Photo courtesy of Fjäderlätt When going on a long trip often it is your food that takes up the most space. I am about to set off on an 11 day, 10 night, trip along the Nordakalotten, the weight of food I am carrying is planned to be 8.5 kg, now in some ways the weight is not important, however, the volume is. Given that as every day progresses the weight and volume in my pack will decrease ideally I would like to start out with too much stuff in a small pack than a large (heavier) pack whose weight and volume will soon become redundant.
This is my challenge for the trip.
I could take an Aarn Natural Balance 85l pack which will hold everything and weigh 2.2 kg or take an Aarn Mountain Magic 55, a 55 litre pack which may struggle initially but only weighs 1.54 kg (which is a weight saving equivalent of almost a days food.) So there is an obvious benefit then in using the smaller pack so it is the volume of the food that becomes critical.
Over at Backpacking Light there was a very good article on food and travelling light in the Sierras. The essence of the food section of this article was 2000 kj per 100 gms in food with 680 gms of food every day resulted in 14000 kj per day which was seen as sufficient for the trip. Which seems to me to be about right. So with that in mind I have aimed for foods that offer 2000 kj per 100 gms and are of low volume. Oils are off course one of the most obvious solutions but a bottle of oil a day does not seem to me to be an ideal solution.
So my basic menu is built around porridge in the morning, lunch of cheese and tortilla wraps or couscous meals and for dinner Real Turmat.
Porridge I use a menu developed from Bill McCartney's book Travel Light, Eat Heavy Along the Appalachian Trail and Other Mystical Routes and comprises oats Pecan Nuts raisins along with powdered milk and brown sugar.
Lunch is cheese and Tortilla Wraps or Lemon flavoured couscous with pine nuts and raisins.
Dinner is Real Turmat meals with home dehydrated fruit for dessert. The challenge with the Real Turmat meals is the bulky packaging. The packaging is robust and will withstand a lot of punishment, but when it comes to packing it is space hungry. Robin over at blogpackinglight has successfully tried repackaging Real Turmat meals and I am sure that this will help to reduce volume in the pack.
Packing the Aarn packs is an art, if you have a single sack bag with maybe some external pockets then everything has to fit into the main sac, but an Aarn pack requires you to think different. As I sit here writing this blog entry I have about 3 kg in each front pocket with about 11 kg in the main sack. The front pockets must contain all the days needs including food, camera, first aid etc so that the main section of the pack with dry bag is not opened.
I will let you know if I succeed
In some ways volume is as much of a struggle as weight for long trips. The Pod lightweight compression sacks are great for reducing the volume of clothes and sleeping bag. I reckon the Aarn sacks must be significantly better for heavier loads than conventional rucksacks. Look forward to more observations.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could attach a waterproof sack (light rolltop closure) to your pack and fill it with some light but high volume gear (quilt, puffy jacket, etc.) so that all the heavy food would fit in your pack. And when you have eaten enough food from your pack you could move the gear from drypack in the main pack to fill the newly found volume.
ReplyDeleteI think I can easily fit my 8 days worth of gear and food in my Golite Pinnacle but the weight might become a problem as all my gear is not yet that light...
I'd probably go with the lighter bag and add small silnylon stuffsack on the outside for the first day or two.
ReplyDeleteReal Turmat can be a bit bulky but I find that is compensated by the fact that the packaging is so sturdy. You can tuck them into corners and recesses inside the pack without fear of the breaking. I often start with most of them under and around the sleeping bag at the bottom of my pack and as volume decreases they move onto the top of the sleeping bag.
When will you be at Kilpisjärvi (the Finnish way to write the name)? I'll start and end my trip there so there might be a slight chance for meeting you there. It would be really nice to meet you. All this Nordic Lightpacking is quite inspiring! (And I know a place at Kilpisjärvi where you can get a great buffet dinner... =D)
ReplyDeleteI think I'll end my trip to Kilpisjärvi July 2nd and will be leaving towards South the next day.
I could drop you an e-mail with some details if you happen to be the at the same time?
We've been eating Be-Well Expedition meals which, for 180g, provide about 800kcals (actually, it varies from 650-800 but you get the idea). The food tastes rather nice in fact although avoid the Shepherd's pie... I've no experience with Real Turmat but I know Robin likes them. They're lighter than the Be-Well meals but slightly less calories. May well pick some up and try them as experimentation is the mother of invention (some say it's necessity but I disagree). However, I've had no problems with packing Be-Well meals and would recommend them thus far - cheaper too.
ReplyDeleteI used a Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus
ReplyDeletelast September on my trip from
Kautokeino to Kvikkjokk.
From Abisko to Kvikkjokk I had to
pack 12 days worth of food as all
huts etc. were already closed.
The pack had a total of 20kg when I
started in Absiko.
Cheers
Carsten
Lightening Up, I will be in Kilpisjärvi on July 5, coming from the south. I definitely will be interested in finding a good buffet on July 5 before taking the bus to Tromsø : ) Not sure if you will be near where I am. On July 3, I expect to be in the vicinity of Daerttahytta heading north. Though only my starting and end point times are fixed.
ReplyDeleteDrop me an email if your plans and mine may match.
No problems there - where in CPH are you? My partner is Danish so we're in Allerød 6-7 times a year. Could bring as many as 5 or even 10 over easily. I'm ordering some more for us in the next couple of weeks - want me to get you one or two to try & bring them next time we come?
ReplyDeleteHi Maz, I am in Værløse. Thanks for the offer, I may take you up on the offer later in the year.
ReplyDeleteNo problems. I'll email you in advance before we go and order you a few bits if you want then we can meet in CPH of somewhere mutually easy to get to. May be in DK more permanently some day so I've been taking a look at how easy it is to get into decent hiking and hillwalking country in Norway and Sweden so the Nordic Lightpacking Fellowship has been very interesting. Good luck with it - hope it goes from strength to strength.
ReplyDelete