The Phil-list Jul_2007: [Philmont] 30% pack weight limit

From: <Michael_J_Conkey@nbc.gov>
Date: Tue Jul 17 2007 - 12:39:25 CDT

Clare-Philmont will stress the 30%, but on the trail, no one knows how much
weight each person has in their pack. We had a little guy in 2002, he
started with his pack at 30%, but he slowly added stuff on the trail until
he had added about 5-7 more lbs and it didn't slow him down at all. He
felt VERY bad that he originally wasn't given any crew gear and sought out
the gear after the first day to increase his contribution to the group. I
guess it depends on the person.....this guy was a wrestler in high school.
I would suggest if they are lower weight, then give them the bulkier, but
lighter weight, crew items like the pot, empty water jugs, dining fly, etc.
For the smaller folks, I also recommend no more than 2 Nalgenes of water.
Since they are smaller, they normally need less water anyway and just have
to be more diligent with topping their Nalgenes off when water is
available. Many of our kids carried a 3rd Nalgene for Gatorade (thus
becoming a smellable) and if the smaller folks want a Gatorade Nalgene,
they just need to know that on dry stretches, they might have to use it for
water instead of Gatorade.

There was a co-ed crew with us at Harlan this year (our crew was co-ed
too). Several of their boys were waiting to do their shell reloading and
asked our boys if the girls in our trek were pulling their weight? Our
boys said "of course". The other crew reported that several of their youth
females had packs in the 15-20 lb range. No crew gear and in fact, some of
their personal gear was being carried by the advisors. It was causing some
dissension in their group, especially at commissary time when the advisors
divided up the meals to be carried and these two girls got NO meals to
carry. That is just plain wrong, IMHO. I can see lightening their load
due to an injury or the day they "hit the wall", but they should start off
with their share. Just like the pre-Philmont preparation of your feet,
your back, shoulders and hips should be trained to carry at least 30% of
your body weight. So a 100 lb individual (male or female) should be able
to carry 30% of his or her body weight when fully laden (like right after a
commissary stop). That load will lessen as the food is eaten, however.
Our lightest weight person was just at 120 lbs this year. Her pack leaving
base camp (with 2 days of food) was 38 lbs. It got at least 3-4 lbs
heavier when we commissaried up later in the trek with 4 days of food. She
handled it just fine, but she has been to Philmont before and trained hard
in preparation. Just my 2 cents. YIS. Mike Conkey ('76, '02, '04 and
'07).

|---------+---------------------------->
| | "Clare Grasso" |
| | <ClareGrasso@comc|
| | ast.net> |
| | Sent by: |
| | Philmont@troop47.|
| | com |
| | |
| | |
| | 07/17/2007 10:33 |
| | AM |
| | Please respond to|
| | philmont |
| | |
|---------+---------------------------->
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
  | |
  | To: "Philmont List Member" <Philmont@troop47.com> |
  | cc: (bcc: Michael J Conkey/NBC/OS/DOI) |
  | Subject: [Philmont] 30% pack weight limit |
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Our crew is heading out to Philmont next week. We have 12 in our crew - 3
of them are in the 100-110 pound weight range. How strict is the 30%
limit?

I understand that they need to carry the least amount possible. I have gove
over their gear carefully to make sure they are not carrying anything more
than they need. Their backpacks are weighing in at about 20 pounds without
food, water, tents and crew gear. I have gone ultralight with all our crew
gear, so they should not carry more than 2 pounds of it each. I am mostly
worried about the first day of food pickups and dry camps.

Clare
Laurel MD

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Received on Tue Jul 17 12:52:44 2007

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