They say your pack should weigh between 10-12% of your body weight. I am wishing I had gained some weight. And the formula is probably written by and intended for men around 180-200lbs. I will confess right off the bat that my pack is overweight. Way overweight. It is 21 lbs. That’s about 5 lbs more than it should be.
You would think that having done this before I would pare down but my experience pointed out a few things I needed:
- Extra insoles. Remember feet are princesses. Treat them well. And good quality insoles were hard to find when you need them. Plus if your shoes get wet you can always switch to dry insoles.
- Extra socks. Remember feet are princesses. Treat them well. Try different ones and combos.
- A bigger bottle of Glide for rubbing on your feet or anywhere else that gets chafed. Remember feet are princesses. Treat them well.
- A ‘sleep system’ to use high tech adventure vernacular. Last year it was often to hot for my sleeping bag. And remember the saying ‘sleep tight,don’t let the bed bugs bite.’ So my solution is a lite silk sleeping bag liner and a lite down throw. Together they weigh a bit more than the bag alone but it gives me options and a sense of protection.
- An umbrella for sun and rain. I used one last year more for sun than rain.
To be fair, I ended up carrying more last year as I purchased some of these things like insoles and umbrella on the way and for most of the journey ended up carrying two pairs of trail runners. So it isn’t much more than I carried than last year even though i started with 17lbs. Plus I am working my way through the heavy nut and chocolate snacks to decrease the weight of the pack and increase my weight so that 10% body weight adds up.
However a heavy pack is a heavy pack and carrying 21lbs up a mountain is not fun. Heck, getting myself up a mountain isn’t fun either.
I email Cathy who is waiting for me in St Jean Pied de Port. ‘Find a luggage delivery service. We can have them carry our bags for the first two days.’
Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa 