The Big White

SimonWillis.co.uk

Starting from Scratch

The driving force behind the US-led boom in ultra-lightweight backpacking gear is a burgeoning cottage industry where home-made gear reigns supreme.

Using home-made packs, shelter, clothing and sleeping quilt, Ray and Jenny Jardine hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995 in a record time of three months four days. Since then, home-made gear has been a feature of American ultra-light hiking. Almost every hiker over there, who can work a sewing machine, has run up a backpack or turned out a tarp. The result is a booming American cottage industry making innovative outdoor gear.

Henry Shires is one of the pioneers. He gave me a prototype Tarptent to test on my Pacific Crest Trail in 2002, and two years later, TGO Deputy Editor John Manning found it had become the most popular shelter among PCT hikers. Henry gave up teaching for a year to concentrate full-time on his fledgling outdoor business, and TGO can reveal the result, a brand new design called “The Rainbow”. It is a free-standing, arched tarp, available with or without a sewn-in groundsheet, which uses trekking poles at the base to increase stability. It weighs between 880g – 908g, will sell for around $225, and bears a striking similarity to my old (1800g) Phoenix Phreeranger. Henry says, “Like the other Tarptents, the Rainbow isn’t intended as a mountaineering shelter though some people will certainly try to push the limits”.

The new Rainbow TarpTent by Henry Shires

Meanwhile, Glen Van Peski’s pack making business is booming. When I visited his San Diego home he showed me his latest ultra-light backpack and some prototype designs. Now these have developed into an entire range of equipment called Gossamer Gear. It includes the 30L Whisper Backpack which, at 105g, is probably the world’s lightest backpack, and his best selling 70L Mariposa backpacking sack that’s less than 500g. “My wife Francie is now in charge of shipping”, Glen told me, “and we are laying in inventory now for next year to try to avoid some of the shortages we had this year on some of our popular products”. He’s also working on new shelters and sleeping pads for 2006 and 2007. Glen, whose trail name is “Home-made”, takes no salary from his business, preferring to keep prices low, plough profit back into development, and to support some worthy organizations related to backpacking.

There are signs of a few home-made ultra-light gear businesses in the UK. One of the most amazing is the Balloon bed, claimed to be a 100g alternative to a Thermarest or sleeping mat. It consists of long, toy balloons, the kind magicians twist into giraffes at kids’ parties, which slide into channels sewn into a Pertex cover. When inflated, it looks like a small lilo. Astonishingly, the balloons don’t pop when my 12 stone frame lies on it. They are very fiddly to inflate, but I’m assured it gets easier with practice. In the morning you just pop the balloons with the provided pin.

A more established business is Lightwave a two-man operation making light, simple backpacking rucksacks and tents. They also make climbing gear under the name Crux and their products, which are designed in the UK but made in China, have been in shops for just over three years. “Our basic philosophy is to use good materials and limit the design to the things which are important”, Adam Van Lopik told me.

Although these pioneers are thousands of miles from each other, their stories are strikingly similar. All were fed up of big outdoor equipment manufacturers adding heavy product features year on year. All are convinced people will buy simply designed, quality, light-weight gear. And all have the courage to back that belief with their own money, and sometimes their careers. They don’t have the massive marketing budgets of the big boys, but if you are serious about saving weight, it’s worth trying to seek them out. You’ll find their ideas innovative and thought provoking. Small can be lighter, cheaper and beautiful.