68kg, first three day trip in September, hut to hut so water carries are short. Twenty percent would put me at 13.6kg loaded which feels enormous next to the gear lists I see here. I would rather know what people actually carried on their first few trips and where it hurt than plan to a rule that came from somewhere nobody can name.
It is a ceiling that came out of military and scouting guidance, not a target, and treating it as a target is how people end up carrying 13kg on a trip that needed 8. For a three day hut trip with short water carries you should be well under it. The rule only becomes relevant when you are carrying five days of food and three litres of water at once.
Exactly. And in practice most first trips are heavy because of fear items, not because of the tent. Three spare tops, a second pot, a book, a huge power bank.
That reframing helps. So the useful question is what is the minimum that keeps me safe, and the rule is just the point where I should worry.
My first trip at 62kg was 14.2kg loaded, which is over the rule, and I finished it, and I remember nothing about the scenery. Third trip was 9.4kg loaded on the same route and I noticed there was a river. That is the whole argument for me, and it has nothing to do with percentages.
Careful with the enthusiasm in here, because it cuts both ways. I met someone on a ridge in April who had cut down to a 4kg base and had no proper waterproof, and it went from pleasant to genuinely unpleasant in about forty minutes. Twenty percent is not a rule worth obeying, but neither is the number in a stranger's spreadsheet. Carry for the worst realistic weather on your route.
This is the one. Weight comes off from technique and better gear, not from deleting the jacket.
Hips carry weight, shoulders do not. If the pack fits your torso length and the belt sits on top of the iliac crest, 11kg is comfortable. If it does not, 8kg will still make you miserable by hour three. Fit before figures.
@springtail_stella · 4mo ago
Worth separating base weight from consumables since the consumables are what move. Three days of food for me is about 1.8kg, and a litre of water is a kilo you can often pick up and put down. If your base is 6 to 7kg, a hut trip lands you around 9 total on day one and 8 by the end, which is nowhere near your 13.6 and is a very pleasant way to walk.
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