The Guru of Lightweight Backpacking

This engineer/avid hiker is taking light packs and ingenius gear to new extremes.

Lean, tall, clad in his hiking clothing from head to toe and carrying an alarmingly
simple pack, Glen Van Peski of Carlsbad strides into a room full of Pacific
Crest Trail “section hikers” at their monthly meeting. Fifteen pairs of eyes watch as he plunks his pack down and begins discussing how he does it.

Does what?

Glen has trimmed the weight of his pack and gear for a week-long trip, without
food, down to 6.2 pounds, that’s what! “Some people think I only have
‘packing peanuts’ inside,” he quips. But as he unpacks, this
consulting engineer who now makes his own pack line, the GVP pack, makes it
clear that he really has entered a realm of Extreme Lightness of Being.

We caught up with him not only at that PCT meeting (he’ll also be speaking
at an Adventure 16 near you, this August) but afterwards for a few Van Peski-isms
about going lighter. Here’s a smattering of his wit and wisdom. For much
more, catch his presentations at our stores, and see his website at www.gvpgear.com.

On my first Sierra hike I carried about 65 pounds and made about 7 miles
a day. A friend of mine, Read Miller, and I started to think about how we could
go lighter. Today my bias is simple: the greatest comfort is a light pack.

Your first bit of knowledge is “know the weight!” Your second:
look for multi-uses for everything. For example, the shoulder straps on my pack
are padded with my warm “sleeping socks.”

I use the lightest thin-foam sleeping pad available, and trimmed off
the lower leg sections. It doubles as my pack’s back pad. Remember, if
you walk 20 miles in a day, and pay attention to where you roll out your sleeping
bag, you can sleep pretty well no matter what’s under you.

I love bandannas. They pre-screen your water, make a great hat, serve
as an emergency bandage. Wet one corner and use it as a wash cloth—the
remaining dry part is your towel.

I recommend Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap (also known as “bear
attractant”). Use just one drop to brush your teeth—more and you foam
up like a mad dog. (Glen carries his soap in a tiny vial.) And I use a finger
toothbrush (a tiny plastic handle-less brush that fits over the end of the index
finger).

My extremely light sleeping bag has no down on the bottom, yet I’ve
been into the ‘20s in it. But it cost more than many conventional bags.
I figure it cost me at least $15 for every ounce I saved.

The only pair of long pants I bring are ultra-light, breathable rain/wind
pants. Recognize that you’re not re-creating your home environment in the
woods, and that you don’t need every set of clothing for every situation.

I know some hikers who don’t carry toilet paper. Me, I carry a
generous eight squares a day.

Going lighter depends on your style. I’m out there to walk, so
we get up early before sunrise and walk until we’re tired, sometimes after
dark. If your style is to set up camp, then your orientation is entirely different.
You want more comfort in camp.

I don’t go on a trip without going through my gear checklist. It
comes from being a pilot.

Some super-light nylon fabrics are so thin and sensitive to abrasion
that you can barely set a pack down on granite. That’s extreme, but with
any lightweight gear there are tradeoffs between durability and weight. I tread
softly in life in general, so my gear lasts. Durability hasn’t been a factor
for me.

Remember, 50 pounds in one of my packs will make you very, very unhappy.
I don’t recommend carrying more than 30 pounds.

I’ve been accused of spending the most $ per ounce to save weight.
I spent $5,000 on laser eye surgery so I wouldn’t have to carry contact
solution.

Go with the “piñata theory”—Make Your First Swing
Count (try to save the most weight on the big stuff, like pack, bag, tent).

My tarp-tent has no floor, and it sets up with my hiking poles as an
A-frame entry. It weighs 10.5 ounces with its required two stakes. My ground
cloth is one-half of a “space blanket.”

For nighttime illumination I carry only small “squeeze lights”—one
red, one white—on a lanyard around my neck I use the models that also have
an on/off switch. (Editor’s note: you’ll find such lights at Adventure
16.). The red light lets me hike at night without losing my night vision.

My pack waterproofing system is a trash compactor bag. White helps you
see inside.

I don’t bring foods under 100 calories an ounce: that’s my personal
minimum. I’m not sophisticated enough to figure out all the daily calories,
but know from weighing the food when I go, and weighing it when I get back,
that 1.75 pounds (dry weight) a day works for me. Most important: don’t
bring 4 pounds of food back from a trip.

Go! If you don’t go on trips, you’re slow to build up your
confidence level. If you’re out four weeks a year you start to get pretty
comfortable with what you need and don’t, and what works and doesn’t.
Tents are a great example. When I started I liked the imagined security of a
tent. Now, in a tent I don’t know what’s going on outside…it’s
scarier being inside.