For those that make long excursions deep into the wilderness or 200 foot climbs, I've learned of some tips that will help you lighten the load. These came from rock climbers, but still, shedding weight is shedding weight.

They cut the labels and unneeded stitching off all their clothing and gear! They removed any unnecessary pull ties. They kept a careful record of the weight savings and found it was considerable! So that got me to thinking...

Assuming you already have the lightest saddle you can find, cut all gear, accessory, convenience loops and straps off - you won't need them. Replace the steel pear with a Aluminum alloy delta - that alone will shed a bunch of weight. Wear the saddle as opposed to packing it in a back pack. You can dump the pack. This is a long hike/high climb, do you really need so much stuff that you need a pack? Leaving the pack behind will save a bunch of weight. You can carry the rope on your back using one of the well known Alpine techniques.

You could wear light weight walking shoes instead of boots. You could lace them using every other eyelet pair, allowing you to halve the length of your shoe lace, hence halve the weight. Since you do that for both shoes, there's a doubling up of weight savings. That's certainly on par with cutting off labels and draw strings.

Weather permitting, wear shorts instead of long pants. Leave the socks behind - they weigh more than all the labels combined. Speaking of clothing, do you really need underwear? That's also heavier than all the labels on all the clothing and gear.

What else would you need to climb a tree? Ahhh, a throwline. Carry a 1.75mm ZingIt instead of 2.2mm. What about the throw bag? Well, you almost have to carry two 8 oz bags - JIC. You wouldn't want the trip to be ruined by a stuck/lost/irretrievable throw bag.

Tie your trad DRT directly to your saddle instead of using a carabiner; that could save as much as 3oz right there. Use single foot locking and body thrusting instead of a mechanical ascender.

Leaving the helmet behind would save another pound.

Weather balloons have considerable lift. Circumstances permitting, you could fill one with helium, even better hydrogen, and use it support some of the load.

Water - probably be hard to beat a CamelBak, although those thin wall 32 oz drink bottles would come pretty close. You could attach them to the weather balloon to reduce the carry weight.

Or, you could switch to a PMI 9mm EzBend rope and accomplish the same weight savings. Then again, you could double up, i.e. shed the underwear, etc. and switch to the PMI and wow!

'Course you could loose 5 - 10 lbs. - that'd beat it all! Or, you could shed 10 lbs, dump the underwear etc., switch to PMI 9mm and double wow!!

I think the ultra-light concept for tree climbing is most relevant for overnight campers. Question is how many folks here regularly do multi-day hiking/tree climbing trips? I know there a few here. A lot of the southeast climbers use canoes for multi-day trips so the weight issue becomes less important.

For a super light day trip a New Tribe Basic harness, two carabiners, 120' rope and some throwline/weights is a pretty darn light, a climber can roam all day in the woods with that and a couple of sandwiches on their back.

There's always consideration of weight efficiency vs. how much trouble it becomes to climb. Everyone's sweet spot is different, I'm not giving up carabiners at this point
-AJ

Hahaha I knew this post would end up being a pitch for EzBend!
Love it.
I'll be getting myself some soon, once the coffers start to fill up again. Consider me converted. Hunabku seemed a little less sure of his 9mm the last time I climbed with him. If he doesn't like it, there will always be a happy home for it with me
I like to take multi-day backpacking trips, and there are plenty of times when I spot a good tree and wish I had my climbing gear with me. But all I have is the 150 ft Blaze that Hunabku gave me when I started out. Works great for day trips, but not so much when I have to carry it for 20 or more miles.

I need to get a little more practice climbing on many different selections of PMI EzBend before I decide which I like best...I wonder where I might be able to do that?

Here! Here! You can do that here! What sizes do you want to try? You here yet?

Thanks for the weight saving suggestions Ron. It is sure to be helpful to other gram counters.

I recently switched my 20' + lanyard from Bandit to 9mm ezbend. The weight savings was significant. 9mm ezbend rocks!

If you are unwilling to give up your backpack, switching to a ultra light pack can add up to huge weight savings.

Carrying a seperate lanyard and lightweight are mutually exclusive.

I also keep my hair less than a 1/4 of an inch and have replaced all of my half laces with 1.75mm zing it.

ROFL!!! That was gonna be my next 'suggestion' shave your head - hair weighs as much as labels????

Some advanced weight saving tips:
Leave the lanyard in the truck.
Leave the dentures in the truck.
Leave the clothes in the truck -- climb naked ...
Leave the wallet in the truck -- very helpful for some ...
... have ID and contact info tattooed on your butt.

Good thoughts Jack - that inspired this:

Wear safety contact lens instead of safety glasses.

Just another thought:

Eat lots of beans. Methane is lighter than air and there may be the occasional boost in climbing ability.

I'm so skinny I need to add gear weight so I won't get blown out of the tree.

Speaking of climbing nekkid where the hell's J-bird? Just wondering.
-AJ

Be thankful for that!


Hmmm, now that you mention it, where is he?

Sorry to go off topic here but RON you mean to tell me you have 1200 rds already?? It's not even February yet! You must be rolling your own? There's no way you can pay shelf prices for as much as you shoot. Even my buddy who is a Georgia LEO who gets FREE ammo doesn't shoot that much I thought I'd keep with you but I'm only at 450 rounds through the 1911 and no time to reload Climb more and shoot less so I can catch up

I might cheat and go buy a few bricks of 22 ammo and get the Buckmark out I'll catch you in a hurry!

Dan

I wonder if they make weather balloons with gear slots...

!200 rounds is out of date - and it's still not February yet!

As for paying for the ammo, the majority of it is 9mm, a little .45 ACP, and now, since I had to buy a Glock 22 gen 4, .40 S&W. But the .40 S&W is only about $30 more per hundred than 9mm. But .45 ACP is about $60 per 1000 more than 9mm.

My signature line on a gun board is, "My monthly ammo cost wouldn't make a payment on your Harley or Bass boat - it's all about priorities."

I probably ought to take that round count out of my signature; it's more of a pain to keep updating than I thought it would be, plus it may give some the wrong idea.

I agree - buy a few bricks of 22 and shoot!