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The very first thing to find out about Jac “High Shelf” Mitchell is that—regardless of having hiked over 11,000 miles over 14 completely different thru-hikes—she doesn’t have a proper gear checklist.
“I finished doing packing lists or package spreadsheets some time in the past,” Mitchell says. “Now I take what I would like and solely what I would like and I belief that that’s ultralight to light-weight. I’m not a gram junkie.”
I initially met High Shelf again when she did have a gear checklist—all of us did—on the Pacific Crest Path in 2014. For many people, it was our first thru-hike, and placing collectively a gear checklist was a ceremony of passage—a solution to each discover weight to chop out of our kits and to visualise the hike itself, to see how each bit of substances would match into our life on the path. (A number of that turned out to be fantastical pondering, however that’s a distinct story.)
Since that first hike, High Shelf went skilled—thru-hiker parlance for committing to a life-style of mountaineering, supported by occasional seasonal work, and dwelling in a van when she isn’t on the path to maintain prices down. Her travels have included all the pieces from the well-known 3,028-mile Continental Divide Path to the extra obscure 770-mile Grand Enchantment Path.
We caught up as she was about to start out on a 700-mile part of the southern PCT and spoke about how her now huge expertise modified how she balances worth, consolation, and weight in her gear decisions, and what she seems to be for when placing collectively an ultralight backpacking package.
The Huge Three
You gained’t discover a lot of High Shelf’s Huge Three gadgets—backpack, shelter, sleep system—in REI. Six Moons Designs and Katabatic Gear are each so-called cottage gear firms, who design light-weight and ultralightweight gear for lengthy trails. For extra conventional backpackers, this sort of gear is sort of blasphemous—tents that use mountaineering poles to remain up, backpacks with no inside body, and quilts which can be open on the underside. High Shelf had eliminated the inner body in her Six Moons Design pack for the part of the PCT she was heading out on, although there have been sections the place she’d want to hold sufficient water for 20 miles or extra.
“It’s a lot softer and extra versatile with out it,” she stated. That’s partly due to its operating vest-style shoulders straps—an uncommon function even for an ultralightweight pack. “The straps are thinner, unpadded, and wider, protecting extra of your chest with loads of pockets and storage choices,” she stated. “It matches you want a shirt or a vest—it actually hugs you, which is a few individuals’s nightmare. There’s positively a studying curve in determining the right way to modify the pack to get it to experience effectively. I wasn’t positive it was for me once I first began utilizing it, as a result of I needed to get used to adjusting it, and my physique needed to get used to carrying the load in a different way.”
Like a lot of long-distance backpackers, High Shelf makes use of a quilt, which has no backside, reasonably than a conventional sleeping bag, even on a shoulder season hike. To make sure she stays heat when nights dip under freezing, she pairs her quilt with the Therm-a-Relaxation NeoAir XTherm, which, with an R-value of 6.9, gives a few of the greatest insulation from the chilly of the bottom of any of the inflatable sleeping pads presently available on the market. “I don’t use a pillow,” she famous. “Nicely, I take advantage of a backpacking pillow in my van, however I don’t use one on the path.”
Her shelter—the Lunar Solo—can also be a Six Moons Design. “I’m not sponsored by Six Moons, it’s simply what labored out proper now,” High Shelf stated. “It’s truly the primary non-DCF shelter that I’ve used.” DCF stands for Dyneema Composite Cloth, as soon as referred to as cuben fiber, a fabric that’s fashionable in long-distance mountaineering circles due to its low weight and energy. Nevertheless it’s not as sturdy as different supplies (for years a preferred DCF backpack marketed itself as solely being good for a single thru-hike) and sometimes is available in at a considerably increased worth level than the silnylon that High Shelf’s Lunar Solo is made out of. “The Lunar Solo shelter that I’ve is $250 and the Zpacks Duplex that lots of people use—which is the same footprint, although it’s two particular person versus one particular person, and is made out of DCF—is over $700.”
“I’m Not Jeff Bezos”
At one level in our chat, I seen that High Shelf hadn’t included a puffer jacket on her gear checklist, although it was a shoulder season hike.
“Oh yeah,” she stated. “I do have an artificial Enlightened Gear one.”
Like Katabatic Gear, Enlightened Gear is a cottage gear firm specializing in light-weight quilts, however they’ve additionally expanded in recent times to incorporate some attire, together with rain gear, wind shirts, and puffer jackets.
“It’s OK,” stated High Shelf. “It’s heat sufficient. It’s compressible sufficient, however it simply doesn’t match significantly effectively, the material of the shell doesn’t have the best really feel. For me, all that actually provides up once you don’t have a closet stuffed with jackets the place you possibly can simply choose one other one.”
