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TECHNICAL FEATURE
Winner Chris Townsend for A Lightweight Approach to Big Hills
Judges Carlton Reid , executive editor of www . bikebiz . com , and Elizabeth Multon of Bloomsbury Publishing
What the judges said ...
Elizabeth Multon Amongst a good number of well-written travel pieces ( which gave me a dangerous number of ideas for holidays and challenges ), articles that stood out for me were of course those that were especially well written , but also ones that gave us insight into the writer ’ s mindset , and that made me think again about how I relate to the outdoors .
Carlton Reid As per usual the standout articles stand out ; evocative writing , great intros and , mostly , the accompanying photographs whet the appetite nicely . Could be just me but editing seems a bit sharper this year , especially for the best pieces , but lower down the ranks there are some howlers that show that writers need to put their pieces through Grammarly or similar ( cos editors clearly ain ’ t gonna do it ). Digital presentation for some of the pieces is also showing a strong improvement , which can only be good .
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Chris Townsend receiving his award from Cicerone ’ s Joe Williams
About Chris ...
Chris Townsend is an outdoor writer and photographer and a passionate wilderness hiker . He is the author of twenty-five books , including the award-winning Backpacker ’ s Handbook , and is Equipment Editor of TGO magazine .
www . christownsendoutdoors . com
The Technical Feature award is sponsored by Cicerone , a specialist publisher of walking , trekking , mountaineering and cycling guidebooks .
www . cicerone . co . uk
A Lightweight Approach to Big Hills
Chris Townsend
Ultralight backpacking is often portrayed as risky and masochistic , as heading into the wilds with barely enough gear to survive and certainly not enough to be comfortable . It doesn ’ t have to be like that . I don ’ t go into the hills to practice ‘ surviving ’ or to suffer . I go to enjoy myself . But part of that enjoyment is having as light a load as possible . How light depends on the time of year and the destination . The key factors for combining comfort and safety with a light load are the right gear for the time and place and the skills to use that gear in the severest conditions that could occur .
Whilst equipment testing means I ’ m often carrying gear that is heavier than
20 Outdoor focus | winter 2017 is strictly necessary I always try and keep the weight down . An opportunity to really do that came in June when Peter Elliott of PHD suggested a trip to try out some new ultralight down items . That was an ideal chance to really see how light I could get my load for a two-night , three-day trip in the Cairngorms . The forecast was for cooler than average temperatures with highs around 15 ° C and lows of 4 ° C plus a brisk westerly wind , frequent showers and little chance of sunshine . Good conditions in fact for seeing just how an ultralight setup performed .
What weight constitutes ‘ ultralight ’ or ‘ lightweight ’ though ? I don ’ t think you can or should put a figure on it . Aiming for a target weight could mean omitting something essential or taking something too light for the conditions just to achieve it . Take the lightest items that will do what ’ s needed and that fits the definition in my opinion . I also think there ’ s a difference between the weight of essential gear and any optional extras such as reading matter , cameras and other non-backpacking items . Reduce the weight of essentials and you can carry more of the extras ! I can ’ t imagine going without camera gear , notebook and e-reader or paperback under any circumstances .
So to keep the weight of a backpacking load low the weight of essential items is the key , especially the weight of the big items – pack , shelter , sleeping bag , sleeping mat . For