Faster, further, freer: Light and ultralight hiking in SA (and how to lighten your pack)

Hi. Some advice from a very experienced Drakensberg hiker. Never under-estimate the Drakensberg weather on the escarpment. Not even in summer. Rather be prepared for the worst. Your clothes look a bit thin to me. Remember the principle of layers. Good waterproof and windproof gear are very important. And a very good sleeping bag. Take enough nice food. Do you want to just survive, or enjoy it? It is good if you can travel light, but always strike a balance between lightweight, safety, comfort and enjoyment. Have a great trip!

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Awesome thread.
I have started collecting light gear since October and weigh every item.
Have a spreadsheet running and my goal is under 10kg excluding water & food.
Heaviest item I own is my tent at 1.2kg

I have seen tents on Amazon that are under 1kg and you use your trekking poles as the tent comes with no poles.

@MasterMo yeah, it used to be a contest of ‘manliness’, now it’s almost one of resourcefulness, at least in these circles, playing lightly on the word contest, because I still like that hiking is not the most competitive of sports.

I’ll be staring starry eyed at DCF for many years to come still. Hopefully its gets cheaper ASAP, because I’d love some (all) of that stuff. One tent would cost the same as half of my kit though (including all the things I’ve tried out and ended up tossing aside lol). Tarptent just brought out a new 1 person, the Aeon Li, weighs a whopping 448g! Hopefully I’ll bump into you sometime so I can truly appreciate the beauty of the Notch.

@Jaxz, indeed, other than actually being out there, the process has been one of the most rewarding parts of the hobby for me. Perhaps I’m a bit OCD, but obsessively analysing each piece of gear brings me a good amount of joy. So do the strange looks I get from my friends when I tell them I’m using half a sleeping pad and my pack under my feet :sweat_smile:. Added to it being more enjoyable on the hike is the long-term health side – less pressures on your joints, less chance of injury, and, if you already have joint issues/lasting injuries, the ability to actually continue hiking the way you used to (also goes for newer hikers who may be worried about such issues).

I think the true skill comes in knowing where your legitimate fears end and irrational fears begin. There are two sides to the whole lightening your pack game. The first is free: planning, experience and testing - seeing where your edge of comfort lies and then building in a bit of buffer, but not too much. The second is us drooling over DCF and all the latest gear. I hope through these discussions the bug can bite more people on the first one, and by default drive up the interest in the second - maybe we’ll see some cottage manufacturers or at least the bigger brands begin to explore lighter materials if we can do that (I mean FA still hasn’t even used silnylon). We have Hex Valley Down for instance who manufactures bags, if there was some demand for a quilt maybe they’d start doing one.

Awesome pointers on the stove! Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend lol. Any experience on using them in sub-zero temps? The stove I have is good for up to 4 pax (gets a bit wonky if you put more than 1.5L of water on top of it), but I’d like to have the option of something lighter, even if it ends up just so I can say I do.

Your lighter pack looks good man. The prices seem like maybe some were in $ and others in R though, but I’ll look forward to an update. I’ll put my R and $’s in too. Shakedown from my side, if you get a ‘sports cap’ like this (couldn’t find my one for a pic) you can back flush the sawyer with it - no need for that syringe.

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@Derekrits, some great advice! I think that’s the major goal of lightweight/ultralight hiking (besides the focus on cutting edge materials/designs etc.) – to find your own line between comfort and survival, and being able to take this into account beforehand for any trip. I’m still experimenting with where exactly mine is, and this will be the most minimal I’ve gone in terms of clothing yet. I’m quite sure you already know where yours is (lucky!). For someone like you, maybe discussions on the new gear would help save some weight, if that’s your thing.

