About Me - How I saw the 'Light'

Walking as a kid

My family was always outdoorsy. Every year for around 10 years we would have a walking holiday in the Brecon Beacons. Money was tight and so as a kid my outdoor clothing was very basic and functional. Gore-Tex was just not possible. My walking shoes were wellington boots. I learnt firsthand how uncomfortable cheap stuff can be.

Cycle-Touring

In my teens and twenties I spent a lot of time doing long-distamce cycle-touring carrying full camping kit on a budget. It was this that in part started my obsession with weight and more importantly pack volume.

On a bike there is not a lot of places to add luggage. When you do add luggage it drastically alters the handling of the bike and even worse the aeordynamics take a nose-dive from poor to apalling. Large paniers act as a huge air-brake and can make cycling into a strong wind a grim experience.

Paniers hung over the front wheel can trash the steering at speed and induce high-speed judder - this is scary.

Over the years I refined what I took so that it would fit into two small or medium rear paniers (B&B or Camping) that more or less were in the airflow behind my legs and did not weigh too much or affect the handling too much. Most of the time budget constraints meant leaving things out rather than buying lighter things.

I did a lot of touring around the Highlands of Scotland and the mountains of Wales visiting areas that were quite remote. Since the mobile phone had not yet been invented I always needed to take with me equipment that was reliable and also take sufficient tools and spares so that I could repair or bodge forseeable breakages and still remain safe and happy.

My experiences here led me to be a little bit cautious of using equipment that was ultra-light and ultra-fragile and so I tend to buy stuff that is not ultra-ultra-light but light or ultra-light if by doing so it is a little bit tougher or a little bit more reliabla or more flexible.

Mountain walking

I like walking in the wild places of the UK - often where there might be no paths and no shelter. I know that the weather reports are often laughably wrong and that conditions can change from 'summer' to 'winter' very quickly. These many experiences tended to make me quite cautious about leaving stuff at home and so I always tended to carry heavier packs than most inexperienced walkers. I also tended to take 'bombproof' kit rather than very good kit so that it would withstand scrambling, bushes and other interesting terrain.

I have since trimmed my pack by taking high performance lightweight clothing and lighter versions of existing kit and better alternatives (bothy bag replacing Emergency bivi bag) I could drop my pack weight with no loss of safety.

Long Distance Walking

In my 20's I had two attempts at doing the West Highland way unsupported taking a tent and everything else I needed in order to camp out. My base pack weight was 16Kg. The walk was wonderful but the weight and the necessary training really did put me off the whole backpacking idea. Day walking was almost as much fun at a fraction of the weight.

Recent History

After my first overnight bivi and the subsequent post mortem I realised that it carrying less and lighter kit definitely resulted in more fun and less grief.

Searching around on the internet shocked me to realise that in the US there were people hiking thousands of miles with base pack weights of 5lbs. Now clearly, some of the compromises they were making would not always work in the UK but sometimes they would. It altered forever the way that I looked at my kit and my planning.

Blinded by the 'Light'

This summer (2006) I have been experimenting with several pieces of lightweight kit and playing with some cheap tarps. The result has been to change forever how I view what a sensible pack weight is and what kit I can use in the hills safely.

Carrying an overnight pack that weighs 4Kg net or 5Kg with food and water changes what is possible, where I can go and the distance I can travel without any compromise in safety but with some compromise in comfort.

It has meant that I am now spending more time outdoors and overnighting than I ever did before simply because I can do so safely and without needing to train beforehand. I can just throw a bag in the car and go...