Hey...
Mmm 16kg is a lot. No fun. Good to work on getting a bit lighter. You will be amazed. No suffering involved.
Try the 3-4-3 method.
The big 3 items should be less than 3kg in total.
http://www.fjaderlatt.se/p/343-method.html
Aye. I've got my pack and shelter down to under 1kg each, but being a cold sleeper, and not yet being able to afford a down sleeping bag, I haven't managed to get the sleeping bag + matt down to the magic 1kg, meaning I am more like 3-4-4 (3-4-4.5 in winter). Hence my intrigue about your space blanket inside the tarp, to see if I could get some extra warmth in my shelter that way.
Being a photographer, my camera gear weighs in at 2kg. Which doesn't help the dry pack weight. My current (once I have the money), target expedition pack list comes in at 7.5kg dry weight, before I add food, water and camera.
Merino rocks for the winter... In the winter the key is anyway not to sweat. When it is really cold you need to avoid sweating at ALL costs. Even if that means moving slower...
Here in the UK unless I head north, it's unlikely I'll be out below -5°C. But I am conscious that I don't want to keep buying kit, so if I can get something for UK use this year, that I can use in winter in the alps next year, that's a bonus.
Bioprene is an wonderful thing.
I think you are going to have a wonderful time working on all this....
It's certainly a bit of an adventure. My new tarp has just shaved 700g off my pack weight. Another payday or so and a new bivvi will take another 500g off, bringing me down to about 4kg for the big three. Tho looking at my big winter sleeping bag, I'm not sure it's going to fit in this backpack, so may have to investigate the expedition pack.
Then all I need to do is get fitter...
Julia