Given that, the coldest I’ve gone in the Berg so far was an overnight trip up to the Amphitheatre last August during a cold front to see the snow. We spent the night in Crow’s Nest Cave, and temperatures were predicted to be around 0 before wind chill. The wind was strong enough that I could maintain a good lean into it (still working on being able to judge wind speed), and sounded like a jet engine outside of the cave mouth. Despite having extra clothing, I didn’t end up using more than what I’ve included above, apart from sleeping in a fleece (the bag I had then was only rated to -3). With the -12 bag, I know I’ll be safe for this trip, and with previous experience, I’m hoping for comfortable. But the latter is a chance I’m willing to take to build up better experience for future trips. I will also of course remain open to including additional layers if the forecast looks worse than what I’m expecting it to be now.

Looking forward to your continued contributions, it’s always great to hear from people who’ve actually been there and done that.

@Chuckmyster glad you’re keen on the discussion! The more talk we can get going the sooner we will see the trend picking up! At this rate we might just have to start a whole section instead of just one thread :wink:

The trekking pole trend is indeed the ‘new’ big thing, if you feel like spending a good few bucks you could get fully featured, double vestibule tents under 600g (see the Aeon/Aeon Li and Notch/Notch Li mentioned above as just two of the many examples, Z-Packs Duplex was one of the originals). I don’t have a few hundred dollars though, so I think the Chinese 3F UL Gear Pedestrian 1 will be my new upgrade (or downgrade, these terms are a bit confusing in this context lol) – a $65 tent from Aliexpress. Will likely add an extra guy-out point on the large panel on the back to increase wind resistance, but other than that I’d probably trust its structural integrity more than the one I currently own. There are also a few larger double walled models like the Lanshan 2.

I think under 10 kg’s is totally achievable, probably without spending much (or any) more cash even. I’ve dropped a good few kgs over the last few months just by cutting things down and chucking things out. In fact, I’ve actually been able to lower my weight while carrying more items (never used to carry a filter for example). Maybe migrate your spreadsheet to a lighter pack list, think we’d be happy to help check out where you can lighten up.

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The lighter the total weight you carry, the easier the hiking, as simple as that :slightly_smiling_face:

There are limitations though, so you will have to find a balance between cost, comfort, size and usage. My “problem” is that at 2m tall everything uses more material and therefore weighs more. Extra length sleeping bag, XL pack size, 12 1/2 size boot etc. No matter what I do, these will always make my weight more that a smaller person.

So working with the above limitations in mind, here is my take on the matter:

Multi use gear is a must to reduce weight, and sharing stuff definitely helps. Although, not when sharing with your wife as I have to carry the tent and kitchen stuff :frowning: ,
Weather: when the Berg throws a temper tantrum, you will be in serious trouble if you don’t have the right gear, i.e. 4 season sleeping bag, proper shelter etc. These add weight but will help you to survive. Just a word of caution here - your experience in the mountains isn’t necessarily all there is to mountain weather. Just because for the past 10 years you haven’t experienced 100km/h windstorms doesn’t mean they don’t occur. Spend enough time in the mountains and you will eventually encounter these, which might cause a paradigm shift in how you view mountain weather,
Comfort: a very subjective matter. I know guys who leave stoves, sleeping bags, sleeping mats etc. at home. They go in light and fast, aim for a cave for shelter (hope it isn’t occupied), sleep for maybe 3 hours on the cold floor, and when they can’t stand the cold anymore they get going again. On the other extreme end I know guys who arrive with a salt and pepper grinder (each weighing about 1kg) and I’m thinking, are you going to consume all those spices in 3 days? :flushed:. For me, the right balance is somewhere between these two extremes. I go to the mountains to enjoy my outdoor experience. This involves some creature comforts (like boiling water for coffee, food etc. i.e. the stoves comes along), but I don’t need a clean shirt for every day - 2 will do, the one from yesterday is washed and left to dry to be ready for tomorrow. You need to find your own balance
Cost: I find that the gear curve is exponential, not linear. As costs increase, the additional benefits becomes more marginal. You will pay substantially more towards the top end of the price spectrum, without receiving a corresponding increase in benefits. For me, the sweet spot lies at somewhere along the section where the curve starts to steepen a lot, somewhere between the start of the steepening curve and where it starts to go more vertical. You need to find your own sweet spot along this curve.

