Author Archives: brett

Golite Helios Jacket

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The Golite Helios is godly. It weighs only 3.2 oz. (Medium), pick it up and you can barely notice you're holding it. Combined with an ultralight umbrella, this rain jacket makes for a formidable rain protection system.

Yes… that's right, I said umbrella. My old goretex used to weigh a few pounds, in a down pour it would keep my dry in theory but my outside would get wet and saturated, and after a few thousand feet of climbing, my inside is hot and soaked with sweat. In short – I'd be miserable.

Last time I got caught in a down pour (We live in Seattle, it happens a LOT) on went the Helios, out came the brolly. I have never had such a pleasant experience trotting along in the rain, no sweat, no saturation and rain bouncing off to the sides.

Sadly, you can't buy the Helios anymore, Golite discontinued it. But Theresa has the Ether windshirt, which is almost as good.

The alternative, Golite Ether is Available from Amazon for $65.

Thermarest Ultralight 3 – 3/4 length

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A true ultralight enthusiast would be sleeping on a bed of dander and leaves in the forest.

However, I like a good nights sleep, and this thermarest does it for me.

Granted, a little bit of a luxury at a whopping 13.1 oz. Get the short 3/4 length model – you really don't need anything longer – just drop your pack at the bottom for your feet to rest on.

Available from Amazon for $67.

Cloudburst Tarptent

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This is the ultralight tent of choice for two in my mind.

It's an incredibly light 38 oz., and goes together in a breeze.

The quality and workmanship is excellent in this tent, and I love that I am buying a tent from a passionate backpacker in California who decided to start sewing his own one day, than handing over my hard earned cash to the pockets of a big company like Mountain Hardware or REI.

This is a "Tarptent" – it's a compromise between a regular tent and sleeping under a tarp. It has a waterproof floor and bug netting all around, so little critters can't get in at night.

The only downside for me so far of this tent, is that as it's a single-wall tent, depending on the dewpoint you can get condensation on the inside. It's not a problem until you bump your head on the top and it starts dripping.

Available direct from TarpTent for $225.

Golite Jam Backpack

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It's not the lightest pack around, but its very close and has some extra features that I feel are worth the weight.

First, a little history… the origin of ultralight packs started with good old Ray Jardine. In his book, Beyond Backpacking he describes a light weight pack system. How to pack it to be stable and how to sew your own! Fortunatley, some commercial guys got involved and decided to pre-build them for consumers. Golite are one of the mainstream makers of ultralight packs. Six Moon Designs have some interesting ones also.

Golite used to make a pack called the Breeze that was a replica of the one in Rays Book. I have this pack also, and it's amazing light at only 14 oz. However, I was unable to get one for Theresa as they are no longer made (Ray and Golite had a "falling out"), and so settled for a Jam.

On our first outing together with both the Jam and the Breeze I was a little envious of some of the features. Most notably:

  • The Jam has a hip-belt and I found that my shoulders got a little sore even with carrying only 18lbs.
  • It has a interior pocket for slipping a playtpus inside, with a slit for the hose to run out of without needing to have the top open.
  • It has a very light weight back-pad, where the Breeze has none.
  • It has an exterior pocket, which I find really handy for stashing things I need.

An off-the-shelf Jam weighs in at 22 oz, which is still incredibly light. I have modified my size medium by removing the inner water pouch, removing the backpad and reducing unecessary straps – it's now down to 19oz. The backpad I don't miss as my thermarest doubles as this quite well, and the pouch I found to be more awkward than useful – the slits are the most valuable part.

Available from Amazon for $79.

Snow Peak Titanium Pan & Lid

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We started with the 3pc panset and tossed out the small pan. The large one holds two cups which is a about perfect for boiling water to dump into a freeze dried meal. It's also pefect for holding a bowl of granola, or making a cup of coffee in. Cups are for traditionalists!

Pan and lid weighs in at 5 oz.

Now, you could argue that two lids are redundant. But they come in handy as chopping boards, prep-area and if you need to keep two pots warm at once. So I take the extra 1.5 oz. hit.

The set is available from Amazon for $34.

Snow Peak 110g Fuel Canister

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"Not a stove in the world will do you any good without fire wood". Same goes for your Snow Peak Stove. Useless without one of these.

These 110g fuel canisters take 4 minutes to boil 2 cu. of cold water, and closer to 6 minutes in the later stages of the canister. To account for altitude and waste, I plan to get about 12 burns out of each canister. That's pretty decent for the weight.

