Lightweight Hiking

Getting Started

By Karen Berger

Ever feel the urge to lighten your load?

Lightening up is all the rage these days, but before you shed all that weight, get some background on the movement and on ways to get into it safely and effectively. GORP Hiking Expert Karen Berger helps would-be lightweight hikers get started in this three-part series.

Part I looks at some of the standard equipment on a typical backpacker's gear list and shows you how to make some basic changes and shed pounds instantly.
Part II looks at how major manufacturers of traditional hiking gear have responded to the new interest in ultralight gear by using lighter, high-tech materials, stripping down equipment to its essential components, and introducing new designs.
Part III looks at unique weight-saving designs, mostly developed by long-distance hikers. We'll talk to hikers who make their own gear or who have started cottage industries, producing gear you won't find in the pages of mainstream outdoor magazines.