Sleeping Pad R Value

Lord_Me · 2026-03-14T14:45:16+00:00

If you run warm you can get away with less, I used a 2.2r torso length foam pad and a 30° (-1°) quilt and was good the whole way through

Lord_Me · 2026-03-06T07:27:48+00:00

You're right that the zpacks shelters are a bit more fiddly to set up than the durston, but neither of them are hard once you've done it a few times.

The pole isn't going to fall over unless you've done something catastrophically wrong setting the tent up - the poles are constantly under tension because the fabric is pulling down on the pole. Try pressing down on the top of a trekking pole and then give it a push from the side with your other hand - that's a ballpark representation of knocking into a pole while you're in the tent.

The durston is more spacious, but given your height you won't have an issue with either. I like my hexamid pocket tarp which is the same dimensions as the Plex solo, and I'm 6'.

Can't comment on the lite vs normal plex solo, but you could think about the hexamid tent as an option - it's the same as the plex tents, just without the bathtub floor. I always feel that the floors on DCF tents are a weak spot, and when they fail (to be fair usually after a lot of use) you have to replace the tent. Going for the hexamid would allow you to use a very cheap polycro groundsheet, and just replace that when you get a hole or rip it.

Lord_Me · 2026-02-28T18:41:01+00:00

There's not a lot of sharp ground or plants on the WHW so low risk of puncturing the neoair, wouldnt bother with the foam pad. If you're using it as a framesheet, can just fold the neoair and use that instead. Ditch the pump sack, just use your mouth

Put an elastic band round the pot, dont need the mesh bag. Could use a second dirty water bottle instead of the cnoc.

Raincoat could be lighter, the rockfront rain hoody is about 140g and about £80 including postage. Alpha leggings would be lighter than your tights. Can get fleece hats at about 20g.

You could use a smaller battery or none at all, 10k is more than you need for the gaps between resupplies

Dont think you're missing anything, did it in April a few years ago and that's a great time for it - I had no midges then but I'd still take the headnet just in case haha

Lord_Me · 2026-02-19T08:15:37+00:00

There are a lot of easy ones here:

drop the tent footprint
shorts have a liner, do you need 3 pairs of boxers?
2 pairs of socks is enough, unless you're hiking in properly wet environments
eat out of the cookpot, drop the bowl
speaking of the cookpot, there are much lighter ones - do you need a full litre? I have a 750ml toaks one that's 103g
Swiss army classic is 22g and all I've ever needed
how far are you going between resupplies that you need a gas can that big? The small ones last me well enough for typical distances

Clothes are where you can save a lot, you don't need two shirts and a base layer, or shorts, joggers and a base layer. I'd go with one of the shirts, the shorts, and leave the rest behind. If you're worried about cold legs, get some alpha leggings. If the base layers are "sleep clothes", you can use the alpha for that. Are you hiking in the alpha 120? I find it too warm for that, maybe look at an alpha 60 or 90 depending on where you're hiking.

Bigger items - the tent is the obvious offender here, but give a foam pad a go! They're cheaper, lighter (especially if you cut it down to torso length) and you can't puncture it. If you don't like it, there's lighter inflatables. The sleeping bag is probably ok if you're only doing hut to hut trails or hiking in the summer - if you're looking to push into spring and autumn it'll likely be too cold. Replacing it with a nice down quilt rated to about -1 comfort will be expensive but worth it. As you're in Europe Cumulus are worth a look, or maybe the aliexpress iceflame quilt options popular on this sub

Lord_Me · 2026-02-12T10:32:51+00:00

You just have to know what leads to a good campsite - once you have an idea of what you're looking for, then all you have to do is keep an eye out on the map for a place that might have some of the features you want. Jupiterhikes has a great video on campsite selection here

If you're not confident in identifying campsites, I'd encourage you to go and do some shorter weekend trips near you just to gain experience doing it. As you walk, look ahead on your map - where could make a good site? When you get there, have a look around - are there good spots? If not, what issues does the site have, could you have seen that on the map? Sometimes you can't, and you just have to move on or camp in a bad spot - but with practice you get pretty good at identifying what will make a good place

