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Ultra light backpacking in Iceland - oh yes!
Ultra light backpacking is something really worth looking into, even when planning longer backpacking tours in Iceland.
I the "old" days one would not complain about a 3.1 kg. backpack, a 2.5 kg. sleeping bag, a mattress of more than 1 kg, a tent of close to 3 kg. etc. And of course: a decent pair of walking boots - each boot close to a kilo. A good MSR petrol burner with pots and pans of iron - and petrol, to finish the picture. All in all, this basic gear would weigh more than 12 kg. - and nobody would complain. This is just like things were.
The backpack. I have gradually been "lightening up" my gear the last years. I still have some old fashioned gear as I need to bring with me - when guiding - all kinds of extra gear. My new Lowe Alpine Kamet 65:75 weighs 2 kg - but it is more spacious than my old Vango - and much lighter. Still, I would not consider having such a bag if not for all the "might come in handy"-things to be taken along when leading a group through the interior of Iceland. My Lowe Alpine Eclipse 45:55, weighing 1.17 kg is an excellent bag for multi days backpacking but the favorite is my Gossamer Gear 54 weighing 468 grams.
And what to stuff into the pack for the tour
- what does one really need?
Tents are getting lighter - much lighter than before. I was quite happy with my Big Agnes (seems to be quality stuff) 2 person tent, less than 2 kg. My Mermont is lighter still - but as there are major issues with the setup of that tent, I would not recommend it outside sheltered camping sites. My travel companion for the longest is my Eureka! Spitfire solo. 1.25 kg. It has been my shelter in the Carpathians, on various "great walks" in NZ as in most parts of Iceland - and is still going strong. But my favorite is something I made myself: a tent of Cuben fiber sheet. With poles, pegs and cords it weighs less than 500 grams.
Mattress is essential to insulate from the cold ground. Once upon a time saying Thermarest was equal to saying "mattress" - but this time has passed. My Thermarest is around 650 grams. Now I have a "Multimat" a Chinese inflatable mattress of 350 grams. Fully inflated it is close to
6 cm thick. Just fine.
Sleeping bag - a good one is a must. I have a REI sub-kilo down bag, expected to be comfortable down to -9°C. Getting a decent bag, weighing less than a kilo is as good as it gets, I think. Lighter bag / less down means less insulation. Simple as that . . .
Cooking gear - time to think small. My MSR petrol burner seems to last and continue lasting. Good stuff. Same with the steel pot and pans, which I got at the same time. But as reliable as these utensils are, they are heavy. All counted, petrol, burner and pots, we are talking about something around 1.4 kg. I found an unbelievably light aluminium kattle in a Chinese store in Dresden and with that thing, a 10 g burner and one (for 4-6 days) 208 g gas canisters (100 g of gas), a plastic spork and my old, plastic cup I have what I need for cooking and eating. Going from 1.4 kg to 260 grams. This is what I call progress!
Clothing is mainly what I can wear at one time. Extra pair of underwear and (luxury!) two extra pairs of socks. Everything else is unnecessary. And the full grain leather boots, the Scarpas and the Meindls I have had - excellent as they are - are not a must. Now I have Meindl MFS Vakuum of 800 g a piece, just in case of multi day backpacking with serious glacier crossing (and kicking steps into old, hard snow). For other backpacking I have a pair of Merrel Mid Grassbow GTX, which stand close to 300 g a piece. They seem to be just fine - on a nine days backpacking tour in Iceland or rambling in Croatia. And 500 grams less on each foot!
Total weight in the ultra light mode - of the backpack, tent, mattress, sleeping bag, cooking gear, extra clothes, rain trousers and jacket, gps, compass and headlight, camera, knife, first aid and hygienic, phone, wallet, extra batteries and wading shoes is 4.768 kg. From late April into August there is no need for a headlight in Iceland and on a 2 nights tour no extra batteries are needed. It is quite rare if one needs to carry more than 0.5 liters of water in Iceland and the weight of food pr. day should not exceed 700 grams. If the tour is for more than 5 days, a larger canister, of 250 grams of gas add ca 180 grams (150 of gas and 30 because of more iron) to the weight.
The clothes which I wear, shoes included should weigh a little less than 2 kg. and include a 310 g Merino wool shirt, 500 g windproof fleece jacket and 610 g hiking shoes/boots.
So, 4.8 kg. for the basic needs + 2.8 kg of food for 4 days and 0.5 kg of water sums up around 8.1 kg. at the very start of the tour (if it rains in the start of the tour, I will be wearing the rain-gear so the weight of what I have "on my back" would sum up to around 7.3 kg)
Why carry more?
And the food: not exactly the keto-diet. I would certainly not recommend this diet except when backpacking light. Lots of carbs . . .
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