Rob,
Some of this may already have been covered in previous responses.
Whether or not you can save much weight, depends on what type of gear
you already have. Also, the need to save weight depends of course on the
fitness of your crew.
Even though you have limited funds, there are things you can do to save
a few lbs.
- Use your hiking poles in place of the dining canopy poles supplied. I
would not bring my own canopy, unless you can find a sturdy lightweight
one that fits your budget. A good canopy can come in real handy on those
rainy afternoons. Philmont canopies are good and sturdy.
- We purchased 2-8qt inexpensive lighter weight pots at Wal-Mart and
used them on our prep outings to practice 1-pot meals. These were the
only pots we carried for a crew of 12 at Philmont. There was probably
little difference in weight though between the pots we brought and those
supplied by Philmont. I can't see any reason though to carry anything
but the two pots on the trek. Leave anything else at base camp.
- Look at the weight of your tents and compare them to Philmont tents
and make a decision on whether to bring your own. If you have a few
3-person tents, you can lighten up your load a bit vs carrying one
2-person tent for every two boys. Your crew should each take a portion
of the load (poles-stakes, tent, tarp and fly). I believe all Philmont
tents are 2-man, but I could be wrong. Make sure your tents are good
quality and have seen RAIN before getting to Philmont.
- Leave filters at home and only use polar pure.
- Leave heavy weight/bulky clothes at home and think layering. Depending
on when your trip is planned, you could see snow in the higher
elevations.
- Verify in advance where you will be able to wash clothes on the trail
and pack accordingly. No need to take extra clothes that you will never
wear. Bring clothes that will dry quickly if you get rained on or after
washing. If your options are limited to wash clothes on the trail, you
can use the zip lock bag method.
- You need to take 2 good stoves (1 as backup). Philmont sells fuel in
the backcountry (white gas and Coleman power max), so you don't need to
pack enough fuel for the entire trip. This assumes that fuel is
available at each of the commissaries you stop at. This can be a risky
assumption as both Ute Gulch and PJ were out of powermax when we went
through in 2003. We came prepared though and carried 7 tall cans of
powermax on our trek and used 5 1/2 for a crew of 12.
- Take limited eating utensils. We took a Lexan fork and spoon, small
plastic bowl and plastic cup (optional). Also took larger plastic spoon
for 1-pot cooking.
- A lot of folks preach "think dual purpose" when packing your gear.
- Sleeping bag and pad should be made for backpacking. 20 deg bag should
be the lowest you need to go. You can get a good synthetic bag for under
$100.
- Only take the necessary items, leave the bulky clothing at home, leave
the chairs at home, leave the coffee pot at home, leave the kitchen set
at home, leave the nice to have things at home. It's easy for an adult
to say that they will carry their own coffee pot and chair, but when you
are backpacking up a steep mtn and the guy with all the extra stuff is
having problems, then what do you do? Do you let that person slow down
the crew or risk an injury or do you offload that persons gear to others
in the crew? That's why you leave all the nice to have things at home,
unless you have a crew that is extremely well fit.
- I would put all of the nice to have things in one pile, weigh them all
and then you know for sure how much weight you are saving.
Good luck and have a great trip!
Mark
Troop 14 ASM
Phx, Az
Philmont 2004
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of Rob Phipps
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2005 1:42 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: [Philmont]: Crew gear suggestions
Given a crew with limited funds, what would be your suggestions for
replacing Philmont supplied crew gear with our own gear in the most
dollar
per pound efficient manner? Thanks for your help.
Rob Phipps
Advisor, 2006 Crew 710-I1
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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
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Received on Mon Mar 28 13:38:52 2005
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