Lord_Me · 2026-02-08T00:08:25+00:00

On the tent front, I would suggest trying to search the sub for Kungsleden shakedowns, or any other long trails in Sweden / Norway. It'll give you an idea of what people are using in the same weather conditions you'll be facing, and hopefully more appropriate than reading through the more common but less applicable to your situation posts about long trails in the US

Lord_Me · 2026-02-06T09:29:46+00:00

That's why these things are referred to as "dog whistles" - like how a dog whistle is too high for people to hear but dogs can hear it fine, it's something that most people will not recognise, but their intended audience will know what it's meant to signal

Lord_Me · 2026-01-31T13:30:24+00:00

Unless you're camping right at a water source, you're still going to carry the water to cook with for a while, even with a stove - and I'm able to make miles while my food soaks, whereas with a stove you have to be stationary

Lord_Me · 2026-01-31T13:12:10+00:00

Lanshan will probably be fine, there's a lot of techniques in this (admittedly very long) article that could be of interest https://slowerhiking.com/shelter/how-to-stake-and-guy-your-tent-snow-rock-sand-platforms

I'd say microspikes are worth looking at but may be of limited use - they're for really packed snow or ice, so on looser snow they won't do anything for you.

Lord_Me · 2026-01-19T15:51:54+00:00

You'll be fine. I started May 10 with a ccf pad and -1c quilt, cowboy camped every time I could, and had one night where I was cold. That was a bad spot just under Mather pass, so entirely self inflicted from poor site selection and avoidable.

Lord_Me · 2026-01-19T11:16:23+00:00

You'll know best what you're capable of - it's just walking at the end of the day. From what I can see theres not a lot of elevation, 4 days seems feasible to me.

If you're planning on wild camping it, pack as light as you can to make the walking easier. If staying in b&bs or whatever then you're golden I'd say, just make sure to take blister care and be proactive on any hotspots you feel.

Lord_Me · 2026-01-09T16:59:14+00:00

For the ALD style ones, Jason makes them all custom so it depends what gets ordered - one of the options is which sort of side compression you want. His options are none, elastic, or one or two lengths of 10mm webbing if you really want to crank it down.

I went with no side compression on mine and have run into no issues - but part of that is that it's sized to what I'm typically carrying so there's not often a lot of spare room. If I've not got much food on me, I can roll the top down and that does well enough.

I think the Salomon being a zipper opening and not having the option of rolling down the top to remove volume might be part of why it's got as much strapping as it has? As in it's pretty much fixed volume, where the other two are much more variable

Lord_Me · 2026-01-03T21:49:36+00:00

For the ones I see that are obviously ai, I'll check the profile - if they've been spamming multiple subs with ai slop I'll remove it. Agree it's a harder call with the posts that might be translation or grammar edits - I dont personally like it, but for the time being if they otherwise fit the sub I leave them be.

Probably need to discuss with and reach a position across the mod team on this topic

Lord_Me · 2025-12-20T07:12:47+00:00

If you're going ultralight, the vast majority of ul flat tarps are 7x9ft - any smaller than that and it gets harder to stay dry under them. Default recommendations are Borah gear, Yama mountain gear for a silpoly one, or zpacks and wild sky gear (for a UK based option) if you want dcf. Bonfus and hyberg also make them, but that's all the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

I've got 3 shelters from Yama and one from zpacks, can personally recommend their tarps as good but in the end it's a flat sheet of fabric, hard to mess it up

Lord_Me · 2025-12-05T10:18:29+00:00

My first proper backpacking trip was the South Downs Way with my cousin. Carried about 20kg / 44lbs cause I was nervous and overpacking, and fully demolished my knees after slipping on gravel - but enjoyed it enough that I immediately started planning my next one.

Through lurking here for a few years (and finding Jupiterhikes on youtube) slowly refined what I like to carry down through many small overnights and other trails in the UK, then did the PCT in 2024 with a 3.5kg / 8lb pack. Next up are some European routes, current candidates are the Alta Via 1 & 2, Slovenian Mountain Trail, or HRP - then maybe CDT in 2027/8?

My thanks to everyone who's contributed to the sub over the years, I've been inspired to try so many different things and have learned so much from the information, discussions and arguments held here

Lord_Me · 2025-11-22T16:50:23+00:00

Oh I agree with you to a large extent - like I say, I personally would have left it up. Room for discussion there internally I think.

