problems when not taking enough gear

That's pretty interesting. For me "going lightweight" is more about savvy shopping (and often spending a bit more) when replacing equipment with lighter, but still capable gear. If you're weight conscious when choosing your next pack, sleeping bag, clothes and shelters you can eventually shave 5 kg plus from your base weight, which is significant to a point where I don't really feel the need to bother adhering to any more weight weeny-ism when choosing what to take on trips.

You and I are on the exact same wavelength Craigo. :)

It's good to try stuff out on safer ground e.g. I took a lightweight anorak and found out it wasn't that waterproof after all but it was only on a mild weekend in light rain for an hour or so before we camped. I've been caught out a few times this year with having too light a sleeping bag for unanticipated cold weather but that's not been a big deal. https://tramper.nz/16252/kopuwai-circuit-old-man-range-in-central-otago-/ Ultralight people often just get up really early when the night turns cold and get going.

I just don't see the point in going "stupid light" as you soon hit a weight where the comfort benefits of less weight is out weighed by the loss of comfort/enjoyment/safety from not having appropriate gear. I generally run a 10-11kg pack for anywhere from a three to seven day tramp. Now my tent weighs 1.5kg, my sleeping bag 1.2kg and I have a fairly bulky first aid kit. I could spend some more money on a lighter bag and tent and trim down some of the excess contents in the first aid kit but I don't see the point as I already barely notice my pack. Why spend a fortune to shave another kg or two if I am already comfortable? The only reasons I am tempted is so I could carry some more fresh food and keep that same 10-11kg or so I could get a bit more pack room so I could push my 36l pack to 10 to 14 day trips if need be.

there comes a point i think when you're splitting hairs because the amount of weight saved isnt that great and you can loose functionality as a result i saw recently on the Te Araroa trail, they were waiting days before they'd tackle the Tongariro crossing because of the weather, they were all ultralighters. i looked at the forecast and it wasnt that bad, but they didnt have enough spare warm gear for the conditions. i've read about ultralighters having to sit out storms in their tents and sleeping bags because they dont have enough warm clothes to walk in, in a cold storm...

I tend towards the ultralight end when I'm on my own, but I carry enough clothes for the conditions. When I look at what I take compared to say the zpacks guy's list of what he took on the Te Araroa, the main difference is I'm carrying clothes to be OK on the tops down here if the weather gets nasty. I find going light - say sub 5kg including food for three days does make a difference if I'm trying to cover ground and do long days. A while ago I was coming over McKellar saddle in the dark, had started from Scott Creek - Kay Creek. Moreporks were calling, I was enjoying strolling along by the light of the rising moon. If I'd had say a 'normal' 10 kg or so pack, I'd have been feeling tired and ready to stop, enjoyment would have been going downhill at about the 10 hours on my feet mark. Main things I'm doing to go light are a very light ripstop nylon pack (homemade), a fly / bivi bag combination that only weights a few hundred grams and a half length zrest waffle style closed cel foam mat that is a couple of hundred grams. My gear for a 3 day trip in May or September is probably below the average gear cost that people here are taking. Down sleeping bag is 750 g, OK to about -5 for me with a jacket on. I'll have an icebreaker T shirt, 2 lightweight fleece layers (one short sleeved, other long sleeved with hood) and a Climashield hooded jacket, beanie, long johns, rain jacket and pants, so I'll be fine in a snowstorm on the tops and fine in a rock bivy or fly camp in a valley with snow on the ground. Reasons for going lighter than that? I would say that if you're planning on running much of a route (which I don't), getting total weight down around 3 kg or less does make a difference, running with 5 kg, it's bouncing around and quite a nuisance, below 3 kg you can keep it close enough to your back you can run reasonably comfortably. Another reason I go light is it enables cycling to a tramp. With 5kg, I can cycle from home to say Macetown, dump the bike and start tramping, the Macetown road or similar would be hard work with 10kg or more on my back. These ultralighters do get into the bragging rights end of things though. What cracks me up is some of them carry a SLR camera, fancy phone and stuff to charge it. Some of them even carry water! And fancy sleeping mats that cost $400 and weight more than 400g!

Can't say I find a 10 hour day much of a problem. Things tend to go to crap for me these days after hour 14 or so but I would say that's more a function of walking for 14 hours than pack weight. Plus I don't actively seek out days like that anymore so if I am walking over 10 or so hours it's generally because I've ****ed something up. The cycling option is interesting and can't say it's something I've tried but can imagine a lighter pack no doubt helps.

