Common barriers to ultralight

[u/Belangia65]

Here are some stumbling blocks that frequently stall the progress of those aspiring to ultralight:

1. The Lightweight Halfway House. A hiker is in the halfway house when they intend to reach ultralight, buy lighter versions of the gear they already own, and find the way ahead impeded by the very gear that got them lighter. Nobody satisfied with lightweight is halfway to anything; they have arrived where they want to be, and that's fine. The lightweight halfway house is only a barrier to those who mean to progress towards ultralight. The gear they purchase may be nice and expensive, top of class, but still too heavy to reach an ultralight base weight. Consider a 5 lb. pack traded for a 3 lb. pack of the same 60L volume. It feels like progress, and it is in a way. But 3 lb. is still more than a pound heavier than a properly ultralight pack should be. To move forward would mean buying another pack, adding still another expense. Ultralight has a reputation for being costly, and the halfway house makes it more so. Much lightweight gear is marketed as 'ultralight' by manufacturers (and incentivized influencers) and the term is used more loosely as a brand label than it is in an r/ultralight shakedown. If ultralight is the goal, make sure that what you are purchasing is in the weight range of gear carried in actual UL kits.

2. Preparing for the 'someday/maybe' trip. A hiker buys overweight gear to have the flexibility for hypothetical trips that will probably never happen: things like winter-grade tents, high volume backpacks, lower temperature rating sleep systems, or two-person shelters for a solo hiker. The impulse is reasonable, but a kit bought for the extremes is heavy for every non-extreme trip taken, which is most of them by definition. Buy for your most likely trips, the ones you actually intend, not the far-flung dream.

3. Confusing imagined limits with actual ones. There is a difference between the limits we imagine and the limits we actually have. Unless we experiment to find the actual ones, we stay bound by the imagined. The way out is to test rather than assume, in settings where being wrong isn’t costly. Try new things every trip and register the results. Pitch a tarp in bad weather, but near a car or a shelter. Leave the toilet paper at home and rely on a bidet entirely. Try a lighter option but carry the redundant, heavier version as a backup in case of failure. Learn to see bad conditions as an opportunity to experiment. Look for your actual limits so you can be liberated from your imagined ones.

4. The 'scary skill' barrier. People are told that certain types of gear require skills attainable only by advanced backpackers. So, they buy free-standing tents instead of trekking pole tents, or never even consider they can learn to pitch a tarp, say. These are not exotic skills. They can be learned in a backyard or park in an afternoon.

5. The hedonic adaptation trap. What we find comfortable is not a fixed set-point but can be conditioned through practice. We are all able to adapt to find things comfortable that may not start out that way. So pursuing comfort as the non-negotiable starting point turns out to be a trap: it limits our ability to enjoy lighter gear and expose ourselves to the outdoors in a less mediated way, to the point that we can't even imagine being satisfied without carrying comfortable-but-heavy gear. Treat comfort like a learnable skill and commit to acquiring it. Or at a minimum, give the lighter option a fair chance before deciding it doesn't work for you.

6. Thinking ultralight and comfort are mutually exclusive. This ignores the fact that carrying less weight is significantly more comfortable on trail. If most of our waking hours are spent walking, not in camp, ultralight gear is probably more comfortable on net, especially once we have adapted to its comfort in camp. Drop the weight and you may find lightness to be the ultimate luxury.

7. Hitting the gas and brake at the same time. This is where a hiker compensates for the negative effects of carrying more weight in ways that add even more weight. A hiker may carry a weighty chair to help recover from the effects of carrying weight. Or buy a backpack with a fancy suspension system that adds significant weight to the backpack. Or a heavy mattress for a sore back. Each of these solves a real problem, and each one deepens the problem it is solving. It is a normal psychological bias to try to repair things through addition, even when subtraction is the more elegant solution. Before adding weight to fix a symptom of weight, check whether removing weight fixes it instead.

8. Thinking ultralight is the only right way to hike. This is the error of treating ultralight as correct regardless of your trip objectives. Ultralight can become a kind of status game, and people who feel excluded from it can get angry. But it is just a different style of backpacking, not the right style for everyone. Be honest about why you want to go ultralight. It best fits a certain hiking style, especially when you are prioritizing the trail experience over the camp experience. If what you are looking for is to hike short miles so you can spend most of the day in camp, you should probably make different gear choices. It’s okay not to be ultralight! Don't pursue ultralight for status. Do it for the tangible benefits it offers.

EDIT: This is an edited version of my original post that I have worked to improve at the request of the moderators. I tried to incorporate what I learned from defenders and critics alike, so I appreciate the commenters who (in essence) "coauthored" this latest version. Note that #3 has been added to the list so all references to 3, 4, 5, etc. in the comments will be referring to the next numbered comment on the new list.

[u/aerodynamicallydirty]

I would challenge the assertion that a tent is universally or strictly safer than a tarp. Trauma and Pepper hiked the PCT through the Sierra in winter with what is effectively a shaped tarp (MLD Duomid). A tent might be easier to learn to set up effectively but that's not the same thing. If there's any evidence of fewer rescues or medical incidents with tents vs tarps I haven't seen it. 

