Stupid question about kit lists

It’s not Diane Abbott?

so in a nebulous way, there is no real aspiration for true weights just notional targets?

Baldy said:

`skin out'
`body weight'
WTH!
my new years resolution is not to take life too seriously.

Pull yourself together Dave.



and a happy new year from a sunny south east London.

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Happy New Year to you too Mick

Full skin out is truth

Pack weight is competitive

When you take just what you need and use, done.

I make lists, and lists and lists... I list what I used with all the weights, then I look to see whether a new thing will let me get rid of two things or have a more useful thing instead. When I get a new pack soon I'll probably get a bigger slightly heavier cook pot. Carry less, eat better.

I prefer skin out lists just so that know what i am taking. Whether it is worn or carried makes no odds to me

If it goes in or on my pack at any point of a hike its part of the pack weight. I don't carry things in pockets (because that ends up with me losing them) so that means everything that isn't basic clothes and footwear get counted in pack weight, that'll do me.

I gave my lighter pack password to a mate so he could copy categories and weights for some kit we both have. He proceeded to overwrite all my stuff. Can't be arsed to put it all in again so I've stopped caring

Padstowe+Mole+WilliamC+.

This has to be right. Once you've decided on the things you'll need, and that you've taken your sensibly-lightest versions of those things, there's little point in weighing the result, because it's not going to serve any practical purpose. I suppose a rough idea of weight is useful for airline travel, or for choosing a new pack, but I only use my lists to make sure I haven't forgotten anything, and as a reference when assessing possible replacement purchases.

Of course, this wouldn't apply if you're a 'weight trader' - i.e. someone who, within a fixed overall limit, seeks to cut some weight in one area in order to allow more to be carried in another, like Clare and her aspirational cooking pot.

Other people's lists are, of course, an entirely different matter, because they can challenge perceptions and offer interesting alternatives. They can also be a source of entertainment. The individual who splurges on a super-costly cuben thingy saving perhaps 150g, only to 'fess up to the contents of a sub-branch of PC World under 'Electricals' is one example. Another is the person who lists the backup to the backup to the backup to the backup....

I like lists, as much as I like planning or staring at maps for hours on end, they help me to remember everything I need for a trip but I also enjoy trying to identify areas where weight can be saved, not necessarily by throwing money at it.
I don't think its competitive because there are so many variables so no trip loadout is ever the same for me, especially in the UK, we all have different levels of comfort tolerance too so it doesn't really work.
I have roughly 3 lists, summer, 3 season and winter, I'll be guided by those when packing for a trip and swap kit about depending on weather/terrain/distance etc.
I've done lists in excel and Lighterpack which both include a final skin out, scary numbers sometimes in full winter getup with boots, yeti gaiters, shovel, spikes, layers, multifuel stove etc

agreed, every trip is different and I like lists to help me to identify what I need for those individual requirements. There is no one size fits all but keeping track of everything I need and the weights of those are useful but not an absolute

In my experience if I forget anything, it doesn't take long for the immission to be pointed out...

The only thing to get lighter imo is the wallet.....
Played the game once not again.
Happy with what i learnt playing it, and left overs will or should get me thru an outing.
sold the rest and even happier buying second hand these days.
Read on here lots about how too save weight but it really doesnt bother me what it weighs.. but gone are mi days of 50lb packs thank god lol...
Admittedly not been out for 2 to 3 years due to 4 arm operations and one next week but my new years resolution is to get out and teach son ready for D of E in summer.

gixer said:

Took a scale to the Lakes earlier in the year.
Weighed all our rucksacks as leaving the car, complete with water and food.

Think i was at around 10kg with the Scarp2, Scott was around 14kg and James was around 7kg (if memory serves)

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You flatter me but not far off. I was running particularly light that trip as someone had threatened to bring scales up Kirk Fell to weigh attendees packs.

If I recollect correctly, Scott's rucksack was camo coloured so that immediately adds 2kg and he probably had all sorts of boy scout 'essentials' such as a spade or crocodile Dundee style knife...
Yours was probably heavy because you were carrying deluxe 3 course meals whereas I was down to my last pepperami.


I have to own up to having weighed everything i own individually, however I don't tend to weigh the finished pack, perhaps I will in future.

A kit list like lighterpack.com helps me reign in my overpacking tendancies.
For example I always have big estate cars, V70's, Passat's, Saab 9-5's and a few years ago I found that I was completely filling the car, seats folded down and everything, just to go on a 1 man static camping trip for 4-5 days to gt langdale!

I decided to go on a major de-clutter and shed the excess baggage, selling most of the gear and replacing it with the most weight/space efficient stuff I could afford. I now manage to just fill the boot, rather than the whole car.

I am not fully recovered though, my last trip of the year was to Norfolk where I took 7 different forms of lighting, that's right....7!

1. AAA Glo-toob as a tent marker/lantern.
2. Maratac AAA as it's always in my wallet.
3. Zebralight 18650 head torch, because it's all about the lumens (well if you have your own personal sun you may as well take it)
4. A treadlite tent lantern because it's just so light.
5. Petzl e+light, as emergency backup.
6. 2 X cheap keyring LEDs in case anyone else has forgotten to bring something to light their tent.
7. Eagletac D25C (cr123) because I like it and it's the easiest to use.

