Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Adventures in Scouting

As many of my friends here know, in 2007 my Mom (SierraAddict on WPSMB) and I made our first bid at a Whitney summit. As many of my friends here also know, we failed to reach the summit hut.

A huge deterrant to reaching the peak was our pack weight. At 45 lbs, mine was the heavier of the two by a couple of pounds and by the time we reached Trail Camp I was dead.

For the last 3 years it has been one of my driving goals to get that stupid packweight down. I have whittled and wheddled and fought with the urge to throw that one thing back into my pack for just in case. Last summer I had my pack weight down to about 35 lbs.

This weekend I was participating in a leadership training through my local boy scout council (I am a fairly active leader in the program) and a part of that training was an over night backpacking trip. Low milage, little gain... just basically a teambuilding excersize that doubled as an oppurtunity to get under pack for a little bit. We split our crew gear (cooking equipment and food), we had our own gear (all the other stuff including tents and sleeping bags, etc), and we carried our own water (I knew after asking that we wouldn't be very far from trustworthy water sources at any point in time so I had one naghene bottle).

As I stepped up to the scale, I verbally estimated 25 lbs while silently praying it would be under 30. The instructor took my pack, slipped it onto the hanging scale and grinned at me "20 lbs". I was STOKED! Finally, finally, FINALLY!!!!

WAY TO GO!!!!!

Now... consider leaving that tent behind. Unless it is likely to be a rainy or snowy outing, there just isn't much justification for it. I use an 11 oz. Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape.

Outstanding Chris! My pack this past July was 32 pounds, which was more than I really wanted. To me, 25 pounds for a summer overnighter should be the max. Maybe next trip up Whitney I just resolve this the easiest possible way - have Joe carry more of the weight!

When do you plan to give Whitney another go?

Um, yes, WHEN???

Great job on that hour a week scouting gig. ...........................DUG

Excellent job! I know how hard it is to do that!

One additional thought: A Nalgene bottle weighs about 8 oz. It has no special attributes, except in winter, when one is melting snow, and pouring hot water.

Consider: a 1 liter bottle of soft drink. I prefer the Lipton Ice Tea, or Diet Pepsi, that have larger openings. The container is free, for the price of the drink! They weigh nearly nothing. If you carry two, that's a lb, with no loss of function, safety, or usefulness.

I love the Aquafina "ecofina" bottles. Superlight and they collapse down to nothing and when you are ready to use them, just blow on them like a balloon. They are only 1/2 liter, but i like the smaller bottles most of the time.

Whoa! I never tried collapsing and re-inflating an Eco-Fina" bottle.

Good idea!

I used to think the Camel-back bladder and tube were the best invention. But then I weighed them -- nearly half a pound!! I've used Gatorade bottles because of the wider mouth.

Walmart sells a small clip and strap that you can hook on to your 16.9 ounce bottles and hang them from your belt or pack. I bought two for 99 cents each. I put 2 20 ounce bottles in my fanny pack with 2 16.9 ounce bottles hanging off empty. When I got to Trail Camp I topped off every thing and then left one 16.9 bottle at TC for the trip down. I had drank 30 ounces by that point so I had about 27 ounces to get to the summit and back. I didn't need the 16.9 when I returned but my partner did.

I usely always have an empty soda bottle with me even when using a Camelbak. I like to chug water at the top off spots and that's easier with a bottle. Camelbak is easier on the move, soda bottle is easier to chug. When I need to take a motrin or something, I like the soda bottle better........................................DUG

Steve, I wrote up my preference of the gerber semi-rigid hydration system over the camelback, but both of them have the issue of weight and I just don't like drinking out of a hose (I swallow too much air). So, I am all bottles from now on.

And I love me some aquafina

DUG, I jury rigged a bottle holder that didn't flop around annoyingly and I didn't have to dislocate my shoulder to get it. It took a few tries, but it worked out well.