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I am heading out for about 2 weeks in the Pyrenees. Just weighed my pack at 56 lbs, and I still have to toss in another 10 lbs of food.

This weight includes everything I am bringing except that 10 lbs of food, water, and boots.
snowshoes
crampons
mountaineering axe
helmet
harness
winter bag
thermarest
bivy
long underwear, fleece, down, shell, mitts, hat, socks etc
about 9 lbs or rice, chocolate, peanutbutter, cashews (more food to come)

all the little stuff: lighter, watch, camera, compass, cellphone, batteries, headlamp, first aid kit, some duct tape, passport, money, credit cards.

My partener meeting me there has the avy gear, rope, hardware, and cooking gear.

Where do you look first to cut weight?

S H I T !

When I go out for two weeks, I hit the trail with 90-100 pounds on my back. At least 2/3 of that is food. That doesn't even include any climbing gear except helmet, ice axe and crampons.

DanTheMan wrote:Where do you look first to cut weight?

Start with priorities. If climbing is my priority, and weight is an issue, I pack the needed climbing gear first. Decide on a max pack weight and add one item at a time to your pack until you hit your max weight. Forces you to prioritize.

DanTheMan wrote:all the little stuff: lighter, watch, camera, compass, cellphone, batteries, headlamp, first aid kit, some duct tape, passport, money, credit cards.

Cellphone? First aid kit? Headlamp? Duct tape? You're joking, aren't you?

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:S H I T !

When I go out for two weeks, I hit the trail with 90-100 pounds on my back. At least 2/3 of that is food. That doesn't even include any climbing gear except helmet, ice axe and crampons.

DanTheMan wrote:Where do you look first to cut weight?

Start with priorities. If climbing is my priority, and weight is an issue, I pack the needed climbing gear first. Decide on a max pack weight and add one item at a time to your pack until you hit your max weight. Forces you to prioritize.

DanTheMan wrote:all the little stuff: lighter, watch, camera, compass, cellphone, batteries, headlamp, first aid kit, some duct tape, passport, money, credit cards.

Cellphone? First aid kit? Headlamp? Duct tape? You're joking, aren't you?

We are not carrying every meal we will eat. There are a few huts and villages where we are planning on finding food. The duct tape might be unnecessary, but cellphone, first aid kit, and headlamp are definitely on my list of essentials.

There are two major ways to cut weight: Leave things that you don't absolutly need at home (It takes some experimentation to learn what these are, but believe me, you probably will be bring some) or: Bring lighter stuff. You could go through all your gear, (and your pack itself) and determine if there is a lighter version of whatever it is that you could replace your current gear with. Unfortunately, this tends to be rather costly, but if you really want to save weight, you probably could eliminate quite a few poiunds doing this, and still bring all that stuff!
Food is tougher, but you could try not to carry to much water in your food, that is bring foods that are high in nutrition but pretty dry, nutrient dense foods. This needs to be determined by each person, what they can (or are willing to) get away with.

The duct tape could be left out - yes, it's extremely useful, but a roll of duct tape is heavy and not space efficient.

The first aid kit... If it's in a "kit pouch" of some sort... take it all out, put only a few of the really essential things in a tiny zip lock and you're set. Essential things for me out of the first aid kit... Athletic tape - most useful thing in the world! If you're both young and healthy, I'd forgo bringing a bunch of stuff in a standard first aid kit. Leave the bandaids at home (athletic tape can have multiple uses) etc.

Sometimes, when you get to the bare essentials and it still weighs a lot, that's when you have to look at your gear and maybe replace a few peices with some lighter things if the weight means that much to you. Ounces add up to pounds...

But you're going for a bit, it's normal your weight's up there.

check out backpackinglight.com

those guys know their stuff. Make a post in their alpine forum with your gear list and they will help you out. They are all really nice over their too

-CS

If you really want the duct tape just wrap a bit around your trekking pole, axe et.
You don't need much to repair a hole or use as emergency moleskin.

I've got 5 or 6 ft. on my trekkers for three years now and have only used it once to repair a gaiter that got thrashed from crampons.

Cheers-E

Leave the fleece out. If you have down and a shell, you don't need it. Also, what kind of ice axe and crampons do you have? You can cut some weight in this department by going with a Raven Pro or some other lightweight axe and a light pair of crampons (e.g. Sarkens). Take 2 pairs of socks only. You can dry the wet pair in the sleeping bag at night. Minimize in the clothing department. I would take one polypro base top, one powerstretch top/botton, shell, down...done. It seems you're a bit on the heavy side, especially with no tent (bivy only?). I do a lot of multi-day alpine stuff and never carry over 50 lbs. And I'm usually with my fiancee, so I'm carrying some of her share to keep her under 35 lbs. I think you can cut it to under 60 lbs with a few changes.

A lot will depend on how much comfort you want to sacrifice.

Ditching you tent and going bivy only will save you roughly 1.5 kg.

Ditching the thermarest and going with half closed cell foampad will save you weight too.

Leaving the petrol stove at home and taking a lightweight alcohol stove with you will save weight as well.

Etc etc.

BrunoM wrote:A lot will depend on how much comfort you want to sacrifice.

Ditching you tent and going bivy only will save you roughly 1.5 kg.

Ditching the thermarest and going with half closed cell foampad will save you weight too.

Leaving the petrol stove at home and taking a lightweight alcohol stove with you will save weight as well.

Etc etc.

Already taking a bivy and a tarp. Alcohol stove would mean a huge increase in fuel weight. We are already carrying a lot.

For a 2 week trip in winter, I don't think 60 pounds is necessarily too much.

Make sure that you are only taking the amount of stuff you will use - it may mean opening things and counting out what's needed for 2 weeks. Same goes with food - figure out how many calories you need per day and package for that plus perhaps 1 extra day, in case you get stuck. Also I assume you are not going alone - identify group gear and decide who will bring what and go from there. It seems you have done much of this.

You also can save by taking food that requires at most hot water to prepare: 1 pot for 2, plus for each one bowl, 1 mug and 1 spork - minimal weight. I use those reuseable plastic food storage containers for my bowl - weighs almost nothing.
Replace any stuff sacks with ones made from silnylon or plastic freezer bags. Discard any excess wrapping and packaging.

It's amazing how quickly you can find pounds like this.

BTW, my Prolite Thermarest weighs the same as a closed cell foam pad and gives a higher R value per ounce than anything else I have tried.