Lastly, one point that is rarely mentioned, and that has helped me a lot to reduce weight, is to simply lose some body weight. By losing a couple of kilo’s around the mid section, you can save a lot of weight at no extra cost. Over the last 18 months or so I managed to lose about 10kg’s of weight. It has made a huge difference in my hiking experience. I don’t carry much fat naturally, so most of this loss was muscle mass. Losing muscle over fat was preferred in my case, as muscle needs oxygen, blood and energy (i.e. food), whereas fat was just a dead weight to be dragged along. I changed my gym routine to focus more on building strength than muscle mass, so the weight saving has only reduced my strength marginally.

So there you have it, my take on fast and light hiking.
Whether you go light or heavy, make sure you are properly equipped to survive in the mountains and enjoy every moment of it!

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@Colan I’m with you on the being a little obsessive about the stuff involved in this hobby, I just bought a nice kitchen scale for example, I don’t really bake haha. I often find discussing gear with people a worrying topic, as you automatically get the ‘well if you spent less time or money on this you could be out doing you hobby more’ or the ‘why do you care about it this much, it’s meant to be fun!’. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has the best take on this, quality is subjective for people and I can’t be out hiking all the time, so I get to engage with it by thinking about cost weight benefits in materials :sweat_smile:

Sorry no experience with the alcohol stoves in low temps personally, but I know they issue them as survival gear in the Finland for the military, so I would guess fine. Apparently the big thing is warming the fuel, so keeping it in your jacket before lighting up maybe. I’m not sure I’m going to use my mine much, but I’ve had a lot of fun messing around with making them so far. If I start getting more solo/2pep hikes in maybe, might actually be nice for using on long day hikes as well.

Ah awesome, good advice on bottle over the syringe, though I’m starting to think the thing might not need any backwashing over the average trip anyway, flow rate is slow as is :stuck_out_tongue: Think the big two changes for the foreseeable future are moving my water system over to a Sawyer Micro Squeeze and a CNOC bag as a gravity filter, if I’m handling water for more than myself squeezing is starting to feel like a waste of time. And then when I’m not sharing a tent I’m looking to move to a trek pole setup, and really liking the look of the 3F UL new Lanshan 1 mid. I’m a 6ft stomach sleeper with my arms above my head haha, so that is the first one that seems like it might fit me properly.

Thanks, think I have been mixing my Lighterpack stuff up some, I was using it as a buying reference for an american friend coming down for the Fish, so it is quite likely I stopped paying attention and mixed currencies!

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Thanks for all the tips and information in this thread so far! I enjoy experimenting with lighter weight gear, as I’m not a very big or strong person to begin with.

I have made several cat can alcohol stoves (and tomato paste can alcohol stoves as an experiment, but they don’t work as well as the cat cans and are harder to drill holes through) and used them in the Drakensberg, including on the escarpment at a temperature of about 5 degrees Celsius.

Wind is a huge problem with cat can alcohol stoves, so you will definitely need a windshield. You can use heavy duty foil or even (what I did) use something like a large Milo or Frisco tin that you cut in half and then drill some air vents at the bottom.

I found that so long as you just wanted the water to be hot, not boiling, the alcohol stove worked fine. The biggest issues that I had with it was that it required more fiddling and babysitting than a canister stove. In really cold conditions this becomes a pain as you can’t cook inside the vestibule of your tent (I don’t: the open flames are too dangerous), and you need to remove gloves to strike matches and so on.

I now use an MSR Reactor canister stove. It is much heavier, but it is very reliable and very fast, which I realised was more important to me than saving weight on my cook kit :grinning:

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@Riaang great take on it! I’ve seen you over at VE more than a bit so it’s great to hear from someone with a significant amount of miles (kilometers? Miles sounds better) in the Berg. The limitations are for sure there. After all, it’s a mountain environment. Comparing ourselves to summer thru-hikers in the States where the weather may be gnarly but not quite as gnarly is in some ways misplaced of course (especially for winter kit). Why I’ll never take a tarp and bug net, maybe some will though… I value my sleep. Also love how none of us are willing to give up the coffee yet (or whiskey! It gets decanted into a plastic bottle though).

