A little over a decade ago, I went from using my Marmot Eos 1p tent, a fine if not inspiring design, to a Zpacks Hexamid Tent. This single move cut a little over two pounds out of my kit, and was the gateway to the first frameless pack I ever used, a 12 ounce Zimmerbuit Quickstep, a 2 pound improvement from my Osprey Exos backpack. Swapping my sleeping bag for a down quilt saved a pound and a half, and suddenly my " Big 3" weighed just a little over 2 pounds, and I had cut over five pounds from my base weight.
Fast forward a decade to the present day, and my “Big 3” for most three-season ultralight trips weighs nearly the same, sometimes a little heavier or lighter. Even if I can put together a slightly lighter Big 3, it will necessarily never equal the radical percentage decrease of my initial foray into ultralight gear.
Me with the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Contour pack: heavier, but a lot more capable of dealing with me face diving into cats claw.
At the risk of belaboring a point, I achieved an 80 percent reduction in weight with my shelter a decade ago, but were I to achieve that same percentage reduction today, starting with a Zpacks Plex Solo, we’d have a 2.5 ounce shelter, which obviously is not going to happen any time soon. A shelter that weighs 2.5oz is probably the province of a sci fi novel with nanobots forming your shelter in camp.
A casual survey of today’s ultralight gear will show that most gear categories have not gotten significantly lighter in recent years if for no other reason than there isn’t much more room towards zero for them to cut. Given this reality, what is the future of ultralight in this day and age where significant decreases in the weight of gear are not forthcoming? What are the changes and trends we should keep an eye out for?
I’ll argue that the primary changes will come in three categories: utility, durability, and comfort. Put simply, ultralight Gear is getting substantially better, not substantially lighter. I’ll start with a look at the state of and future of the ultralight Big 3...
A STATELY PLEASURE DOME
The major trend in ultralight shelters right now is the dome tent, with models released by brands such as Tarptent, Hyperlite Mountain Gear, Durston Gear, Samaya, and others in the past year alone. Advances in materials, construction, and design have allowed gear companies to revisit this shelter category with an ultralight eye, bringing it closer in weight parity to trekking pole supported options… but by no means surpassing them, remaining heavier by a substantial margin.
Nevertheless, the advantages of this class of dome-shaped tent over many (but not all) trekking pole shelters can be: consistent interior headroom, freestanding setup, easier setup, instant familiarity, and in some cases stormworthyness. Thus, the utility and comfort of more classic designs has been brought more firmly into the ultralight world.
Meanwhile, the changes in trekking pole supported tents have largely been improvements in design that lead to more ease of use and comfort, but substantial weight reductions are not to be had (example: Zpacks' Altaplex Lite Tent). Going forward, expect this trend towards usability and comfort to continue in the trekking pole supported class as well.
PACK DESIGN
Even though the frameless backpack is the epitome of ultralight gear, oddly enough, most frameless packs are heavier today as a ratio of weight to volume than they were five years ago. Hanging over my desk as I write this is an Appalachian Ultralight Balloon, an 7.5oz (!!) backpack I put around 1300 miles on before I mercifully retired it. It’s made of plain 1oz per square yard Dyneema® Composite Fabric (DCF), not Dyneema® Composite Hybrid (DCH) with a polyester face, and the shoulder straps are attached to the main body of the pack with guy line and line locs.
Material and design choices like this were certainly on the cutting edge of weight reduction, but did not make for very durable packs. This era of packs also eschewed a fair amount of comfort, especially if the rest of your kit was not similarly spartan. Similarly, my minimalist Zimmerbuilt Quickstep of this era, which was a durable pack made of DCH, weighed 11oz.
Nashville Pack's Cutaway 30 (left) at ~12.9oz and Pa'lante's V2 Pack (right) at ~18oz depending on the fabric and size.
Today most frameless packs weigh between 14 to 18 ounces, this is the neighborhood you’ll find frameless packs from Nashville Pack, Pa'lante, Hyperlite Mountain Gear, LiteAF, and many others inhabiting. Certainly all these companies could make an 8oz sack of DCF with strings securing it to your body if they desired… but hikers want more durability, thoughtful combinations of features, and comfortable shoulder straps and vest straps. The vast majority of the ultralight world has decided that all these advantages make for a better hiking experience than the reduction of 2 to 4 ounces in weight. Again: Utility, Comfort, Design.
It’s certainly possible crafty makers will retain our present popular pack feature sets and whittle them back closer to the previously obtained low weights. Expect pack makers to continue to improve ergonomics, ease of use, carry, and well refined features as we move forward.
Bonfus' Framus 48L weighing 25.4oz (left) and Zpacks' framed Arc Haul Ultra 40L pack weighing 19.6oz (right).
