define base weight pls..

[SilvrSurfr]

Remember too...some folks are hikers...and their true enjoyment is the trail and the miles they cover. Some people are campers...and the trail is just the distance between the points where they're going to relax and enjoy themselves.

And some folks are outdoorsmen. You won't see me bopping along with headphones trying to knock out 25 miles a day. Those folks don't hear the birds or animals or much of anything. I enjoy the flora and fauna and wildlife too much to be a hiker. I like the exercise aspects of hiking too, but I'll never be a mileage queen.

I'm not really a camper either. I like hanging in my hammock, gathering firewood, and cooking meals, but to me it's just another part of the journey.

One of these days I'll get a scale so I can calculate weight - not so I can brag, but so I can hike with more comfort. In the meantime, I just follow common sense and try to reduce weight on the heaviest items. From the git go, I wanted a 4-season cuben fiber tarp because 6.5 ounces sure beats the heck out of a 24 oz. tarp! I don't need a scale to tell me no brainer stuff like that.

[logrus]

For me, (YMMV) my gear is the same for a weekend or a multi-day trip. The only difference is how much consumables is carried. Since my consumables are known as a unit rate, (C in lbs/day), I use my Base Weight (BW) and the number of days, d, to calculate my Total Weight (TW).

BW + C*d= TW.

Note, I don't put anything in my pockets. The only gear worn/carried that I do NOT include in my BW is the minimum I would be wearing. This means: shoes, socks, undies, gaiters, pants, shirt. Any additional clothing like jackets or hats might end up in the pack, so they count as BW for me.

+1 on this. You've pretty much formulated it as I would myself. The only difference might be that I don't count what I'm wearing when I start, which is likely to include jacket and a hat.

[MAD777]

Remember too...some folks are hikers...and their true enjoyment is the trail and the miles they cover. Some people are campers...and the trail is just the distance between the points where they're going to relax and enjoy themselves.

Although this doesn't help define base weight, it is certainly true!
Too bad what's good for the one endeavor is bad for the other

[Gris]

The reason food & water is not included isn't that you don't have to heave it all through the woods. It's that you cannot control food and water like you can gear. Food is a function of how many days you're out and water is a function of how often you cross a stream.

So, to compare apples to apples, the concept of base weight was invented. This gives two hikers the ability to compare even though one is going through the deserts of the southwest and the other is continuously hiking knee deep in water in the swamps of Florida.

Base weight isn't about what you're actually lifting.

I understand what MAD777 posted and it makes sense to me, but I use the total weight of my pack at the trailhead for my baseline. I try to pack 1.5 lbs of food per day and have 2 liters of water with me at the start of a trip. I have a simple goal of my pack as described above weighing 23 lbs or less for a three day trip from late spring to early fall here locally. I do weigh all of my gear and try to figure out trip after trip what I used and what I’ve carried for 400 miles and never used. I don’t claim to be an ultralite hiker I’m just trying to go light enough to make longer millage days possible with less strain on my knees and ankles and still enjoy the trip.

[DivaB]

I have absolutely nothing to add to this topic. I clap everyone's efforts in this mystery area to me. I have too much stuff that I want to play with and "might" need and "what ifs". Obviously a lot more learning on my end that I have to do, so I do read this stuff, as I need to do many things differently. Just a matter of letting go.

[necaver]

Base Pack Weight - Weight of pack and gear carried in the pack, but no consumables

Total Base Weight - Base pack weight plus weight of clothes worn and gear not carried in the pack

Total Pack Weight - Base pack weight plus the weight of consumables (food, water, and fuel)

Total Weight - Weight of everything, or total pack weight plus the weight of clothes worn and gear not carried in the pack, or the weight of everything you take with you whether worn or carried

http://www.hikingwebsite.com/backpacking/packweight.htm

So you'd include trekking poles in TBW and TW, but not in BPW and TPW?

[G.L.P.]

when i weigh out everything i do the same thing Raul does
a base weight and total pack weight
my last trip my base weight was under 10lbs but my total pack weight was 17lbs 14oz
for me pack weight comes down to a few reasons health being one of them
i aways say UL is not for everyone and as long as your happy it' doesn't matter what your pack weighs

[MAD777]

Again, for me, everything outside my skin except food, water and fuel is base weight.

However, I see the advantage of tracking the weight of the pack's contents, along with the food and water, in a spreadsheet so that you can select which pack is appropriate for the trip.

Ummm... doesn't everybody have 10 packs? Oops, I meant 11 - I ordered another one today

[AkFly]

Originally Posted by Chert:
Total Base Weight - Base pack weight plus weight of clothes worn and gear not carried in the pack

I also carry a little less than a day's worth of "emergency rations" (16 oz food +12 oz water + 0.5-0.75 oz alcohol fuel) and include that in my base weight. If I walk out without that, I either had to bribe the bears or guessed wrong at the fork in the trail!

[Catavarie]

I figure my base pack weight as everything in my pack minus food, water, fuel.
I figure my Skin Out weight as everything I carry, pack with food, water, & fuel plus my trekking poles, all clothing worn (inculding shoes), and any items I carry in my pockets.

My usual skin out base weight is around 17 pounds, but I'm always looking to drop some weight that I'm carrying. Not just because I'd like to do more mileage, but because I want the mileage I do to be more comfortable so that when I do get to camp I have more energy left over and I don't just sack straight out after eating dinner.