With regards to the cost – stuff can get seriously expensive. Working out your cost per gram saved (Cost of item divided by the difference in weight between the old and new piece of gear) is an amazing way to decide where to lighten up though. The quilt I ordered for example came in at just over R5 per gram saved, a new pack (Z-Packs Arc Blast for the sake of comparison) would be more like R22.

Good advice on the body weight goals. I’m 173 cm and weigh somewhere between 60 and 65 kg depending on the day, so I have the total opposite issue, both in terms of muscle (I need some please) and gear weight. Given that, the difference from a size small to XL is probably not aaallll that big, so let’s call it even haha. This is one of the main things that drove me to UL hiking actually. The often quoted “you shouldn’t carry more than 20% of your body weight” left me considering how on Earth I was going to go sub-12kg when the packs in the stores weigh 2.5kg just on their own, never mind all the stuff that was supposed to go in them!

@Jaxz I got my scale for free, so I have no reason to feel guilty about it having never seen a gram of flour :wink: I often carry it into stores with me, getting everything from weirded out stares to some pretty serious interest from the employees about what stuff actually weighs. Good plan for the filtration set-up. A Squeeze off of Amazon comes in at something like R650 shipped, including customs fees. Seriously not too bad when compared to LifeStraw or whatever you can pick up locally. For now I’m considering just making peace with the taste of pool water… chlorine tabs save 100g or so but, chlorine… it’s gross, so we’ll see.

That mid looks good, pyramids are supposed to be super strong and the versatility of a two wall structure can’t be beat. I consider myself lucky, I’m small, so UL tents are still palaces for me! They were talking about it over on reddit ultralight a week or so back if you didn’t pick that up.

@Ruth, awesome to hear from you, I’ve seen quite a few of your videos! I get you on the size/strength issue, I’m the same. Very much the reason I got into lightweight hiking in the first place, then the obsession set in haha. Thanks for the feedback on the alcohol stoves. I rarely bring my water to a boil, saves some gas I feel. I built a Coke can prototype yesterday and will be taking it up to the Mnweni (yup, watched your video on that too) this weekend to test out. Feedback will follow! I have a feeling that the convenience of canister stoves is going to win out more often than not though. It’s also easier to share among a group, so the weight penalty becomes negligible pretty fast.

@MasterMo where are you off to next weekend? I’m going up to Mnweni Friday. Dinner will be Mediterranean flavoured couscous laced in olive oil and salami Friday, followed by 2 minute noodles with Cup of Soup and butter Saturday. I try to stick with foods above 1500kJ/100g, both of these end up at about 2000 once they’re mixed together. The best way to lighten up on food is fat, fat, fat. Olive oil, butter, good fatty biltong (seems you’ve got the last two covered though). Cremora isn’t the best but packs 2200kJ so turns your coffee into a meal on its own lol. Things like protein bars, while marketed as high energy, often come in below 1300kJ so I don’t even bother. The vegetable chips from Woolworths are a good way to add vitamins and fiber while still hitting high kilojoules (or at least that’s what I tell myself). Dark chocolate also packs a serious punch! Taking along some fresh herbs, especially basil for shorter hikes really adds to a meal and weighs next to nothing. True UL would be sipping on olive oil (at 3300kJ) for the entire hike, but let’s keep this civil right?

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1st proper review I have seen up for the 3f UL 1 Pyramid tent. Looking like that is going on my ‘when there is some change lying around’ list. Ticking a lot of boxes for me, single pole, proper sized vestibule, room for someone over 6ft and coming in around a kg.

That might actually be a good option for the Drakensberg, could pitch it low and tight bad weather and still have a lot of room to work with. Though unsure if it not being freestanding would be a problem.

