ULW or SULW

[enbee]

Hi, I'm new here so if this is in the wrong place I apologise.

So, ULW or SULW.....what does it mean?

Obviously ULW is ultra light weight, and SULW to me is stupid ultra light weight.

What I'd like to know is what people think of going ULW and to what extent they are prepared to go in order to become a fully fledged 'grammite', and go SULW.

I've know people who will remove all makers tags from clothing, remove the watchstrap, cut the toothbrush in half and even cut the aglets off the ends of shoelaces in an effort to shed a precious gram or two. What other measures would you, or have you gone to in order to save weight, and do you think that SULW comes at the cost of potential safety?

Cheers

enbee

 

[ozzy1977]

You won't find many in to super ultra lite on here, more likely wool, leather and hair shirts

 

[bilmo-p5]

ULW is leaving the trailer at home. SULW is leaving the car.

 

[Robbi]

ULW is leaving the trailer at home. SULW is leaving the car.

LOL spot on

 

[Macaroon]

ULW is leaving the trailer at home. SULW is leaving the car.

Excellent definition!

 

[magpiewolf]

I do both ULW and bushcraft - but not at the same time.

If I'm parking my backend in a patch of woodland for a weekend or more, then I tend to take too much. Admittedly, I'm probably also taking along a couple of whippets, so as well as my stuff there's dog bed, coats, kibble, meat, leads, towels.... not much point trying to go ULW with dogs as fussy and cold-prone as whippets.

When I'm solo long-distance hiking (without the dogs), then it's ULW all the way. Bivvy bag, microtarp, ti-everything (that can be ti), miniaturise anything that can be miniaturised (yes, the toothbrush handle. In fact, I don't take a toothbrush at all; a twig chewed to a fuzzy end is just as good). I don't carry cutlery; I can whittle chopsticks from twigs with my knife in the evening then toss them after use (biodegradable) and save the weight for the following day's 30-40 mile hike. (That 2g lexan spork... well, it's just surplus weight....)

That's where the cross-over comes for me; bushcraft skills enabling me to dump weight. I forage greens and roadkill where appropriate and possible, carry a sparkrod (mini) and charcloth for fire-lighting in a ti Hive stove, collect squaw wood through the day to make the evening brew, use available leaf-litter/branches to add insulation to the down bag/bivvy/micro-tarp set-up and so on.

As far as safety goes, I think it's up to the individual to ensure they have the skills and experience to be safe without needing the extra weight of gear. If you're going to go ULW or SULW (been there and came back a bit!) then you have to pay more attention to weather, terrain and route-planning and make sure that you don't compromise on the real essentials. I always carry compass, map, mirror, whistle, personal FAK, means of making fire, means of communication, means of collecting/purifying water, knife and shelter, I'm just always on the lookout for the lighter options and interested in improving my skills as well as my gear. I never advise anyone to go ULW (let alone SULW) because it's up to them to make sure they have what is appropriate for their skill level, aims, comfort and safety.

 

[Tony]

This isn't an answer to the OP but rather a muse...

I figure that there's two types of ULW, there's the tech route and the skills route and to a certain degree they cross over, there's people that can walk off into the wilds with nothing and they're ok, they're confident, comfortable and very aware of their capabilities and the environment, there's others that walk of into the wild not carrying much weight but in a way do have quite a bit of gear to help them, there's a skill to using that gear well as well.

I thin for me personally true bushcraft is where they overlap, if we've got a set purpose and we need kit for it then sure, take the kit, take the camera, the bingo's the tarps, axes etc etc, but as it's heart it's about not needing the kit and yet still being comfortable and enjoying the experience, it's about recognising and using what's readily available... I know that seems harder to do now that there's so many laws and constraints on access etc but I still like the idea and it's still the image I have of bushcraft.
Don't get me wrong, playing with kit is fun and kit can be life saving but it all comes back to just needing one knife, one tarp, a bag and a few edibles and we're on our way. I tend to want to take two of everything and completely over do it, but that's just me on my journey to being a proper bushcrafter, or maybe just a fair weather bushcrafter I was cold when I was out last week and wished i'd bought some more kit