rucksacking

Mont Bell Sleeping Bag Cover

7 is a magical number, and at only 7 ounces, this bag cover/bivy from Mont Bell is a magical item indeed. Made of Gore-tex and completely seam-taped, this little trucker will keep you dry as a bone no matter the weather. According to Mont Bell, even old Backpacker Magazine had good things to say, calling it "7 ounces of perfection" in its 2005 Gear Guide.

U.L. Sleeping Bag Cover [Mont Bell]
Reviews [Mont Bell]

Le Cafe du Rucksaque

There's nothing like a good cup of joe to start a morning in the woods off right (or maybe there is, but we haven't figured it out yet). Trouble is, bringing extra gear along just for coffee kinda violates the whole lightweight backpacking ethic (shh!). Being rucksackers, though, we want to live well and hike light. How, you ask? Brilliant question! To begin with, there's good-old, reliable, lightweight Cowboy coffee. For those with modern tastes, how about doin' it Jet Boil style (scroll down to French press)? And if you can justify bringing along one small extra bit of kit, the GSI espresso maker suits us just fine.

Cowboy Coffee [Ineedcoffe.com]
Jet Boil coffee attachment [Jetboil]
GSI Espresso maker [Med.ca]

Princeton Tec EOS Headlamp

We left the Princeton Tec EOS out of our recent headlamp roundup because it just barley over-stepped our (admittedly somewhat arbitrary) weight standard of 3 oz or less. But with lithium AAA batteries, the 1 watt light reportedly weighs in at a mere 3.3 oz, and its performance definitely recommends itself to lightweight backpackers. To wit: A single 1 watt LED bulb, three brightness settings (plus emergency flash mode), large and easy-to-use button, and a tiltable, waterproof housing. Weight: 3.7 oz with alkaline AAA batteries, or 3.3 with lithiums. Battery life: 6.5-60 hours.

Princeton Tec EOS headlamp [Princeton Tec]
EOS headlamp reviews [BackpackGearTest.org]
EOS headlamp review [Backpacking Light, sub. req.]

From Trafalgar Square to Cape Town: Thru-hiking Europe and Africa

Rucksackers everywhere should salute the Australian husband and wife team of Gary and Paula Constant. On the 1^st of August, 2004, they left London from Trafalgar square to walk to Cape Town in South Africa -- a distance of over 10,500 miles. The walk will run in three stages: from London to Morocco, Morocco to Sudan, and Sudan to Cape Town. They're currently in Portugal, which sounds nice. The trip must have taken incredible palnning skills, but we were brough up short by this line on their site: "After a great deal of thought, it has been agreed the weight that can be comfortably carried on a daily basis by each person should not exceed 30kilos, and ideally would be closer to 20. Including food." (Note to Americans: that's 44 to 66 pounds)(Note to the Constants: you could go a lot lighter than that! Please, get rid of that needlessly heavy Coleman tent!)

Constanttrek Home [Constanttrek.com]
Constanttrek Blog [constanttrek.typepad.com]

Jetboil Review Roundup

The biggest stir in stove land last year was the introduction of the Jetboil "personal cooking system," also known as, you know, a stove. An integrated pot/stove with a highly efficient heat exchanger, the Jetboil represented a new concept in outdoor stoves, and reviewers went gaga over it. It won awards from Outside and Backpacker, and supposedly has other stove makers in hot pursuit of their own versions of the integrated cooker. In honor of its first birthday, check out the three reviews it's had so far at Backpack Gear Test, see it put through its paces at Backpacking Light's review, (you may want to see how it stacked up in comparison with other lightweight canister stoves [subscription required]), or feast on the bounty of other reviews below.

The bottom line, from what we've read, seems to be this: very convenient, fuel efficient, and fast (though not as fast as the manufacturer claims). It really outperforms other stoves in windy conditions. If most of your cooking involves boiling things (one review below talks about poached eggs), and you want something easier to use than a Snow Peak Gigapower and titanium pot, this might be a good match for you.

Jetboil Personal Cooking System [Outside Buyer's Guide]
Jetboil [Backpacker Magazine]
Jetboil Reviews [BackpackGearTest.com]
Jetboil Stove Review [Backpacking Light]
Jetboil [The Backpacker.com]
Jetboil Review [GearReview.com]
Consumer Comments [Backcountry.com]
User Reviews [Summitpost.org]

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]