One good thing about going lighter is even though you're getting older, your times are remaining the same. I am in awe of my younger self for doing those trips with such heavy packs.

frankly, a LOT of the ultralight people i've come across can be obsessive compulsive, its like a religion, thres only one way, their way and everyone else is completely WRONG.... some of the ultralighters are just ridiculously anal about saving every spare gram they can, when in reality carrying a bit more gear isnt that bad at all and has advantages, some of them just want to lecture everyone they come across about how they should cut weight, its almost like you're going to hell because you're not an ultralighter, its like some elite club and you're inadequate because you dont want to follow the religion.... theres much bigger issues in life than to obsess about how much weight you're carrying. its like fat shaming sometimes, on the TA you'll get a LOT of ultralighters. each to their own. i don't set out to have a heavy pack, but i am happy with the weight and gear I carry and i dont want to hear another lecture from another ultralighter becuase i've had enough of those. its like you're at school and the teacher is accentuating the negative eliminating the positive. i dont go tramping to get unsolicited gear lectures and i think few other people do... but i've seen a LOT of resistance of ultralighters to take even the smallest extra amount of gear when prompted to because people think they are taking an unsafe amount of gear, I think of it as gear anorexia. most experienced trampers I know, disagree with how little gear some of the ultralighters take, and a lot of the ultralighters i've come across arent interested in listening. I can agree to disagree, but i've had too many ultralighter relate to me the wrong way. just be nice to people, respect where they are at and dont' lecture them. I know one ultralighter, hes a psychologist, and his interpersonal skills are quite poor, he's quite arrogant and takes the high ground with his ultralight gear, and wants to preach it to the world like an evangelical missionary and hes far from the only one... not everyone is obsessed about walking as far as possible a day and racking up as much time and kilometres on their feet as they can... its perfectly acceptable to go for a short walk and take a tonne of gear so you can have a better camping experience. but it seems its becoming more fashionable to go light, more brands are getting into selling ultralight gear and they arent doing it for charity. yeah there might be merit in going ultralight, but it puts people off the way some ultralighters go on ad nauseum about it, starting out a conversation basically saying, i'm right and youre wrong isnt going to endear you to anyone. some of my gear is ultralight, i use a mixture of different weights of gear that i'm perfectly happy with. friend of mine had posted a photo online of her wearing a large pack.... and an ultralighter posted a comment about it being far too big a pack and it should be smaller... well he didnt know the circumstances, she had perfectly valid reasons to have a big pack, because the person who comments only goes hiking in a specific recreational scenario to cover long distances with minimal gear and he just applied his narrow minded scenario to her and that wasnt her scenario at all. she was using the trip to test out different types of gear to decide what would be best to take on future trips.... plenty of people take very heavy gear, because it works out cheaper and they cant afford the lightweight gear and having to replace it because it wears out, like people who work in the outdoors and absolutely thrash their gear and they have to carry a lot of stuff and they need things like a substantial pack that will carry heavy weight comfortable... you've got ultralight walkers like the guy mentioned in the article who take NO SPARE WARM CLOTHING. they get wet and have nothing dry to change into that can keep them warm in cold weather. theres people who only use a down jacket for warm clothing, really nice and light and totally useless when it gets wet. I know an ultralighter who just preaches that message to people getting into hiking, people who arent as skilled and are more likely to end up with wet clothing they can't dry out. foreigners coming to nz can be chronic, NZ is a lot wetter and damper than they are used to and they are used to walking in a fairly dry to bone dry climate in summer, and all they do when they get here is complain because the weather isnt playing ball like it does at home so they can be happy taking hardly any clothes. personally, i dont see the point in doing long days at a faster pace, i'm out tramping to take in the scenery and spend as much time looking around as possible, including SITTING around looking at the scenery instead of spending all day passing through it as fast as possible. i dont see the point in saying i've done this track in a fast time. because if i have then i have seen less, relaxed less and didnt take it in as well and missed out on being able to maximise taking in my surroundings and just had a big endorphin hit by going more intenselely which i could just as easily do in a gym or at home. yes there are scenarios where going light can be a good idea, alpine climbing in NZ, where it can be better to beat severe weather rather than go slow with a lot of gear and get stuck out in a bad storm. Perception of risk is different from person to person, not every ultralighter is going to be right about their selection of gear based on their risk perception of the likelihood of something going wrong and the gear they are likely to be OK with