years stepping away from everything, for a year to 
  hike and enjoy life as Thoreau suggest in "Walden" (I even have 2 acres which I 
  may do as he did, and build my living with my own hands).

  Nick,

  P.S: Great list as I said about the history I read, it certainly gave me pause 
  for consideration on numerous items which I would have most likely glossed over 
  during any stage of preparation for a thru-hike.