One the key decisions any lightweight backpacker has to make is what luxury is it worth carrying? Hikers reduce the weight of their pack by scrutinising everything. True obsessives/aficionados like Colin actually weight even the lightest of things.
Most of my ‘luxuries’ vanished a long time ago. I might take a paperback book with me on a short overnighter when the overall pack weight isn’t groaning under the weight of food. But come the longer trek the books and so on are left behind. I know there are those who used to tear out the pages of the book as they walked, but that just seemed to me to be book vandalism!
I mention this because there has been a conversation on twitter this week between Phil Turner and Steve Horner which made me smile. Phil is a lightweight hiker, of that there is no doubt. But I sometimes wonder if this is so he can carry more gadgets with him!
The subject of the discussion this week was the new version of the Kindle e-book reader that was announced by Amazon this week. This new Kindle weighs under 250 grams “lighter than many a backpack) and has a battery life of between three weeks and 1 month depending on how often you use wifi — a 3G version will give you 10 days of battery life. This is pretty light and, of course, can pack a load of books into its thin form — about 3,500 actually! I suppose at that weight the new Kindle is a consideration, although the monochrome screen has its limitations for anything other than text, for instance maps.
The trouble is with all of this stuff is the weight adds up. Kindles, smartphones, battery chargers and small batteries: well you could always find yourself adding another kilo to your base weight without any trouble indeed.
This may be the future, but you don’t need a Kindle to indulge in the new multimedia world while backpacking. On this year’s Challenge I came across tent maker Henry Shires a few times. I noticed that he tended to disappear into his tent early in the evening. Henry told me that he was watching feature films on his iphone. He was in a B&B or campsite often enough to keep the battery charged effectively. I can’t remember how may films he’d watched, but it was an impressive total — I think well into double figures!
These days I make do with virtually nothing he way of entertainment. I do usually have a camera to stroll around with if I pitch very early but more often than not I’m happy to find entertainment and stimulation in that which is around me. Time in the back country is time for meditation and for marvelling of that which is often ordinary and mundane in the outside world, and which is so refreshingly different from the city.
At under 250 grams maybe the I will be walking with the Kindle at some point. But I think it might be a shame. Is this view of life something that comes with age?
Back at home I’m as geeky as anybody — you should see my broadband speed which was upgraded by Virgin Media yesterday! But in the hills, does going really light mean more space for the mind and the spiritual?
I’m with you Andy. Time in the hills has a big meditive/spiritual/whateveryoucallit element to me. It’s a time to escape from the constant hustle and bustle of urban life. Being an UL backpacker, i leave as much as possible behind, including my ‘city head’. Gadgets in the hills are just another distraction. I enjoy the simplicity of only caring about shelter, eating and sleeping.
The only luxury i carry is some nice single malt, but that isn’t really a luxury, is it?!
Nope — a necessity Mike! Mind you I don’t like it, something which many Challengers are grateful for!
Hi, Andy.
Long evenings under a tarp are what a Ti DX is for. Hours of fun can be had cooking dinner when even the air-dried birch is wet, as it was this last fortnight north of the Great Glen.
Also, I sometimes write a diary on the backs of maps, which makes finding then carrying a small exercise book unnecessary.
Warm, dry, clean, well fed and with a brew in hand seems luxury to me but music is the one thing which makes me consider electronics. I listen to something all of the time at home. (Gov’t Mule now.) Sometimes a song gets stuck in my head, and it isn’t always a good song. An iPod might clear it out.
Cheers, John
I can see me getting a knidle at some point now that the prices have come down. The books seem to be cheaper than a paperbook and there does seem to be ways to convert other formats to the kindle.
The only problem I see using it in the outdoors, this that it would be used in the evenings mainly and it doesn’t have a light source built in; so this would mean taking a better torch than my microtorch.
Audible books are the answer Andy. A light MP3 player at 50g (complete) and a few Audible books is an acceptable weight for me, BUT on the Arizona Trail I listened to only 1 over 6 weeks! Like Mike I preferred the simpler side of life.
I’ve decided not to bother for now, 250 grams, I’d at the moment rather carry an extra sausage roll
I carry an iPhone and have watched video podcasts and the odd movie. Strangely on the TGO I listened to one of the TGO podcasts with you in when you were a few feet away at Derry Lodge.
Like Colin I’ve listened to audio books before and have read an ebook on the iPhone screen in the past.
Phil goes lightweight so he can fit more pies in his bag.
When they invent a dehydrated pie I’ll be a happy man.
I could do you a passable dehydrated shepherd’s pie! Mind you, it would difficult to get a crisp pastry case on a real pie! I guess unidentified meat products will have to do!
I don’t get taking all the electronic gadgets backpacking, but I do get taking an MSR Mugmate and drinking real coffee and tea and a wee flask with something special to drink in it!!!
I’ve just put together my first ever spreadsheet of what was carried or worn and it was a shock. I achieved 3 For 3 by some margin but still ended up hauling 12 kg at times (rigorous skin out weight). So where now for luxuries such as my Canon D450 (808 grams) and a standard paperback (242g)?
Having weighed the paperback I bought en route, the Kindle compares favourably but can anything like that be justified in the pack of a middle-aged man who is getting no fitter despite on-going Munro aspirations?
If I take all of the questionable options berated by Francis Tapon, I could claim a sack weight of 4kg. But it really wasn’t.
Ah well. At least the kit worked well.
I’ve never used an electronic book but the good thing about paperbacks is that they can get wet, you can use them to wipe your backside with if necessary, you can make notes in the back if you need to and if you have War and Peace you can rip bits out as you go along to save you carrying the whole thing. Also, I can’t imagine an electronic book can ever replace the ‘feel’ of a real book either…I love dipping in and out of books and re-reading particular sections and there is something very unromantic about doing this electronically.
Kindle awfully heavy at 250
Opus have a book reader at ~150g. I’m tempted, although as much for the train journeys etc as anything else.
I read too fast for one paperback to do it….
For me taking anything electronic is a distraction from enjoying where I am walking and camping, and if I am with someone, rude to them too! I want to get in the hills to get away from electronica so for me although I love my gadgets, they all stay at home bar an emergency mobile. Have to agree with everyone above, a single malt is an essential not a luxury
I tend to agree with the electronic distraction comments — but each to his own!