New website for tramping gear information in NZ

welcome. going lightweight can be a dangerous proposition in NZ, some places and conditions it will work, some places the gear will struggle to cope. several of us have come across ultralighters ridiculously kitted out for the mountains. they come doing the te araroa trail and one has disappeared and was never found... ultralighting needs more skill on the part of the tramper to get away with light weight gear they have to understand its limitations and how best to use it. thers a term coined by andrew skurka "stupid light" where people cut too much weight and gear from their kit. ultralighting evolved in places where the weather is more stable than in nz and you could could on long periods of reasonable weather. i have ultralight gear but i am very careful about when I use it, i dont go with entirely ultralight kit, most of my gear won't be ultralight on my trips. http://andrewskurka.com/2012/stupid-light-not-always-right-or-better/

I search hiking (Or trekking) when looking for overseas information, use tramping for New Zealand content... "Don’t just default to the big brand names like Macpac or Kathmandu – there are other stores out there. Stores like Bivoauc and independent stores will stock many boutique brands instead of just their own, so you often get far more variety. " Might want to highlight that stores like Bivouac also stock major international brands, rather then just highlighting boutique. Much of what they stock would be from brands larger then Kathmandu/Macpac combined. Also find KathPac to be more expensive at times compared with the alternative retailers. Although a few bargains can be found after Kathmandu has marked their clearance price down 2-3 times. With regards to the loft of down... There are two main international standards used to determine the loft of down, the US standard and the EN standard, just to make things confusing the US standard can be up to 75 units higher compared with down tested using the EN Standard. Which also explains why we have started to see lots more loft avaiable over 800, and even some over 900.

waynowski, did you even read his website? It is not promoting ultralight tramping.

Hi @DonaldDuck, what a lot of work and thought you've put into your website. Looks great! Plenty of solid advice there too. Well done. It will be very useful to a lot of people starting out. You can never have enough tramping resources online, especially those that are NZ-themed. My only misgiving is in the title. "Featherweight" seems to suggest the slant is for going lighter than even lightweight... Was this the intention? As you say, the website is a work in progress. Good luck with the project. PS: one small change, "gaiters"; (not gators)...

"As to the name, Featherweight Hiking doesn't have any technical or trade meaning, it is simply representative of my inclination towards lightweight tramping and the fact that I think it sounds good." lightweight tramping gets called all sorts of different things, super, extra, ultra, featherlight.... , saying you like lightweight gear and saying it doesnt promote the gear all seems rather confusing when your whole site is named featherlight.

@waynowski I take your point that the name of the site does suggest an affinity for ultralight tramping (I hope this isn't a mischaracterisation of your point), and I appreciate the feedback. However, beyond that I don't think I endorse ultralight tramping. I don't think I suggest any ultralight gear in the buying tips, though feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Also, if you see my standard gear list, it is very far away from an ultralight list. In it, I try and balance suggesting the minimum amount of gear with enough to safely handle the vast majority of non-alpine trip trips. Added to this, if you have a look at my gear list, you'll see that it is over double the weight of most ultralighters. More generally, I think your statement "going lightweight can be a dangerous proposition in NZ" is a little bit arbitrary, as it suggests one is either 'stupid light' (to quote Andrew Skurka, which I have read prior to this) or not lightweight and therefor sensible (again, I hope I'm not mischaracterising). I think the problem with this is that there is a vast range between the undefined realm that is not lightweight (is this a base weight of 12kg, 20kg?) and 'stupid light'. I agree that in many places in NZ one cannot generally get away with carrying sub 3kg, that would almost certainly be 'stupid light'. But I think there is a scale in between where one is not 'stupid light', but merely 'lighter'. For example, I think someone can pretty easily achieve a base weight under 10kg without sacrificing a reasonable level of safety. Simple things like using a pack that doesn't weigh in excess of 4kg, and a decent quality sleeping will save kilos, and yet not in any way reduce someone's safety in the outdoors. One could start with a base weight of 16kg, and halve it by thinking carefully about their choices, and what they really use or could do without, and while doing so not compromising their safety in the least. I agree with you that a beginner tramper shouldn't start out with a frameless cuben backpack, trail runners, and a tarp then set out to do a backcountry trip. But neither should they think tramping is about carrying 20kg+ for a two day trip. Personally, I think carrying an excessive amount of gear can be dangerous in of itself, as people will tire more quickly, which means they will be more likely to make mistakes, and more likely to trip; being heavier also means one is more likely to injure oneself if one does fall. Finally, just as a point of interest, you might be curious to know that many hiking commentators, websites and bloggers now seem to be using the rough definition that 'ultralight' constitutes a base weight below 4-5kg and 'lightweight' under 9-11kg. So the terms are becoming increasingly distinct as opposed to synonymous.

@militaris thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it. You make good points. "I search hiking (Or trekking) when looking for overseas information, use tramping for New Zealand content..." What is interesting is that people in NZ are increasingly searching for 'hiking' rather than 'tramping', though the two are about equal at the moment. Have a look here: https://www.google.co.nz/trends/explore#q=hiking%2C%20tramping&geo=NZ&cmpt=q&tz=Etc%2FGMT-13 "With regards to the loft of down... There are two main international standards used to determine the loft of down, the US standard and the EN standard, just to make things confusing the US standard can be up to 75 units higher compared with down tested using the EN Standard. Which also explains why we have started to see lots more loft avaiable over 800, and even some over 900." Totally aside from the website, isn't this the most annoying thing!! Its the same with breathability ratings for rainwear, except for breathability there are countless tests, that often produce the same unit, which means those numbers become almost meaningless. To make it worse, the vast majority of brands don't say which test they use, although it's a safe bet most brands use the test that gives the higher number. I might put this disclaimer on the website, I left it off because I didn't want to confuse people, but it might be worth mentioning.

Good luck. How experienced are you? A lot of pics of tongariro and not much more?

after tramping for thirty years i've tried almost the full range in weight of gear. i'm not really into long winded debates on gear. i have a facebook group devoted to hiking gear posting every scrap of recent info i can find on the latest gear news, so i'm not ignorant of what is out there in the range of gear. https://www.facebook.com/groups/121085468026112/