Please help me with the best ultralightweight wild camping gear!!

[rusticaflores]

I love camping but I've recently developed a health problem which means I absolutely cannot lift anything over 5kg.

I'm aware I maybe sound a bit dramatic, but I feel devastated that my favourite hobby could be over .

Currently I have a lot of old, cheap gear. Trying to see if I can get everything down to under 5kg total for 3/4 day trips.

Can anyone help me out with suggestions of light and easy to use essentials which have worked for you?

Take a trolly to take the weight

Is that 3 day trips where you carry everything and wild camp? Or will you have places to collect food and water on the way. Have a look at the outdoor gear exchange fb group. Some second hand stuff on there

If you have the budget then you can go very light. Check out www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk. Lots of people post gear lists on YouTube.

Alternatively/in addition, look to drop any luxury items and take far less clothing -

Alpkit have a very light small tent, it's about 1kg I think. Add in an expensive Thermarest SIM and an expensive Thermarest sleeping bag, and you'll have covered most of the main basics. I think it's totally do-able.

Sorry, I meant an ultra-light Alpkit sleeping bag.

I have a lanshan tent that is very lightweight and not too expensive, I bought it a few years ago so can't remember exactly how much I paid but I think it was around £100. It doesn't come with poles, you use your trekking poles instead.

Do you mean each item under 5Kg, or a total pack weight if 5Kg to go wild camping?

And do you go hiking and wild camping or just exploring the lightweight kit?

Anyway:
Titanium tent pegs.

I think if it is 5kg total pack weight, you are going to struggle. Particularly if you intend to go solo.

I did a lot of this when I was younger and thought I was doing well to get my pack weight down to 25 lbs (solo) for a 3/4 day trip. Everything was meticulously weighed. I even cut most of the handle off my toothbrush.

Using a bivi bag rather than a tent can save quite a bit a of weight but I never found them very pleasant to use except in guaranteed perfect weather.

I use a tarp and bivi rather than a tent. As has been said, it’s not particularly pleasant unless it’s fine weather; my wild camps have always been in the middle of summer.

Cut down foam mat to sleep on, hips to shoulders length.

The friend I go with is a lightweight gear nerd and has a titanium micro wood burning stove. It’s about the size of a large coffee cup, we take dehydrated food and find a water source near to our campsite.

5kg is doable () but it's expensive.

ZPacks Plex tent - 395 g but it costs $599 + import duties (lighter than any bivvy and loads more room)
Atompacks The Atom rucksack - 425g - £170
PHD Designs sleeping bags etc.

Alpkit do ok kit but it's relatively heavy (at least their tents are)

Ultralightweight camping gear is ££££

I bought a sleeping bag from PHD in one of their summer sales a few years ago. It's honestly like sleeping in a cloud. It feels like the most luxurious experience you could ever have. Totally recommend! I think it weighs 400g or something insane.

Check out the bargain box on the website of full price is a bit steep, sometimes you'll spot something in there.

We have gone through so many tents finding the perfect bikepacking set up. It is really individual. I like one I can sit up in, but am less bothered by air flow. DH likes a tarp, DS likes a single skin that is long enough. All of them have minimal pegging points

Sleeping bag - choose ones without zippers and synthetic fill ( in a really lightweight tent set up you may end up damp.

Save weight anywhere you can - eg chop down your sleeping mat (and reseal using an iron....this works) or ends off your spork/ toothbrush/anything else with features that aren't essential.
If you use a walking pole there are tarps / tents that can use them as poles to save carrying both.
Bearbones BIkepacking forum has a section on gear that is really useful.

Ultralightweight camping gear is ££££

It is, and always has been. I used to make my own gear if I couldn’t afford or find exactly what I wanted. Tents, bivi bags, fleeces, waterproofs, rucksacks, gaiters etc.

The cheapest and also one of the lightest bivi bags I have ever used was a simple polythene survival bag. That said, it was also one of the most uncomfortable nights of my life. In a howling gale on top of a Scottish mountain in early April, no sleeping bag, just warm clothing and using a coiled rope for a mattress. And, yes, spending the night there was intentional.