When full, it weighs 7 oz., but remember you'll be packing out 3.2 oz of left over metal once it's empty. Excellent for short trips, not so ideal if you're thinking of hiking Canada to Mexico via the PCT.

Available from Amazon for $4.

Snow Peak Titanium Giga Power Stove

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Ahh… the Snow Peak stove. I love this little fellow.

This is an ultralight stove, and weighs in at a whopping 3.7 oz.. It uses small canisters that last for a decent amount of time.

Going from an MSR Whisperlite to this thing was night and day. The Piezo igniter makes it super easy to light, and there's no priming or pumping to get it going. Backup matches are a good ideas, as the Piezos have been known to fail in the field – altho' mine has been running for over 3 years quite happily.

You can get an optional windshield, which I would recommend for breezy nights.

Based on the 3.8 oz. fuel canisters you can buy, it takes 4 minutes to boil 2 cu. of cold water, and closer to 6 minutes in the later stages of the canister. To account for altitude and waste, I plan to get about 12 burns out of each canister. That's pretty decent for the weight.

Available from Amazon for $75.

Rudy Project Ekynox SX Sunglasses

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Super light sunglasses. They weigh in a only 1.1 oz.

I use them for mountain biking more than I do backpacking, and they are really versatile as you can swap the lenses out. When hiking they are in 'shades' mode, when riding they are in 'orange' mode for better visibility in the forest.

What's not to like about a pair of shades that has 20 different lense color choices, including "Multi Laser
Blue"?

Available from Amazon for $115.

REI Cotton Bandana

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It's a bandana. It wicks sweat an moisture and doubles as a hanky. It weighs 0.9 oz., which more than justifies it's usefulness. In really hot weather I use it to keep my neck out of the sun to avoid sunburn. I also find it useful to keep my camera wrapped to avoid scratches.

Handy little bugger for less than an ounce.

Available from REI for $3.

Western Mountaineering Highlite

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First all, I have to say, I love Western Mountaineering. Occasionally there are heroic companies in the outdoor world that push new boundaries. This is one of them. They make products that are both unbelievably light and well made at the same time. Kudos WM, I hope you never get too big you forget your niche.

Now back to the bag. This bag is the bomb. It weighs in at an incredulous 15 oz. and is respectably toasty to boot.

Its a down bag, that packs to almost nothing, and is rated to 35 °F. We've slept in it down to around 28 °F degrees wearing thermals. I was on the edge of cold, but mostly stayed warm.

The experience was too cold for Theresa and she's since switched to the Versalite, a 10 °F bag. The versalite is riddiculously warm.

This bag is an ultralight backpackers dream. The top 3 heavies are sleeping bag, tent and backpack and this almost eliminates one of those from the map.

The only downside? It's very spendy, at over $200! But IMHO, worth every penny. Save for this bag and you won't be disappointed.

Available from Backcountry Gear for $230.

Highgear Axis Watch

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This is a decent backpacking watch.

It has a few features built-in that I find useful, when backpacking:

  1. 1. An altimeter
  2. 2. An electronic compass
  3. 3. A temperature sensor

The built-in altimeter was really the main feature I was after. I find the altimeter useful to track where I am wrt. the trail guide and descriptions. When slogging up a set of switchbacks, it's more accurate for me to tell my distance based on altitude than time.

I also find the temperature gauge handy at night to determine how cold it's getting, however, the watch has to be off your wrist to get accurate readings.

The alarm comes in handy if you need to do a 5am start to get enough miles in the day and want to be up before sunrise, and of course, the compass allowed me to save precious ounces from my pack.

Available from Amazon for $149.

Western Mountaineering Flash Vest

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A whole lot of warmth packed into 3.4 oz (Size XS). Theresa just bought one of these recently and she absolutely loves it. It is implausibly light and kept her toasty warm as the temperatures dropped. I think this will quite possibly be her most worn article of clothing, and she may be able to eliminate her other fleece sweater over time.

It's made of 850+ Fill Power Goose Down, has reflective edging and an ultra-light shell.

Available from Backcountry Gear for $125.

The Ray Way

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Theresa and I have been into Ultralight backpacking for many years now, slowly refining and adjusting our gear to what works for us.

Our initial inspiration and bible on the matter, is Beyond Backpacking by Ray Jardine.

Ray completley re-thinks the traditional approach to backpacking and pioneered many seemingly crazy things – such as hiking with an umbrella instead of a gore-tex jacket.

We're going to dedicate many posts on this site to our learnings about gear and equipment, and also as a log of inspiring trips and hikes we've made.

Hopefully it will serve to inspire others to lighten up on the trail.