[pct-l] singing the ultralight blues

[John Abela]

Oh man, a 0.11 ounce photon light... can I be first in line!!!  (giggle)

I think most SUL/XUL guys are not out there carrying around a 750 ml
cup... that's freaking huge... its either the MSR Titan Cup or the SP
400 - if one at all :-P -- better yet.. use a ziplock bag lolol


Humor aside (and I did enjoy your post - got me laughing)... just
remember, your 20 pound pack starts off as a 50 pound pack (using the
average of 2.5lbs per day of food) for the long 12+ days of no town in
the Sierras...whereas our 5 pound packs become 35 pounds. Before the
first week is out our packs are already lower than your normal base
pack weight.

And you will get no argument from me on the boots/verses shoes issue.
While I have switched to using shoes, I am still a firm believer in
boots preventing ankle twists!!


Enjoyed your post - thanks for the chuckles!!

John
www.RedwoodOutdoors.com


> On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 5:05 PM, Tow, Doug <DTow at americanriverbank.com>wrote:
>
>> Some gentle humor about my betters:
>>
>> Though not having personally met the dedicated ultralighters on this
>> forum, I have formed a pretty good picture.  They are experienced,
>> strong, skilled, fit, nutritionally correct, walk tons and tons, and
>> possess startling good looks.  Am I right so far?
>>
>> They have the new NASA titanium 3 mil-walled 750 ml cup (58 grams,
>> $117.95), and use it as a bowl, cooking vessel, bathtub, pillow, hat,
>> latrine, signalling mirror, chair, varmint trap, and map case.
>>
>> Now, let's assess them further.  Possessing legs of iron, they
>> nevertheless consider it a threat to personal happiness, welfare and
>> odds of success if their pack weight is over, say, 9.3376 pounds.
>> Despite hiking 2,600 of the world's most beautiful miles, they can't
>> stop thinking (sorry, I can't spell obbsesing) about how to take another
>> pound off next year.  How, by going lighter, they can go from 32 to 33
>> miles per day, cutting their total trip by...less than 20 hours hiking
>> time.
>>
>> "I go light so that I won't have to think about my pack."  You are
>> kidding, right?  If I said that there's a new Photon that's 2 grams
>> lighter than last year's model, you're already on the web looking for
>> it, aren't you?
>>
>> I'm 56, a big fellow, 6' 5" and over 200 pounds.  My pack base weight is
>> 20 pounds.  I know the pack is there, but that's it, even when I am
>> chock full of water and food.  If I carried a two-pound pack, I would
>> still weigh more than you fully loaded.  I have tried lightweight shoes,
>> and I put my boots back on in relief-filled gratitude, swinging out the
>> miles.  My back is fine, my feet are fine, and my knees are fine.  Yours
>> might be too if you were carrying a few more pounds.
>>
>> We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.....
>>
>> Doug