At present, her solely down jacket is from Uniqlo, a Japanese way of life model that thru-hikers have lengthy seemed to for price range puffers and base layers. However their clothes is primarily geared towards city trend—it’s barely purposeful for alpine situations not to mention shoulder season ones. “For years and years, I had a Feathered Pals ultralight down jacket and I simply wore it until it fell aside,” she informed me. “I need it so unhealthy, however I should be working once more to get it.”
There’s a saying in thru-hiking that “kilos are low-cost, however ounces are costly.” Whenever you begin chopping weight out of your package—swapping out your previous four-pound tent for a two-pound one, upgrading from an artificial sleeping bag to down—you may get quite a lot of bang in your buck. However when you’ve upgraded the most important gadgets in your pack, it turns into dearer to chop weight, as you begin to tinker with the smaller odds and ends or swap to expensive supplies like DCF or 900fp down. This all goes double for any gear that you simply put on in your bodily physique, which is able to inevitably have to get replaced, typically a number of instances on the identical hike. For instance, even best-in-class path runners sometimes solely final between 500 and 700 miles—it’s frequent for PCT thru-hikers to undergo 4 or extra pairs in a single hike—so High Shelf wears New Stability, which might normally be discovered on sale. “I’ll give a little bit disclaimer that if there’s a chunk of substances you ask about and I’m like, ‘effectively I’m not promoting this as one of the best for me or one of the best for this specific route or situations’,” she stated. “Nevertheless it’s what I’ve proper now as a result of I’m not Jeff Bezos.”
One instance of that’s her selection of REI-branded rain gear over different lighter—and dearer—fashions. In her expertise, ultralight rain gear—just like the Outside Analysis Helium, is inappropriate for critical rain situations, as the fabric wets out in something greater than sprinkles. “Within the shoulder season, carrying heavier gear that truly is wind and waterproof is greater than value the additional weight as a result of it retains me from changing into hypothermic,” she stated. “However the cause it’s REI model is it’s probably the most reasonably priced GORE-TEX that I discovered that is also considerably mild. It’d be nice if I may afford Arc’teryx GORE-TEX however that’s $600 in comparison with $300 for the REI two piece.”
She informed me that her largest expense, by far, wasn’t any single piece of substances: It was meals. “I keep away from eating places as a lot as attainable and actually lean into grocery shops however, with inflation, meals proper now’s dearer than it’s ever been in my lifetime.” Through-hikes usually result in excessive weight reduction—earlier than and after images will be harking back to a fad weight loss plan commercial—just because it’s virtually unimaginable to hold and eat as a lot as you want whereas on the path. “I’ve seemed a bit into what number of energy I would like a day, and it’s round 5,000,” stated High Shelf, “however I eat about two to 3 thousand. I’m normally operating at a pair thousand calorie deficit day-after-day.”
In fact, one of the simplest ways to maintain prices down is to decide on gear that’s each light-weight and might stand as much as the trials of 10,000 miles—however even cottage firm gear designed for long-distance backpackers sometimes can’t do this. “I’ve used my Six Moons Design backpack on a number of hikes and I simply this week sewed a bunch of holes within the pockets, that are at all times the primary spots to go,” she informed me. “I may at the very least preserve utilizing it for the remainder of the PCT this yr.”
However there are two gadgets which were in High Shelf’s pack for the reason that starting: the MSR Pocketrocket and an Ibex 250-weight merino baselayer. She couldn’t inform me what the mannequin of the Ibex was, however it turned out to probably not matter: Since she bought that piece, Ibex shuttered, was opened underneath new administration, and moved its manufacturing abroad. “Their stuff simply isn’t as high quality because it was,” she stated. “However this piece doesn’t have any holes in it, it’s as thick as ever. It’s one of the best piece of clothes that I’ve ever bought or owned.”
The MSR Pocketrocket is an isobutane range that’s recognized for its simplicity, sturdiness, and reliability (I additionally nonetheless have my authentic Pocketrocket). Whereas MSR has since upgraded the design of the Pocketrocket to a barely lighter model, High Shelf informed me that she is “obsessive about the unique. The one cause I haven’t used it on each thru-hike is that typically I’m chilly soaking.”
Why Ultralight Is Too Reductive
However High Shelf doesn’t suppose that different backpackers ought to exit of their solution to monitor down an authentic MSR Pocketrocket for his or her gear package. “The MSR Pocketrocket is a good range, however if you happen to don’t get pleasure from it—like if you happen to love utilizing a Jetboil and also you’re settling for a Pocketrocket, your expertise goes to be poorer over time. Your morale goes to be decrease over time,” she says. “So simply grams and ounces and ultralight is far too reductive.”
