Compact CampingBase weight explained
Base weight is everything in your pack except consumables - food, water and fuel - and except the clothes you are wearing. Under 9 kg counts as lightweight; under 4.5 kg is ultralight.
Why consumables are excluded
Food, water and fuel vary by trip and shrink as you walk, so including them makes any comparison meaningless. Base weight is the constant — the gear choices you carry on every trip — which makes it the number worth optimising and the number the whole lightweight world quotes. Worn clothes and items in your hands (trekking poles) traditionally do not count either. Water is the one consumable you can trade against base weight: a 60–70 g squeeze filter lets you carry one litre instead of three on a route with streams — about 2 kg off your back for 70 g on it.
The brackets
| Style | Base weight |
|---|---|
| Traditional | 10–14 kg |
| Lightweight | under 9 kg |
| Ultralight | under 4.5 kg |
The lines are conventions from the ultralight community, not physics, but they are useful landmarks. Most people who deliberately choose gear land between 6 and 9 kg without exotic purchases or sacrifice.
Why it matters
Every kilogram is lifted with every step — thousands of times a day, uphill and down. Less base weight means fresher legs, happier knees on descents, longer comfortable days and a smaller pack to buy. The difference between 12 and 7 kg is the difference between enduring the walk and enjoying it.
How to cut it
Weigh everything on a kitchen scale and write a list — the list does more than any purchase, because the biggest finds are always things to leave at home. Then attack the big three (pack, shelter, sleep system) as the setup guide describes: they hold most of the weight, so a quilt or a trekking-pole tent saves more than any ten gadgets. Duplicates, "just in case" items and camp luxuries are the next kilogram.
Mind the cost-per-gram curve
The first kilos are free (leave things home) or cheap; the last grams are titanium-priced. Before paying for lighter gear, cut the free weight — and stop where your comfort stops. A chair can be worth its 500 g if you love camp evenings; base weight is a tool, not a religion.
Compact is not the same as ultralight
This site optimises packed size first: gear that fits small lives in small packs, panniers and hand luggage. Compact and light usually travel together, but not always — a steel flask is compact and heavy. Know which number you are optimising, and when in doubt on multi-day walks, let weight win.