rucksacking

Cookoffs Are Your Friend

Lightweight backpacking doesn't necessarily entail eating only soggy boil-in-a-bag macaroni and cups of weak tea. The results from the REI/Backpacker cook-off from last September are mouthwatering, and some of them -- like the winning entree, Angry Red Lentil tortilla soup -- are one-pan wonders, easily within the reach of the lightweight backpacker with a titanium frying pan and some serious culinary skills.

Rei/Backpacker Camp Cook-off [Backpacker.com]

Getting Light-headed

There are a wide range of lighting options out there, but headlamps seem the best way to go for backpacking trips, simplyfing tasks like cooking at night and making pre-bed reading easy. And among the many headlamp options out there, the lightweight sturdiness of LEDs strikes us as the best choice. And among those, we tend to favor the smaller, simpler (albeit not-quite-blindingly bright) headband-type models. Here's a roundup of the choices available for under 3 ounces, including batteries.

Black Diamond

Ion : The Ion is a nice piece of design, and at 1.1 oz (31 g), the lightest of the bunch. Its two white LED lamps are in a housing that can be tilted up or down (and is water-resistant, though not totally waterproof), and has a button that's easy to find but won't accidentally get turned on in your pack. It requires a single 6 volt battery, which gives it 15 hours of life. Range: 15 meters. $19.95

Princeton Tec

Princton Tec Scout: The Scout is a lightweight, 2 bulb headlamp with three brightness settings -- high, medium, low -- and two flashing modes. It comes with the typical headband-style fastener, but can also be removed to attach to the bill of a hat or the strap of a pack. It takes 4 lithium coin batteries, which give it a life of 24 to 48 hours, depending on which brightness setting you choose. Range: 15 m. Weight: 1.85 oz (54 g). Price: $19.95.

Aurora: The Aurora won Backpacking Light's 2004 "Trail's Best"Award, and it's easy to see why. At 2.85 oz (77g), it's more than twice as heavy as the Ion, but its 3 AAA batteries give it a much longer burn time and 3 bright LEDs give it a more powerful beam. The case is waterproof. The Aurora also has 3 brightness settings and two flashing modes. $29.95.

Petzl

Tikka/Zipka: Petzl offers the widest range of lightweight LED headlamps, and the Tikka is their most basic model. 3 LEDs give it a range of about 10 meters. It takes 3 AAA batteries as well, giving it 150 hours of life. Only one brightness setting, and the housing is not tiltable. 2.5 ounces, 71g. $24.95.
The Zipka is basically the same light, but with a handy retractable headband as opposed to the usual type (see the picture of the Zipka plus, below). It's slightly lighter at 2.3 oz (65 g). $29.95

Tikka Plus/Zipka Plus: As the name implies, the Plus model is just the Tikka with better features. These include a tiltable casing (but not on the Zipka Plus), 4 LEDs (range 5-15 m), 3 different brightness settings, and a battery life of 150-400 hours. A pretty light package at 2.8 oz (79 g). $32.95.
Again, the Zipka Plus is essentially the same, just with a neat-o retractable headband. 2.3 oz (65 g), $37.95. (According to reports from recent trade shows, the Tikka is also soon going to be available in a 1 watt LED version, called the XP.)

Tactikka/Tactikka Plus: If it weren't so pricy, the Tactikka Plus would be our number one choice for its nice mix of weight and features. The base model, Tactikka, has 3 LEDs (range of about 10 meters), isn't tiltable, and weighs 2.5 oz (71 g). 3 AAA batteries give it a life of 110 hours. $34.95. The Plus model beefs it up to 4 LEDs, and includes a tiltable housing and 3 brightness settings, plus one strobe. It has a range of 6-17 meters, and weighs slightly more, 28 oz (78 g). The Plus also has a nifty push-button that's easy to use. The other nice feature, available on both models, is a red flip-up filter that switches the lamp into night mode, preserving you night vision. Add to that the fact that it is available in all-black or camo, and you can see why the name puns off the word 'tactical.'

Energizer

Head Beam: At 2.8 oz (80g), not the lightest of the bunch -- but the cheapest -- this headlight also comes with some nice features. According to this review, it has an (easily switched on) 3 position sliding switch, two settings for the 2 white LEDs, and one to switch it into red LED mode for night vision. 3 AAA batteries give it a 50 hour life and a 10 meter range. Tiltable case. Also, nice camo headband available. $14.95.

Gear Guide Index to LED Headlamps [BackpackingLight]
Zipka XP [Backpacking Light]
Lights [Prolite Gear]

The Lightweight Manifesto

A lot of people consider Ray Jardine's "Beyond Backpacking" to be the Bible of lightweight backpacking, and in some ways they're right. Jardine's book is the ground text for rucksacking, and many of the innovations he came up with are still the best we've got. But that doesn't mean every word is golden. Have you ever read the section on food? How about Ray's preoccupation with dry socks? Also, the book is long, and life is short.