But is looking like a nice all rounder to me, particularly as you can pick it up and ship it here for about $100 off Aliexpress before the customs guys take their seemingly random cut.

Awesome thread.

I think before you start looking at prices and drooling its important to document what your priorities are.
No seriously write them down, then go on over to www.Ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk and start getting depressed!

Ive been thinking it through long and hard and I am not sure I really know what my priorities are, but Ive been cogitating, on the need to loose weight, first on me, then on my gear and of course the Bank and life steps in to curtail this.

Im kind of happy with my gear being a good balance of weight : durability but there are places I can make changes:

  1. Rucksack - the Bloody Deuter is on its death knell and will get replaced by the Granite Gear Blaze 60. - Less than 1.4kgs (23Kg Load Capacity) but then I saw this 880g Rucksack (12-15kg load capacity 46L) 3F UL GETRIEBE Wasser beständig Wandern Rucksack Leichte Camping Pack Reise Bergsteigen Rucksack Trekking Rucksäcke 40 + 16L|rucksack trekking|backpack rucksackrucksack backpack - AliExpress and thought thats actually brilliant

  2. My First Ascent Lunar 2 is a bit heavy at 2.1 kgs, but Im actually very attached to it, and its been everywhere its incredibly durable, and though described as a 3 season tent certainly holds its own in 4 Seasons.
    So Im looking at a big 1 man tent (I have a small silly single wall 1 man but for its size its not light enough to warrant using, so will keep it for the kids)

Spent a long hard look recently at the LANSHAN 1 and 2 tents. Id like to know if I could fit my full rucksack and myself inside the 1 man - I believe I could if only for multi day hikes - any thoughts?
Now to decide between the 3 season (mesh inner) and 4 season (solid inner) For African conditions which would one suggest? Its also not clear whether that question is relevant to the 2 man tent or not
Then theres the STD vs Pro option. is there a benefit to the Pro if youre not exposing it to Natures High Altitude wrath? there more faf sealing it up and in reality how much moisture gets to you through the seams at the edge of the 2man tent?
A bit of me thinks that I could make do with the 1man and It also fits my one trekking pole motive 760g vs 930g. Either way its knocking a kg off my tent.

Last thought on the LANSHAN tents through Aliexpress, theyre much cheaper in ZA Rands than ££’s - weird!

  1. Sleeping bags. Im determined to buy (invest) in a ultralight Down bag, and am prepared to spend the cash (this will be the first upgrade)
    I have a-11˚C Bag idea tried and tested for the Kalahari and Kilimanjaro Synthetic Snugpac Elite4 Aslos a handful of family Sleeping bags 5˚C-10˚C Comfort and my Lightweight summer bag with a thermal liner.

So now Im trying to decide between the Cumulous XLite 300 at 465g and the Criterion Quantum 200 at 530g
The Cumulous has a really neat customisation option and more durable shell.

Here is my initial quandary reflecting on what are my Priorities? Do I want the absolute lightest at the expense of durability and longevity? How strong is the material? and in the grand scheme of things how likely is it going to break, and not be repairable, it s not like a liferaft
Do I want to specify the Hydrophilic feathers does this make a difference when washing, and do I increase the quality of the Fill from 300 to 350? if I do then selecting the Liteline 400 and changing the outer and inner material as well as zip sizing helps…
Then theres the Loft distribution, 60:40 for the Criterion, 55:45, for the Cumulous but you can specify 65:35: 70% of my sleep is on my back, and you could reverse it for warmer weather.

Now that Ive decided I want an Ultralight Down bag and have narrowed it down to a few options, What Thermal Comfort rating do I really want? I have several 5-6 day hikes in regions around the 5˚C minimum temperature, so Im thinking a 0˚C comfort rated bag would be about right -I’d rather be warm than cool or cold and I could push it to -6˚C with the thermal liner and a Goretex outer.
Am I wrong?

Sorry to drone on and perhaps this isn’t the right place, but maybe you guys could chip in with some direction.

