Bushwalk Australia

Im not sure if I am allowed to post video links or if this guy has come up on the forum, but I thought I'd share it.

I was looking for ultralight tips on youtube and I came across Steve Green from hikelight.com, this guy is the ultralight god. Clear, simple and concise tips with well edited videos.

Part 1 https://youtu.be/fWbYnTRBfww
Part 2 https://youtu.be/JvPoqkQ94Is

In case you don't get enough ideas from these two videos he has about 100 or so more. Going from hygiene to gear reviews.

Seems like he would be a real laugh at parties.

Lighten up and have more fun

Better than half the stuff on there! Its fun to see him blitz through a bunch of ideas. And he does it a bit tongue in cheek.

I think it was one of his videos had a good way to figure out what size pack you need, put all of your gear in a box to measure the volume of it.

If you can find them, Mike Clelland does a wonderful set of ul tips as drawings and published as a couple of books. They used to appear on bpl.

Hopefully he's had Botox to lose that much expression!

Interesting to watch. Personally didn't learn much, but It at least makes you think about items.

I think the turning point for me was looking at Roger Caffin's ?Bushwalking/FAQs - changed my whole concept of gear design (as I mostly make my own).

I also have a personal threshold of 300g for many items eg sleeping mat, insulated jacket, shirts, zip off pants, waterproof jackets/ over pants etc. I double it for tent/quilt/winter down jacket, but try to keep as close to 1-2 multiples of 300g where possible.

I also weigh everything - it amazed me years ago that a mid weight polar fleece jumper was about 750g, but a light down jacket was about 300g, and probably warmer. Same with rain jackets.

Anyway, it stimulates thought process.

A

He almost smiled at the very end! :-)

Pretty good stuff!

A few observations:

- Nuts are heavy? They're not. And he fails to mention how heavy packaged chicken is.
- Drilling out a spoon, toothbrush, or car key. A super bad idea. They break.
. You can still kind of use a spoon or toothbrush without a handle, but not a car key.
- Hollow style cotton swabs are lighter. Sure, but it must be a joke.
- Iodine pills in a dram bottle. That's my trick!

- Steak directly on the coals -- doesn't that get the meat kind of dirty?

Well Steve Green's video got me thinking. I have always weighed the things in my backpack, but I've never weighed my shoes.

My Dunlop Volleys, which I always think of as being reasonably lightweight, weigh in at 920g compared to my KT26s at 680g. That's quite a difference, and I can probably shave another three grams off the KT26s by shortening the laces

So I'll try bushwalking in the KT26s and see what I think.

Volleys are mandatory in canyons - for the grip.
KT26s are very good for 'easy' terrain. The soles were not rigid enough to handle light snow on granite boulders in Europe. They are sort-of OK in light snow like an accidental fall in autumn in KNP. Edging on steep slopes can be difficult too.

Cheers
Roger

rcaffin wrote:Volleys are mandatory in canyons - for the grip.

I've worn Volleys for their grip since 1982. Not just in canyons, but on any bushwalk in sandstone country. I tried KT26s, but the flared soles sometimes caught between two rocks, so I gave up on them.

Back then, Volleys had rubber soles and KT26s had synthetic soles. Last month I was checking the shoes in BigW, and was astonished to see that their KT26s had rubber soles and the Volleys had synthetic soles! And that the flaring on the soles of the KT26s wasn't as pronounced as it used to be. So I'm prepared to try KT26s again. Not for canyons, but the canyon season is over for the year anyway. A weight saving of 240g is not to be sneezed at.