[Gocamino] pack weight

[Robert Spenger]

Grant,

If your pictures are typical of your every day attire, it is easy to  
see why I carry more than double the weight that you do. As a  
heliophobe, I never go out in the sun without long sleeves, long  
pants, broad-brimmed hat or cap with a cape, and full sunglasses that  
have side shields. Also, last year's 40 days of prescriptions and  
supplements weighed in at 330g. For my 2 months plan this year, it  
will no doubt be well over a pound. Restock in Europe? Well, in  
theory, that should be no problem, but after three bad experiences, I  
don't take chances any more; I just bring all the medical items that I  
calculate that I will need.

I haven't observed hospitaleros complaining about light packs, but I  
am not surprised that there are some like that. I did get chewed out  
by a woman at Puenta La Reina for having a pack that was too heavy. I  
also ran into a problem regarding sleeping bags. At Roncesvalles, it  
seems that you stake out your claim to the bunk to which you have been  
assigned by leaving your sleeping bag on it — not your unopened pack.  
Fortunately that was the one trip that I did bring a sleeping bag, so  
I pulled it out and put it on the second bunk that the grumpy  
pilgrimherd assigned to me. This year, I am back to going without bag  
again, but will opt for the hotel if I stay in Roncesvalles. I do  
carry a silk sleep sack, but at 190 grams, it is not in the same  
category as real sleeping bags.

My pack, at 1.06 kg, was the lightest thing that REI had that had a  
waist belt. I have read good arguments for dispensing with a waist  
strap, but, with a useless fifth lumbar disk, I keep as much of the  
weight as possible off my shoulders.

The second big ticket item is the pair of shoes. Just low-cut shoes; I  
have never worn boots on the camino. But my 13EEEs  weigh in at 1.01  
kg for the pair. (Not a pack item, of course.)

A pair of heavy North Face rain pants come in next at 380 grams. My  
rain chaps would be adequate and far, far lighter, but would not serve  
as a spare pair of pants to wear while washing the regular ones. I   
will also need this item to make up for a lack of a sleeping bag and  
to ward off the chill of Autumn in Britain after the walk.

The fourth on the spread list is the over-the-pack poncho at 370  
grams. The expensive 370 gram rain jacket that I used last year,  
walking from LePuy to Condo, failed miserably. so it is back to ponchos.

After those, it it has one pair of convertible pants, two long sleeve  
shirts, three sets of underwear, two pairs of heavy sox, 6 pairs of  
very lightweight inner sox and sundry other items.

Actually, in all that, the only item above that is apropos to my first  
sentence in this message is the spare long sleeve shirt, so that  
sentence does not really hold water. I believe that one of the main  
differences in the weight that we carry is paper. Even after many  
hours of study, both in classes and on my own of German, French,  
Spanish, and Portuguese, I am hopelessly inadequate in trying to  
converse in any of these languages. (Some might be so unkind as to  
include English in that list as well, especially certain former  
students, but then I was really speaking chemistry to them and that is  
not exactly English.) As one of the linguistically impaired, I need a  
pair of crutches for each language that I expect to use — a dictionary  
and a phrase book. For the coming trip, this would mean French and  
Spanish. And it probably wouldn't hurt to bring along a dictionary of  
current British slang. (American and British English = Two different  
languages with the same set of words — often spelled and pronounced  
differently.)

The rest of the paper weight is in guide books, especially Miam-Miam  
Dodo. I have that for France only, in the 2007 edition, and will be  
using copies of the appropriate pages rather than the original, but  
might pick up a copy of the 2008 edition (~280 grams) when I get  
there, if it seems to have a lot of new entries. I have torn off the  
last section of the Raju book to carry, which is only 90 grams of the  
original 220. It wasn't much help from LePuy to Condom, but I will  
give it another chance. In Spain, I will just wing it, except for a  
lot of stuff from these forums that I have printed out. I have a big  
thick file that I have printed out both for the chemin/camino part of  
the trip and for the aftermath at Brum. It needs a lot of weeding out,  
so I don't have a weight on it — stuff like lists of private refugios  
in Spain, chunnel train schedule, Paris to Agen TGV schedule, etc.

Well, I have meandered on long enough. My computer is sagging from the  
weight of all the bytes needed for this message.

Bob S.


On Aug 15, 2008, at 8:56 AM, Grant Spangler wrote:


I have a superlight June-July-August lashup that weighs in at 4 kilo.  
That includes everything but the typical 'clothes on my back': WITH  
camera, memory, mini tripod, 2 weeks of vitamins, sunglasses, a first  
aid kit I'll never use, a typical day's worth of trail mix, etc. It  
would be folly to use this as an October/onward kit, and possibly  
marginal in September. Everything in life is contextual. A number of  
pilgrims at the Santa Barbara Gathering have seen it; it's a think- 
outside-the-box real world approach. Some ultralight thesises are  
flawed in my view, but then again, mine works for me and possibly not  
for others. I've meant to make a short YouTube with weights and  
commentary on all the contents, but have not gotten around to it. My  
main concern is being denied lodging because of a 'real pilgrims have  
heavier packs' argument from a hospitalero. There just ain't pleasin'  
some folks.

Ligero Camino,

Grant