P.S. I still have three spaces on the Kruger Trail in May and again in July

Lighter gear is always exciting, but also a deep dark research hole as well as expensive :sweat_smile:

3F UL always seems to have a good rep out of the outdoor companies based in China.

I don’t have any of the Lanshan tents but do have the Six Moon Design Lunar Solo which I would say the Lanshan Pro 1 is based on. That’s been a solid tent for me in most weather. The Lanshan Pro models mean they are single walled versions of the tents, which should make them a fair amount more spacious if you are fine dealing with potential condensation. The nice thing about this design is that the rear peg point means there is a triangular chunk of space to your right inside the tent. In the Lunar Solo that is loads of room to put a pack in, but I default to pack under the vestibule and that becomes my scattered stuff space. I would guess it will be the same with the Lanshan Pro 1. The Pro will be lighter and more spacious particularly if you are tall, with cons being condensation and the need to seam seal it.

Cumulous have an amazing reputation as well, apparently their prices just went up which is a pity! The x-lite 400 and the Panyam 450 look like fairly versatile bags, I guess it depends how warm you sleep and if you are a tosser and turner. More down on top makes sense to me, as what is below you gets squashed anyway and loses most of its ability to insulate. My lighter quilts are 10D nylon, which I wouldn’t say feels invulnerable but I think I would need to be being stupid to damage it. Cumulous uses a lot of Pertex fabrics, which are really highend Japanese nylons and would imagine it is about as good as it gets in terms of quality.

I’m not sure if you are interested in quilts over bags, but I have really enjoyed mine. The ability to regulate temperature and not have my head trapped in cowl has made me very happy and the quilt feel versatile. But I do sleep warm. My quilt is around 0C comfort I think with a closed footbox, which has seemed a good range using in the Cape and Namibian winters (Probably about the equivalent of the Quilt 450 from Cumulous). But it can be a bit warm mid summer and I switch over to a down blanket sort of thing.

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Im curious as to how expensive import duties would be on a bag. I’m eyeing a Gryphon Gear quilt but scared that it’s going to be classified as socks and the import duty shoots up to textile protection tax.

https://www.sars.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/Legal/SCEA1964/LAPD-LPrim-Tariff-2012-04-Schedule-No-1-Part-1-Chapters-1-to-99.pdf

My experience has been that it is pretty random what gets assigned and then it can be very tough to to argue if you don’t agree with the assessment. Using a courier often gives you a bit more leeway to declare it yourself over the postal system.

Technically I think sleeping bags (9404.30) would be 20% coming from Gryphon gear in the US. Cumulous in Europe should be 0%. Both with 14% VAT as well.

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Interesting that EU has less tax than US, news to me.

Hi Jaxz, Not a quilt fan - I love the hoodie!

I hope you dont mind I dont want to hijack this thread with my thought developments so Im going to ping you a message directly.

Cumulus is Poland based company that made bags for Criterion, a UK based company.
The Cumulus has fabric made from 19g/m2 Toray Airtastic® and the Criterion Quantum from Pertex Quantum 35 g/m2, filled with finest Polish goose down… I cant see there not being a link!
Semantics.

There is a hoodless version of the Cumulus Xlite 300, which reduces the weight by 110g…but I love my hoods!

If I was to go Cumulus I would go down this route - No idea about the light weigh fabric, but they should know what they’re doing. Less than £300 and less than 500g for a 1C bag.

My cousin just (Nov 21) ordered and received his Lanshan 2 Pro from China, paid R2600 and R62,50 tax. Not bad. Had to seam seal it himself though.

He’s chuffed.

Im yo-yoing between the Pro and the inner liner - Inner Liner seems the way forwards

Doesn’t look like Cumulus will ship to SA. Freight forwarder means more costs.

I’ll be flying back from the UK And of April, so going to tie it all together.

Considering Cumulus is an internet company they should.

@scubafrique
Have you decided on a pack?
That Granite Gear Blaze looks great. I see too it receives many accolades…