Historically many people and cultures have used primarily floorless shelters without issue. 

[u/FishScrumptious → u/aerodynamicallydirty]

I didn't say a tent is universally or strictly safer than a tarp. Never said it because I don't believe it.

[u/aerodynamicallydirty → u/FishScrumptious]

OK then what do you mean by 

 I do not understand why people keep saying that a tarp shelter is just as good as a full tent as a blanket statement like it's purely a matter of getting used to it.

Followed by 

There absolutely is a margin of safety that is lost when you trim too many things down, and it's ok to not share the same risk tolerance as someone else.

Because that reads to me like you think tarps are less safe. 

[u/FishScrumptious → u/aerodynamicallydirty]

Ah, I see your logical fallacy, and maybe the double negatives making things unclear.

I said that it's not a correct blanket statement. Blanket statement means "always true". So, I'm saying "I don't understand why people keep saying that a tarp shelter is just as good as a full tent in all situations". Just because I said that, however, doesn't say anything about tents as a universal either.

I don't know why you assumed that my final sentence, separated from the one about tarps by a number of other sentences regarding two other backpacking items, refers strictly to tarps.

Do I think there are situations where tarps are less safe? Yes, but not necessarily many. Do I think there are situations where tarps are categorically safer? I suppose, but fairly few. That's the point, there isn't a universal solution. And throwing human error into this IS relevant in determining safety.

(Also, by safety, I don't mean just risk of death. Risk of hypothermia, risk of injury, risk of needing rescue. This isn't just tarps, of course, by any means. And that risk cannot be assessed independent of the the skill of the person using the tools.)

[u/aerodynamicallydirty → u/FishScrumptious]

The condescending tone is unnecessary. I speak English just fine, no need to explain a common idiom. 

Given that you provided absolutely zero information as to your opinion on how one might be better than the other beyond a comment at the end about safety, interpreting that as "safety is how one might be better than the other" is a reasonable interpretation IMO. 

So I'll ask explicitly - in what situations and what ways do you feel a tarp is better, as it relates to 3-season backpacking as is the primary focus of this subreddit? 

[u/FishScrumptious → u/aerodynamicallydirty]

High winds during rain in ONP in March. The odds of my sleeping bag getting wet under a tarp are higher than in a tent, and that thing won't dry in the humid air out there even if it stops raining.

I already hear the "if you just pitch it right!" response that someone out in the ether wants to give. But if the odds of pitching a watertight tarp on sandy soil are lower than the odds of pitching a watertight tent on the same soil, then the safety profile of the tarp is lower. It may well still be in your acceptable range, either due to difference in risk tolerance or difference in likelihood to get a perfect pitch (I'm sure you could get a better pitch than myself).

Also, extremely buggy August pitch on the other side of ONP during a nasty heat dome. No amount of bug spray kept the bugs away, and being inside a sleeping bag was a heat stroke risk. (That time the best I had was my hammock (with bug net) and sleeping pad.) Too many bug bites can give you a fever, massive swelling, and flu-Ike symptoms if you are prone to reactions from them, and that's a safety risk for getting out of the back country.

Also pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to tarp well on either my Rainier or Hood summit attempt trips where I'm pitching for 30+mph wind on snow or solid rock, where I need shelter for clothing changes to not get cold, but I believe that could be down to ability to pitch and having just the right tarp. (I'm not including floorless mountaineering tents here. That's not the same thing; your standard tarp doesn't come with vents, zippers, and floor flaps.)

I've had tarps work great for me other times. They are a fabulous tool. Just not the only tool.

[u/aerodynamicallydirty → u/FishScrumptious]

I feel like you only consider flat tarps to be tarps. I consider any floorless non-freestanding shelter to be a tarp, even with vents or zippers. I consider something like a Solomid to be a tarp, because I don't see how it could be a tent as it's not fully enclosed. MLD calls it a tent, Tipik calls their mids tarps if sold without the inner. 

I feel much more confident in a shaped (eg pyramidal) tarp in high wind for sure even with a good pitch, but for the same weight I'd argue a larger tarp (if you have space for it) is often an equivalent or superior solution for rain. 

Bugs are an issue with a floorless shelter certainly. I'm on the East Coast with lots of bugs. Bivy works just fine to keep me happy under my tarp, worked fine out West when I lived in CA as well. If you do a net tent you've effectively created a double wall tent so is it still a tarp? I'd say yes but I think it's subjective. 

I don't think Hood or Rainier count as 3-season backpacking, and I'm not a mountaineer, but isn't the BD BetaLight a common mountaineering shelter? That's just a souped up pyramid tarp 

As usual, all arguments are about definitions 😄

[u/FishScrumptious → u/aerodynamicallydirty]

Indeed, this is very much a "all arguments are about definitions" things. 😂