Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

Why your [ultra-light hiker] friend suddenly has [the world's lightest] power bank.

I remember Colin Fletcher, years ago, writing in The Complete Walker about trimming the borders off his paper maps to save weight, which seemed like an insane over-optimization to me. But then, I'm not an ultralight hiker.

I am impressed folks are getting their loads down to 10 pounds though.

The trick to lighter packs for many was weighing everything. Not uncommon to break everything down by grams - which tells you what could be improved. No point in spending $50 on a .5oz spoon, if your pack is coming in at 4lbs. Does help optimize where things could be cut and where the faf is. Lets you focus on what you really want to bring in when you have a breakdown of everything you bring. I really like lighterpack.com for my trip planning.

Very easy to bring crap you don't need as well. Always surprised me how much an extra hoodie or something would add to what was on my back. Also there is a 'stupid' light, where shaving grams is silly. Was shrinking down my hammock tarp and discovered my setup was not great when the wind shifted direction.

When it comes to power bricks, smaller things like this is great for the normal laptop bag or purse. This is cheap enough that I'd send it off to be black holed with all the other bricks I lend my kid.

> Very easy to bring crap you don't need as well.

This is so true it's not even funny. I keep a spreadsheet for each trip, and among other things, I record which of the items I actually used on the trips. It was very surprising to me how many things I thought I used and therefore needed, but when reviewing the records, I never (or very rarely) actually used.

Those items get cut from future loads.

I'm not a backpacker, but I presume there is stuff you normally don't use, but don't want to be without. Some amount of first-aid supplies, etc.

For me, a not-particularly-lightweight hiker with a 10kg base weight, that list includes:

- a knife

- a first-aid kit with some niche stuff like big gauze pads, electrolytes, strapping tape, etc.

- quarter of a roll of toilet paper

- a compass and whistle

- a paper map

- spare laces

- 3L of water, unless water is guaranteed to be available (2L is more standard)

- spare calories in case I'm delayed

- emergency beacon (except my phone does this now)

I could sacrifice these and be fine most of the time, but I've needed nearly everything except the whistle, the full quarter-roll, and the emergency beacon.

Are you (overnight) camping or only day hiking with all of this kit?

Not op but my backpacking (overnight) kit contains similar.

When people talk about "10 lb base loads" I assume they are talking about overnights? 10 lb base loads for day trips would not be impressive.

Definitely overnights, but also long distance. Ultralight only makes sense once you get into long distance trails IMO.

I’ll happily carry 10-15lbs on a casual weekend with some friends, but when I did the PCT my baseweight was down to 6lbs once I passed the Sierra.

Turns out if all you do is hike all day, for months at a time, you really start thinking about pack weight.