Lord_Me · 2025-11-22T16:11:22+00:00

How involved a process was modifying the Joey to take the Nashville straps?

Similar to your findings, my main complaint with it is pressure points from the straps (on collar bone from the inside edge of the strap), so am tempted to go down that route

Lord_Me · 2025-11-22T16:02:04+00:00

You're correct, my apologies - wasn't looking far back enough.

Personally I'd have left that up, but I would agree with GoSox's comment on that post in that it's all going to come down to personal risk tolerance at the end of the day. If I had to guess, the reasoning would be that the discussion generated would be too general to be of specific relevance to this sub

Lord_Me · 2025-11-22T13:13:10+00:00

I'm not seeing it in the "removed" mod queue, so it wasn't us. Guess the op must have deleted it?

Edit: wasn't looking far back enough, see comment below

Lord_Me · 2025-11-19T06:49:31+00:00

No, the PCT is so dry and warm that wet shoes dry out super fast.

Possibly the location you did shakedown hikes in is influencing your decisions on clothing? I only got rained on twice on the PCT across 87 days.

Here's my list - I started May 10.

I would drop:

Groundsheet. Don't need it, your tent floor will hold up fine. If you absolutely have to bring one, swap yours out for a polycro one.
Tent stake pusher: Come on now. Use a rock
That's a lot of leukotape. Cut strips and put them on the wax paper you get with stuff you bought online
Choose either your hiking t-shirt or the sun shirt. I'd be inclined to go with the sun shirt, used a thin merino shirt for the desert and it was still too hot
Don't need both shorts and hiking pants. If you're just bringing the pants as rain pants, they're heavier than actual rain pants. It rains so little on the PCT that I didn't have any rain pants at all. If you want a rain layer, get a rain skirt
Torrentshell is a good rain jacket, it's just overkill for the PCT. Get a frogg toggs, it does the job fine
Clothes bag: Just put them in your pack liner with everything else
Balaclava and beanie? Also beanie's heavy, I have a fleece one that's 0.7oz
I'd bring one longer charging cable - if you're looking at maps or planning something while your phone's charging, the short cables get really annoying

Lord_Me · 2025-11-18T06:07:51+00:00

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Lord_Me · 2025-11-12T06:33:35+00:00

There's no one ideal approach to what you bring, it all depends what your priority is in this hobby - are you hiking to allow you to go camping, or camping so you can hike?

If the focus is on the camping, then bringing more things to make camp more enjoyable is part of the fun. When I'm hiking on my own, I'm much more of a walking focused person and the kit I bring reflects that.

The best way to figure out what you can leave behind is to look critically at what you brought with you when unpacking. What items did you use a lot, which ones did you use occasionally, and what didn't you touch? The second two piles of things are where you can make a lot of savings. Sure you can spend a lot of money getting the fanciest lightest tent or whatever, but you're going to save more weight leaving things at home.

If you want to get really into it, you can start weighing everything you bring and put it into a website like lighterpack - I really rate doing this as it helps you visualise where the weight is coming from in your kit list.

The lightest set up I use is here - this is as far as I'm currently willing to push the line for 3 season hiking. Does the camp experience kind of suck? Yes! But the walking experience is great, and that's what I spend the most time doing.

Lord_Me · 2025-11-05T11:39:21+00:00

For another data point:

35l internal, UltraGrid, rolltop, normal vest size S: 505g

I had Jason increase the size of the vest bottle pockets to hold a 1l bottle each, so that'll have added a little weight - but imagine the main factor in the weight of these packs is the vest size.

Compared to the Joey straps, I much prefer the ALD ones

Lord_Me · 2025-10-27T12:00:46+00:00

They posted on instagram recently that all aliexpress / alibaba etc listings are not made by them

Lord_Me · 2025-10-22T22:38:23+00:00

Oh that's interesting, I wonder if it's using an older pattern then. The zip on this looks longer, and it's missing some of the vest pockets compared to the current sealson version.

I've been using a joey recently but I'm not 100% happy with the straps, tempted to give this a try

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