High Shelf has quite a few standards for what she places in her pack past its weight. Firstly, it must operate. “I really feel like there’s quite a lot of manufactured strife on the path as a result of it’s dramatic and attention-grabbing,” she stated, “the place somebody may have prevented being out of water for the final twelve miles by carrying an additional Platypus bladder.” She sees this as an issue that even skilled hikers have, both as a result of they underestimate the extent to which their wants are altering, or as a result of they’re “creating drama for drama’s sake.”
However she additionally thinks that nice gear ought to fulfill our emotional wants: “What if the down jacket that matches and feels good on my physique and makes me happier is 2 ounces heavier? To me, that’s a no brainer. Psychological and emotional well being and morale actually provides up over the course of weeks and months. And we’re speaking about an endurance exercise that depletes and calls for a lot. It is advisable to refill your cup in any approach attainable.”
“I’ve heard individuals in consuming dysfunction restoration speak about how meals isn’t simply to gas your bodily physique, it’s additionally to gas your emotional physique and your coronary heart and soul and spirit. So this concept that weight loss plan tradition has fed us, that emotional dishonest is unhealthy, interval, is unfaithful. No person must eat a Christmas sugar cookie, however can a Christmas sugar cookie really feel good? Can it add to a social expertise or interplay? Can it make your coronary heart really feel full or enable you to bond with somebody when you’re making them? Sure, and that has worth. It’s not simply energy in, energy out. In order that’s an analogy for the way I take into consideration ultralight.”
For High Shelf, long-distance mountaineering as a sustainable lifestyle is about extra than simply sensible monetary decisions in what gear she chooses. When situations are lower than excellent, having the fitting gear for her—gear that she each trusts and loves—makes all of the distinction, and it’s what offers her the psychological and emotional area to cycle by way of thru-hike after thru-hike. Whereas High Shelf hasn’t saved a pack checklist available in years, she threw collectively an up to date one for me upfront of our dialog.
Shelter and Sleep System
Six Moons Designs Minimalist Backpack
Trash compactor bag (pack liner)
Six Moons Designs Lunar Solo Tent
Polycryo groundsheet
MSR Mini Groundhog tent stakes (6)
Katabatic Flex 15 quilt
Therm-a-Relaxation NeoAir XTherm
Attire and Outerwear
New Stability path runners
Darn Powerful socks
Brooks operating shorts
Patagonia underwear
Patagonia sports activities bra
Vuori T-shirt
Buff
Trucker hat
Ibex merino base layer prime
REI merino base layer pants
REI GORE-TEX rain shell
REI GORE-TEX rain pants
Beanie
Smartwool merino gloves
Kitchen and Toilet
Evernew Ti U.L. Pot 900
Humangear Titanium Uno
MSR Pocketrocket
Gasoline canister
Meals bag
SmartWater water bottles
Victorinox mini pocket knife
Sawyer Squeeze water filter
Iodine tablets
First help package
Petzl Zipka 200-lumen headlamp
Toiletries (toothbrush and toothpaste, Q-tips, chapstick)
Poop package (child wipes, Ziploc bag, Deuce of Spades trowel)
Actual World Objects
Pockets (ID, playing cards, money)
Cellphone, USB-C wire, Anker wall plug
Anker 20,000mAh exterior battery
The laborious half, she says, about long-distance mountaineering isn’t the strolling (“it begins to care for itself”): It’s the psychological recreation. She is aware of that if she doesn’t are inclined to that, she gained’t end the hike. “Little issues actually add up, like a luxurious merchandise meaning one thing to you. Or a down jacket that feels good in your physique and creates a way of happiness once you put it on,” she says. “That creates a way of holistic continuity the place there’s not one other life; a life in the true world after which a path life. It’s like Jac and High Shelf and path life and frontcountry life are all one … This provides as much as not solely ending a thru-hike, however ending quite a lot of hikes.”
Ideas on Going Ultralight
High Shelf informed me that figuring out your private fashion and desires is important to selecting the best gear. Not that that’s a static factor. “In fact we’re all lifelong learners—we’re at all times adjusting and our wants are at all times altering and evolving.” She doesn’t have an ideal gear package that she’s working towards (besides possibly that Feathered Pals puffer jacket). Once I requested her what she would swap out if cash was no object, she informed me that she would experiment extra. “I might swap gear out extra usually and check out extra combos,” she says, “as an alternative of sporting each single factor into the bottom as a result of I’m making an attempt to get each penny out of it.” High Shelf thinks that folks ought to put much less strain on themselves to succeed in a sure aim weight of their pack, and focus as an alternative on how their particular person fashion interprets into the sorts of routes and trails they wish to hike. “It’s a continuum,” she says. “You don’t begin with the package that you simply’ll finish with. It’s at all times in flux. Do as a lot analysis and discuss to as many skilled hikers as you possibly can abdomen after which simply make your greatest educated purchases. After which work your weight down from there.
