What is base weight?
Base weight is the weight of your pack without food, water and fuel. Hikers use it to compare one setup with another.
Food, water and fuel change every day of a trip, so they are left out. Everything else in your pack counts: tent, sleeping bag, clothes you carry, stove, first aid kit and so on.
The clothes you hike in, your boots and your trekking poles are called worn weight. You still carry them, but not on your back, so they are counted separately.
Your total pack weight is base weight plus food, water and fuel. On a five-day tent trip, food and water alone can add five kilos or more.
How light is light?
These are the rough groups hikers use for base weight:
| Base weight | Group |
|---|---|
| 9 kg or more | Traditional. Common for a first setup with a heavier tent and sleeping bag. |
| Under 9 kg | Lightweight. Comfortable on long days without special gear. |
| Under 4.5 kg | Ultralight. It takes careful choices and experience, and it isn't always sensible on cold or exposed mountain routes. |
Where to start
Your backpack, tent and sleeping system usually make up about half of your base weight. Replacing a 1.6 kg tent with a 1.1 kg one saves more than many small changes together, so weigh those three first.
After that, look at what you didn't use on your last trip. Gear you packed just in case and never touched is the easiest weight to drop. Keep warm layers, rain gear, first aid and a headlamp, even if you didn't need them.