Ultralight hiking gear: rucksack, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat.
Ultralight good quality affordable gear. Rucksack, tent, sleeping bag and mat that's where you can save most weight for a 4 weeks trekking high up between 2.000 and 3.000m in the mountains. Being up for 4 weeks without foof supllying you need to safe weight. Here an experienced mountain leader compares.
Best
value for your money hiking gear.
To be clear: we have no connection whatsoever to Decathlon. We just used their ultra light hiking gear for about 20 years now. Here's our choice:
Rucksacks:
For a 4 weeks as light as possible trek, a 70L rucksack should suffice. Quecha Easy Fit 70L and Forclaz 70L hiking rucksack weigh about 1,9kg, the Quencha Easy Fit weighs 50gr lighter (1,85kg) according to their website. The Quecha Easy Fit 70L costs (2017) 100€, the Forclaz 70L Hiking Rucksack 64€.
Tent:
You need an ultralight 2 persons tent. 2 persons means 1 in
comfort. It allows you to keep your rucksack inside.
To avoid
condensation you need as well an inner tent as 2 doors. 2 doors are
also most useful when weather is hot. They allow you to create a
refreshing draught. Whereas it's almost impossible to keep a single
door tent liveable when the sun is shining hot and there aren't shady
places to hide around.
Decathlon has a very good 2 persons hiking tent. The QuickHiker
Ultralight 2 Hiking Tent. It weighs 1,96 kg. Has 2 doors and an
inner tent. The bag (40x12x12cm) fits easily into your rucksack. It
resists Force 8 winds and has been tested in the field by 200mm rain
per hour. It costs 150€
Sleeping bag:
A sleeping bag should be light and keep you warm. As
manufacturers used to be rather dishonest about the warming quality
of their sleeping bags the European Commission introduced
Euro norm EN 13537. This Euro norm temperature rating for sleeping
bags allows you to compare the quality of sleeping bags. It offers 3
temperatures: Comfort, Limit and Extreme. Only the Comfort
temperature gives you a realistic idea about a good warm sleep. In
summer in the Pyrenees between 2.000 and 3.000m under beautiful
weather conditions (high pressure) at dawn it may freeze down to
-2°C.
Ultralight sleeping bags are down-filled sleeping bags. Decathlon's
Makalu 1 Down Simond Ultralight Sleeping Bag (price 150€, weight
1,28kg) has a -4°C comfort temperature according to the Euro norm. You
may need to put your warm spare light fleece and trousers on.
Sleeping mat:
Not to freeze instead of sleeping doesn't only depend on the
comfort temperature of your sleeping bag. You need a well insulating
sleeping mat too! A comfort 0° sleeping bag won't keep you warm if
you're almost sleeping on the ground. You need a some 6 cm
insulating air cushion between you and the ground. Ultralight
sleeping mats are not self inflating. You will need to inflate them
yourself.
Decathlon has the Quencha Forclaz Inflatable Sleeping Mat.
It measures 180x48x5cm and weighs 550gr. Do note 48cm wide isn't
that comfortable but depends of course on how wide you are. It costs
40€
To summarize:
Total cost: rucksack: 64€ + tent: 150€ +
sleeping bag: 150€ + sleeping mat: 40€ = 404€.
Total weight: rucksack: 1,9 kg + tent: 1,96 kg +
sleeping bag: 1,28kg + sleeping mat: 0,55kg = 5,69kg.
The
very ultralight hiking gear.
Very ultralight gear is much more expensive. Up to you to decide if it's worth its price. Be aware that a lighter weight to carry is not only more comfortable but more save too.
Rucksack:
My choice:
EXPED Thunder 70 Rucksack 70 Liters / Internal Frame / Hydration
Compatible
Weighs 1586g. This rucksack fits best and closest to my back of all
rucksacks I ever had. Available in green kaki or blue. Price
(2017): 176€.
Tent:
A new trend is carbon poles, an easy way to lower the weight of a tent. I tried it out and wouldn't advise to chose a carbon pole tent. I still have a MSR Carbon Reflex 2 Backpacking Tent 3 Season / 2 Person / Mesh Inner / Height: 91cm, Length 213cm / 2 Entrances. MSR stands for Mountain Safety Research. The tent weighs just a bit under 1kg (pegs and bag included of course) cost (2017) 450€. In the midst of a storm the top carbon pole broke. The alu cartridge that should cover the break to repair it was of no use at all: each time the carbon pole broke of at the end of the cartridge. MSR sent me a spare pole, in aluminum. The problem with carbon is it resists fine to vertical pressure but not to wrings. I bought some spare alu poles at Decathlon (25€) and repaired my tent. It now weighs about 1,200 kg.
An alternative would have been NEMO's Hornet 2P Backpacking Tent 3 Season / 2 Person / Mixed Inner / Height: 102cm, Length 216cm / Two Entrances. It has alu poles and weighs 966gr. It's price: (2017) 365€
ultralight sleeping bag and mat:
Cumulus has very good ultralight sleeping bags. The Panyam 600
has a comfort temperature of -6°C, weighs 1000gr top down quality
(cuin 850) and costs 300€.
The ultralightest and widest comfortable sleeping mat is since years
a Thermarest. Thermarest NeoAir™ XTherm™ Large (= with rounded head
and less wide foot end weighs 570gr. it's rectangular twin NeoAir™
XTherm™ Max Large weighs 640gr. Price is the same: 219€ at Cumulus
(2017).
to summarize:
Total cost ultra light gear: rucksack: 176€ +
tent: 365€ + sleeping bag: 300€ + sleeping mat: 219€ = 1.060€ you
lose 1.022€.
Total weight ultralight gear: rucksack: 1,586kg +
tent: 0,966kg + sleeping bag: 1,0kg + sleeping mat: 570gr = 4,122kg
you gain 1,488kg.
Rucksacks: the Forclaz 70L hiking
rucksack weighs 1,9kg and costs 64€, the ultralight Exped Thunder 70
weighs 1,586kg and costs 176€.
That's 315gr less for 103€ more).
Tents: the QuickHiker
Ultralight 2 Hiking Tent weighs 1,96kg and costs 150€, the Nemo
Hornet 2P weighs 966gr and costs 365€.
That's 775gr less for 215€
more.
Sleeping bags: Decathlon's Makalu 1 Down Simond -4° Ultralight Sleeping
Bag weighs 1,28kg and costs 150€, the ultralight Cumulus Panyam 600
weighs 1,0kg and costs 300€.
That's 280gr less for 150€ more.
Sleeping mats: the Quencha Forclaz Inflatable Sleeping Mat weighs
550gr and costs 40€, the ultralight Thermarest NeoAir large weighs
570gr and costs 219€.
That's 20gr less (but it's 15cm wider) for
179€.