Even in the lakes last year I probably had 5 of these but due to the length of the days I think on several nights I did not even use a light at all.

The final thing I do before starting any trip is to empty my pack of as many extraneous bits as possible, I do the same just before the checkouts at IKEA when I realise I don't really need the trolly full of junk I have accumulated on the way round as I only came in for 4 wine glasses.

A good kit list helps me manage my 'issues'

Best disingenuous list I saw didn't include a stuffed bumbag as 'its not in my pack' ... Each to their own lol

I have a list with every item and their weight. It does help point out where you could save some weight. Also can be quite a shock when you do weigh some items. “It doesn’t weigh anything”, lol, liar.
And why can’t manufacturers get weights right on their own products?

dovidola said:

Other people's lists are, of course, an entirely different matter, because they can challenge perceptions and offer interesting alternatives. They can also be a source of entertainment. The individual who splurges on a super-costly cuben thingy saving perhaps 150g, only to 'fess up to the contents of a sub-branch of PC World under 'Electricals' is one example.

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I wasn't aware that my pack list was up online anywhere

Ken T. said:

And why can’t manufacturers get weights right on their own products?

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There is, of course, an incentive to underestimate the weight. Rab, however, is one company whose products I've often had come in underweight.

Diddi said:

The only thing to get lighter imo is the wallet.....
Played the game once not again.
Happy with what i learnt playing it, and left overs will or should get me thru an outing.
sold the rest and even happier buying second hand these days.
Read on here lots about how too save weight but it really doesnt bother me what it weighs.. but gone are mi days of 50lb packs thank god lol...
Admittedly not been out for 2 to 3 years due to 4 arm operations and one next week but my new years resolution is to get out and teach son ready for D of E in summer.

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Same as you i played the game but don’t stress about things now. And same as you i haven’t been out due to operations.
Mine wasn’t my arm though ⚾️

I sold a large proportion of my kit (accumulated over 10 years i hasten to add) and find myself with basic but reasonable items. More importantly i dont have much variation to faff over in terms of kit. I have one tent, one sleeping bag, one pack, one wp jacket, one mat etc. My choices are limited but i am still interested in getting the list right when i do go out.

When I first started out when I was a teenager in the 1950s with a canvas tent and paraffin primus stove etc. ,my pack weighed 28lb 12oz.

With all today's advances in lightweight technology it now weighs 13kg.

I find 52 g of kite lifts the heart, and thereby lightens the load, by weigh more than the alleged mass carried can give you an extra incentive to get to that breezy col... Positive mental attitude weighs zero

Skin out? Well yes, for sure, if the weathers nice, but there's the extra load of sun cream to carry - which i usually neglect to apply in sufficient quantities

I'd personally not discount the benefits of starting with some extra subcutaneous emergency rations, so long as they're not excessive (OK define excessive)

i always seem to lose weight on any trip over a week, despite best efforts of quartermaster, and big meals in towns when chance arises, but i can't generally stomach lots of sweet n gacky stuff

It has meant that i've been unable to cinch the hip belt tight enough, by the end of a couple of weeks .

Having crazily splurged on a new tent last year (TT Moment DW) Maybe now's the time for a new pack ? Or maybe more buns

i could never imagine having the time , interest , or mental energy to weigh, and record fiddly details of all the various items though - that sounds tremendously much like work ... i thought our leisure activities were supposed to be give us a break from those kind of strictures...

Ah yes Ok, i see ...


I do love making a kit list, mind - it means i'm going somewhere

oldtimer said:

When I first started out when I was a teenager in the 1950s with a canvas tent and paraffin primus stove etc. ,my pack weighed 28lb 12oz.

With all today's advances in lightweight technology it now weighs 13kg.

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At last a chance for my pedantry to shine through! 28llb 12oz is 12.7kg but I'm guessing you didn't weigh your pack in kilos in those days... Interestingly for the purposes of this thread, which divides between number hoarders and number avoiders, you remember exactly what it weighed.

I find fussing over kit a way of keeping my interest up when I can't actually do 'it' . two and a half weeks off for Christmas but due to commitments no chance of getting away, the walls are closing in!

Enzo said:

I find fussing over kit a way of keeping my interest up when I can't actually do 'it' . two and a half weeks off for Christmas but due to commitments no chance of getting away, the walls are closing in!

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Thats a really interesting insight into someone elses' way of coping Enzo.

I find not thinking about kit, or trips helps me manage better, when there's not much prospect of getting away...

Couldn't you at least get out for a muck about in a local park , to let off some steam ?

oldtimer said:

When I first started out when I was a teenager in the 1950s with a canvas tent and paraffin primus stove etc. ,my pack weighed 28lb 12oz.

With all today's advances in lightweight technology it now weighs 13kg.

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You must be carrying lots more items of gear which you now deem necessary, than you did back then? Must be if modern equivalents are lighter?