If we had to choose one prime text for rucksacking, it'd have to be Lightweight Backpacking 101, put together in August of 2001 by the people responsible for Backpacking Light. True to lightweight backpacking form, it's also a lot shorter than Jardine's book, and gets to the essential points quickly.

Lightweight Backpacking 101 [Backpacking Light]

World's Lightest Pack

We don't really recommend either of these for the average backpacker, as it's the sort of thing that can just feed ultralightweight fanatacism (not that that's a bad thing). But there's something charmingly simple about the Silcoat Backpack from Intergral Designs. Weighing just 4.5 ounces, this stuffsack/backpack has the least frills of any production pack we've seen. Obvious questions arise -- where to stick the water bottle -- but for short trips in warm weather, this could be a fun pack to try out.

For those of you who like the bells and whistles, there's the "Uberlight" G6 Whisper, weighing in at 3.7 ounces, including on external pocket. No padding in the shoulder straps, though -- you have to provide that yourself, with an extra pair of socks. The G6 isn't going to win any beauty contests, either, though the shiny blue has a bit more panache than plain old black.

With both packs, of course, major caveats: They're made of pretty fragile fabrics for packs, so treat with care.

Silcoat Backpack [Integral Designs]
G6 Whisper [Gossamer Gear]

World's Lightest Pack, Part II

We know, we know: There are other, lighter packs out there. But the Thompson Peak seems to hit the middle point between light weight, usability, and durability, giving you a total of 3600 cubic inches of space. It's basically the shell of a Go Lite Breeze, but with a few improvements: lighter fabric, a reinforced bottom section (where most of the wear goes), compression straps on the sides, and a smaller extension collar (the one on the Breeze was like 3 feet long). Like the G6 (above), not the sexiest-looking piece of gear out there, but rucksacking isn't only about fashion.

Thompson Peak [AntiGravity Gear]

Thru-hiker Rolls

As Winter makes its way towards Spring, hundreds of hopeful hikers are making their ways onto the nation's long-distance trails. But who, we wonder, are these interpid souls? Never fear, hiker rolls are here! See the ones from Whiteblaze or Hiker Directory, the many entries at Trailjournals, or scan the starting date calendar at Trailplace (registration required).

Forum Rucksackum

Gear sites and journals like BackpackingLight are great, but what do you do if you have some specific questions about, say, where to get gas canisters on Kauai? To the internet, my friend: There are plenty of excellent forums out there where like-minded people in the know can help answer your questions. One great resource is the Yahoo BackpackingLight group. The new BackpackingLight.com forums aren't bad, either, nor is the message board over at Thru-Hiker. There are also two promising-looking groups just getting started over at Google Groups, Backpacking and Ultralight Backpacking Manufacturers.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Lightweight Stoves, But Were Afraid to Ask

In yet another sign of the continuing series of major manufacturers getting into the ultra-light market, check out Coleman's new lightweight canister stoves, the F1 Ultralight (2.7 ounces, 16,000 BTUs, $39.95, pictured) and F1 PowerBoost (4.7 ounces, 23,900 BTUs, $49.95).

There's also a veritable blizzard of stove reviews goin' on over at BackpackingLight, with features ranging from in-depth reviews to gas consumption comparisons (membership required). For the general public, there's also this handy Index of Lightweight canister stoves. Shattering the myth that Coleman only makes products suitable for parking-lot camping, the F1 Ultralight takes the top performance awards. Now ain't that something. Happy cookin', campers.

Tres Belle Mont Bell

Mont Bell hasn't officially released their 2005 line yet, but things are looking good in the lightweight warmth category. They've already done a pretty good job of catering to the UL crowd with their Nine Pounds to Freedom line (though their pack is still inexplicably heavy). Perhaps the finest piece in the line-up is the 8.2 oz U.L. Thermawrap Inner Jacket.  BackpackingLight reviews the 2005 model (which they keep referring to as the "Thermowrap"), which adds a hood and pockets for an additional 2 oz.

REI Getting Into the Game

We take a few months off, and the whole landscape of lightweight backpacking rucksacking changes. REI has introduced a new line of "UL" products, which, though still a tad on the heavy side by most standards (or at least by ours), are still a huge improvement over traditional gear and will probably start a much larger segement of the public down the path towards rucksacking. We're not exactly sure when they began offering in-house items like the poetically-named REI UL 30L Pack, but we'll leave finding out stuff like that to real journalists who do stuff like, you know, research.