In addition to using a gear list to track the weight of your gear and help you identify areas for improvement, it can be used as a checklist tool to help you gather, inspect and pack all of your gear before a trip. If you want to just print out a blank gear list and do it manually, here is a PDF version.Įditor-in-Chief’s Note: Brian’s template was instrumental for both Mike and myself when we undertook climbing 14’ers with the GORUCK Ascent! If you do not have Excel check out or any of the other Microsoft-compatible solutions that are readily available and free. It was made using Microsoft Excel and will let you take advantage of the pre-formatted gear categories and automatic formulas (sections in yellow) that will sum up the weight of each section. You can download a sample (blank) gear list template here, that I created for my own use. Now that you are ready to accurately weigh all of your gear, it’s time to start filling out a gear list. Be sure to break everything down into its component parts. Your tent or shelter is another good example, separate out the tent poles, ground sheet, tent body, and the fly sheet. Don’t just weigh the whole kits and write down 9oz, weigh all of the pieces so that when it comes time to eliminate, you can be very granular in your approach. A great example of this is your first aid kit. Make sure that you weigh all the individual components of your gear. You are going to weigh every piece of gear, and write down the weight, an accurate description of each piece and a note so that you’ll know exactly what it is and whether it needs any attention the next time you refer to your gear list. They are not very expensive, usually under $20, and can be used for all sorts of things other than just weighing your backpacking gear.Īssemble all the gear that you typically take or might take on a trip. But eventually you will want to have a digital scale that can weigh up to 8lbs in pound, ounce, and gram increments. It’s possible that you may be able to get started with this using scales that you already have. Having a detailed list of your gear is great, but keeping track of what you use and don’t use will provide you with valuable insight into areas where you can reduce or eliminate weight.Īnother common mistake is not breaking your gear down into their individual components, for example don’t just weigh your first aid kit, weigh all of the pieces individually. One of the most common mistakes that people make with a gear list is that they forget to maintain it, refer to it and adjust it. In order to know how much weight or gear you need to eliminate, you first have to understand what you currently have and how much you carry on a regular trip. In the following series of posts I’d like to focus on each of the core principles in more detail. If you read my previous article, an Introduction to Lightweight Backpacking, you’ll remember that I only touched on the basic principles of lightweight backpacking such as how to get started, weighing gear, taking less, multi-use gear and some of the benefits of reducing your pack weight. Lightweight Backpacking Step 3: Multi-Function Gear. Lightweight Backpacking Step 2: The Big Three.Lightweight Backpacking Step 1: Weigh Everything!.An Introduction to Lightweight Backpacking.
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