lightweight gear

I think there is definitely still a place for lightweight American tents, they shouldn't be written off entirely. Obviously a more robust mountaineering capable tent should be used for committing trips that are longer, with less certain weather forecasts. However a lightweight tent is really useful for short trips or those where you'll be camping below bushline. I have a lightweight REI Quarter Dome tent that I've happily camped in above bushline on short trips where I'm pretty confident in the weather forecast. I've even camped on the Bonar Glacier in it! Also really useful to have a lightweight tent in your pack if you're planning on staying in a hut but are unsure if it'll be full. However, I also have a Macpac Minaret that I will use for more serious trips or if the forecast is not looking perfect.

Thanks @Gaiters couldn't have said it better myself. While the overall point of "be careful what you buy and make sure it is suited to your intended use" is very valid it gets lost in the continued torrent of generalisations of "if you buy this it will fall apart" which wears very thin.

25 years of long-distance hiking, 17 years in New Zealand and still waiting for my light gear to fall apart, maybe 5000kms isn’t enough exposure yet. American weather is stable? Amusing. Spend a month on the Southern Appalachian Trail in March/April, spend a week in the White Mountsins any time of year. Ever been to the Pacific Northwest? All of those areas require people to carry shelters and sleep on their own sleeping pads, no 18 bunk enclosed huts with 15cm thick mattresses waiting. No chopped wood, no heating. I’ve lived in four countries, each country thinks they are unique and more challenging than any other. People are pretty predictable 🙂

I should reduce my gear weight by at least 10kg Looking down my fat guts should be the first to go, but its easyer to spend a small fortune on the latest greatest gear reducing weight in the wallet. Each to there own.

Ever since I've started carrying 30 kg of venison out of the hills I've wanted to lighten the load and free up room in my pack. Funny that.

I know a designer for Acteryx. Not well enough to get free gear unfortunately. He has told me the amount of research that goes into their gear. They have played with cuban fiber and have made packs out of it although I dont think they are on the market yet. Its incredibly strong material but it cant be stitched and the design is critical because it has no stretch. They made a climbing harnes out of spectra which is a very close relative to cuban and it was only after taking high speed video of it that the realised why it was failing at a fraction of what it should of held. Its also why your not going to see harnesses made of this stuff any time soon. He has shown me the design features in some of their gear and it is good but also told me why some of the stuff they make will never see market. They made gortex lined socks. Worked brilliantly and far better than having the gortex lining on the boot as everyone knows. The sell them to the American military but cant sell them to the public as gortex has a deal with boot makers that is far more valuable that it would be for gortex socks How much Acteryx gear do I have? I cant afford any of it so make do with the chinese copies

Personalities aside, there is no question that there is a very strong theme between the person in question and dogmatic comments that are clearly baseless. This creates a issue when someone says these things from their heated living room while others are out there actually doing the very things that are being implied as highly unlikely in New Zealand. There is nothing overly unique about New Zealand conditions outside of UV exposure. It’s wet, windy and muddy, it’s unpredicteble - all routine conditions in mountsins all over the world. Go tramping and enjoy the time we have left, each of us will be the youngest we’ll ever be tomorrow.

ironically the opinion i gave about where tents are designed and the weather originated from a well known ultralight hiker in the states, not from me. i cant find it, it was either andrew skurka or will reitvelt or dave chennault i've read a lot of their stuff but cant recall which one.. despite what you think i'm not totally anti ultralight, i'm cautious about it obviously. i don't think that matters to you guys anyway you've got me pigeon holed as someone to hate permanently so it doesnt matter what i say anymore, i'm a target for hate.. when i haven't directed any ill will towards anyone on this site... not sure why people get so worked up over a few words you disagree with, i'm not a criminal for saying what i have, i havent broken forum rules

The issue seems to be your methods, not your views, but the poor manner in which you choose to post your views. You might wanna quote people instead of passing off comments as your own. Then crediting them after the fact. Andrew Skurka also circumnavigated Alaska on foot using nothing more than a 480 gram MLD Solomid. 7500 kms in Alaska with a tarp shelter.

the issue is people unwarranted anger and aggressive talk over a few words they don't like, because they cant control their emotions over relatively trivial matters. all i've seen is a lot of finger pointing at me because people want to blame me for their bad tempers, when the problem is they get angry easily and want to take it out on someone else. who's going to want to contribute their honest opinions to a forum where several people have a go at one person repeatedly, its like a verbal group beating... do you have kids? would you want them writing on this forum with this sort of behaviour? say the wrong thing and you get verbally hammered for it? how many people see this forum and this behaviour and think no way am i going to be part of this, if you disagree with certain people you're going to be abused annonymously in a public forum