Framed packs weigh more and seemingly have more room to lose weight. Yet the fringe of ultralight framed pack design seems to have stalled near 17oz, and the median still sits between 22 and 30 ounces. Years ago Zpacks was the only player in the sub 20oz framed pack space, but that competition is heating up. I do think there are innovations to be had that will bring 26 to 30 ounce load carrying performance to the 18 to 22 ounce weight class, and that it will be available from multiple cottage makers in the next couple years. Expect that near 18oz the weight savings will stall out and enter the kind of development we see at present in frameless packs.
SLEEPING BAGS AND QUILTS
For sleep systems, a nylon shell fabric can’t get much lighter than 7 denier, and the practical in-the-field performance of down feathers doesn’t seem to show any gains over 900fp. The cut and variation in designs of quilts still sees tinkering here and there, with hoodless tubes and side or partial zip models hitting the market, and continued perfection of baffle design. In the end, all of my quilts weigh very similarly to models I first used a decade ago, though they are in most cases significantly better performing. The shell fabrics have become more breathable, more down-proof, and the baffle designs are more efficient. This is higher performance without lowering the weight. There may be some comfort tweaks left in the down sleeping insulation game, but don’t expect big cuts in weight from here.
For years synthetic insulation has strived to match the weight, compressibility, and durability of down fill, and the arrival of APEX synthetic insulation has been a significant step forward. Could there be a future synthetic sleeping bag or quilt that truly rivals down? It’s certainly not beyond the realm of imagination, and for those who prefer synthetic as an ethical choice (and great choice for wet environments), hopefully the future will bring synthetic insulation on par with down.
A custom synthetic Apex top quilt over a Feathered Friends Tanager filled with down: a combo that can take me near single digits comfortably with a warmth to weight and moisture resistance I couldn’t have achieved years ago.
Beyond the BIG 3
ALL THE SMALL THINGS
It's interesting to examine some of the gear I’ve tested or reviewed in the past three years that's lighter than my previously existing preferred piece and the resulting weight savings. Here's a list without naming specific models:
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Battery pack (1oz)
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Mug (1oz)
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Fleece hoodie (1.5oz)
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Bear bag (3oz)
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Rain shell (2oz)
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Ice tool (3oz)
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Spikes (2oz)
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Pillow (1oz)
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Base Layer bottoms (1oz)
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Stakes (1oz)
And lo and behold, there is a pound of weight savings here, though not all these particular items might be the chosen gear on a given trip. This kind of upgrade path to whittling down your weight is far more expensive than the initial entry into ultralight gear through the “Big 3” in terms of money spent per ounce saved. But for someone with an established kit replacing an item here and there, they might find things they find to be lighter suitable replacements that add up (or down) over time. Lower the weight of these items over time could happen, but it's really up to you if it's worth it to keep switching gear out for the newest and latest, especially when your existing gear is holding up just fine.
DUAL USE ITEMS AND ELECTRONICS
A decade ago I’d have needed or wanted the following items that my smartphone can replace on many trips:
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Camera
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Map
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Compass
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GPS
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Satellite Emergency Communication
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Book to read at night
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iPod
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Long trail guide information
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ABC watch
While some of these things are not strictly necessary, there's no weight penalty to having them with you in a single 7oz device. It seems all but certain that a dedicated emergency communication device like a Garmin or Zoleo will eventually be replaced by smartphones for most people (unless they want redundancy in a dedicated device), but trsutworthy satellite service is still in pilot programs for most cellphone carriers.
Batteries and power banks continue to get lighter and smaller, and are a good bet to continue their incremental improvements in capacity versus weight. The same goes for solar chargers.
COMFORT CREEP
There is a natural progression for most ultralight hikers to trim things down as far as they can go, then slowly raise their weight back up a smidge as they find out what improves their experience the most. This may be a wide sleeping pad, a larger-than-strictly necessary cook kit, etc.— it varies from person to person. Without getting into arguments about the spirit of ultralight, some items are becoming light enough to add back into a kit at a very minimal penalty: tiny pad inflators and camp shoes come to mind in this category.
THE FUTURE ISN’T MUCH LIGHTER, BUT IT IS BETTER
As time progresses, gear innovation will continue, driven by makers coming up with new ingenious designs and improvements in material sciences. This will lead to more functional, durable, and comfortable gear, but it won’t be much lighter. At the end of the day, gear is personal, and whether you're religiously lowering your backpacking kit over time to achieve ultralight "perfection," or if you're looking for ultralight gear to just make your pack less painful, there's always the latest gear to keep you going. Happy trails!
Based in Portland, Oregon, Scott Nechemias has hiked over 10,000 miles in the backcountry, often accompanied by his wife Jordan and their fur monsters, Cheese and Utah. He has a particular affinity for off-trail travel, the high desert, and the places in the world less traveled by people. You can find more of his trips on Instagram.
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1 comment
April Armstrong
Thank you for this informative article. Extra points for the Coleridge reference!