Do you remember the One Stop Shop Series from 2014 where Carsten and me reached out to a bunch of Shops and asked if they’d like to participate in creating a complete ultralight kitlist from their sortiment? Yes? Great! Then you’d be delighted to know that the series is back this year and we look forward to share some exciting lists with you!
Five years have passed since Carsten and me did our One Stop Shop Series, and much has changed since then. Ultralight gear has become mainstream and pretty much every manufacturer offers now lightweight and ultralight alternatives of their equipment. This is great for consumers - where previously you needed to buy your quilt here, the sleeping mat there, and the backpack elsewhere nowadays you can even walk into a brick & mortar store and find the lightweight gear you’re searching for. This has the benefit that with some critical items like backpacks and garments you’re able to try them on before buying them, which makes returns much less likely.
But also the ultralight cottages haven’t been sleeping and resting on their UL Laurels - they have realized that people like to purchase their gear from a few sources instead of a dozen or more shops, and so especially we Europeans are quite lucky to have a handful of Shops which sell ultralight cottage gear all under one roof. It are these, but also more broad shops with more widely known brands, which we will showcase in this series, and I at least am very curious to see which new items will be on these lists, and which classic items we will meet again.
The reason for trying to purchase from one shop instead of six or more different ones is simple: You minimize shipping costs and the possibility for things to go wrong, like lost packages, long waiting times and different currencies + paying methods are all adding up to frustration when you want to buy ultralight gear in one go. Imagine you’d be able to buy all of the lightweight trekking gear you want from just one shop - actually, don’t imagine it - just read our articles to see that it is possible! What we do in this series is to challenge a dozen or so outdoor stores (online, brick & mortar and online shops with a brick & mortar shop) to send us their ideal and functional UL gear list of lightweight & ultralight gear, which one can buy normally (no special orders) in their store. To make these lists easy to compare with each other and that they stay within the same boundaries, this are our Guidelines:
- Creat a 3-Season gear list (Day temperature of 10 to 20°C, Night temperature of 0 to 5°C)
- Rain is possible every day and night
- Mosquitos and other insects are not an issue
- Tours are 5 to 7 days long
These are the outlines of many classic 3-season backpacking trips, and with this one list you should be able to go hiking from spring till autumn, in Scotland, Scandinavia, China, Colorado or elsewhere. The resulting list should give you the possibility to go backpacking in warmer or colder regions with just a few little adaptations, and we are asking for suggestions for the following items:
- Backpack
- Sleeping bag or quilt
- Mattress
- Shelter
- Pot
- Stove
- Cutlery
- Knife
- Lamp
- Trekking poles
- Shoes
- Fleece jacket
- Insulation jacket
- Rain pants
- Rain jacket
- Baselayer (Boxers and T-Shirt)
- Longsleeve
The first four items are the big three (sleep system, backpack and shelter) which weigh the most and where one can save the most weight when lightening up. I will translate the first entry from the Trekking-Lite-Store.com this week, with the others to follow, and also have contacted a few international and European shops to send me their suggestions. Stay tuned, tell your friends, and be prepared for surprises!
Disclosure: The One Stop Shop Series was Carsten’s idea back in the day. The 2019 Series we have created together in order to bring you this series, and you can read his take on the different lists in German on his blog, and you can read my take over here in English. Furthermore, we have been remunerated for our time by the individual shops, though as you know - that had no influence on the articles as I maintain full editorial control of the content published on Hiking in Finland. Read the Transparency Disclaimer for more information on blogger transparency and affiliate links. *
from Hiking in Finland http://bit.ly/2P9bYq7
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