About a million questions on how to do and how to go about it!

[mega]

Hey,

I am to talk new to the whole idea of the Camino and hiking in general! I have decided I want to walk the Camino in September next year and I am trying to get a bit of a head start on what I will need and how to go about carrying it .

I will be in the market for a new pack and I am not sure what size I will be looking for. It will depend on what I decide to put into it. I have been looking at the Aarn packs from New Zealand. With a dodgy back I like the concept of the balance pocket, but that will depend on what they feel like on.

But the main issue I am trying to work out is what is the ideal weight I should be looking at carrying. I am seeing references to 10% of my weight. This make sense but at 65kg, that doesn't seem to leave any room for essentials like shoes (1.2kgs) and undies and things! So then i have seen references to FSO weights, but I have no real idea what this stands for. Help!

 

[Robo]

You have plenty of time.....

All of your answers will be here. Just spend some time reading the forum and using the search function first. Then you'll probably have some more specific questions to ask...

The idea weight of a pack I would suggest is.............as light as you can make it And still be able to carry all your essentials in relative comfort.

FSO = From the Skin Out. ie pack weight plus what you are wearing / carrying.

I would suggest that 6.5 kg is easily achievable... The more you read and learn the more you will realise just how.

Not avoiding your question! Just that a full answer would require a book ..........

IMHO........and as i was advised. Buy the pack to fit what you will be carrying...............not the other way around

 

[Mike Savage]

Welcome Mega! 10% is a general guide and many people are able to carry more. That said I weigh 135lbs (61kg) and my pack (20 liters) will weigh 10-11lbs (4.5-5kgs) for my pilgrimage in September. I don't feel I am missing anything and have even included a pound for camera gear than many other people would find unnecessary.

Buen Camino!

 

[Kanga]

Those shoes are heavy. My preference is for shoes that are as light as possible, while still being comfortable.

 

[GAUVINS]

I will be in the market for a new pack

Probably wise to wait until after you made up your mind about what will want to carry.

Once you do, you will know how large the bag needs to be (most likely under 40L) and you'll be able to load and try various backpacks with your gear, to which you'll want to add one liter of water and maybe one kilo or so of food.

Good stores here allow you to try a backpack for a couple of days and exchange for another model if you are not pleased with the fit and features of the one you tried.

Pay extra attention to the belt padding and belt minimum size (may sound idiot, but you'll most likely lose some weight. I met someone who could no longer get decent fit because he lost weight and could no longer have the belt rest properly on top of his hipbone. Personally I was lucky to be able to get reasonable fit with the belt tightened at its maximum).

 

[Marc S.]

Hello there ! As Robo said, you will probably find all answers to your questions on this forum. Probably some contradicting answers as well, because what whatever works for one person may not necessarily work for everyone. As for the weight question. The 10 percent is a rule of thumb indeed. But, I weigh 70 kg (before I start a Camino) and my pack weighs 8.5 kg. (excluding water and food) and this works fine for me. (and I am not particularly strong or athletic, and had never walked with a backpack before my first Camino). So... you'll be fine.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Aim for 8kg, with a max of 10 at the very very most, if you have special needs for meds or what have you. Buy the lightest bag you can find that will be between 30 and 40 liters. Do not buy according to what you think you want to bring as you will end up carrying way too much. Your shoes could weigh half of what you've got. Mine at 753 grams I believe (Salomon GX something or other). Also pick your bag for fit. Get a good sales person to help, you should try it in the store with stuff inside. Every item you put in that bag should be the lightest you could find, and you have time to do that research.

 

[brenda ridgeway]

Hey,

I am to talk new to the whole idea of the Camino and hiking in general! I have decided I want to walk the Camino in September next year and I am trying to get a bit of a head start on what I will need and how to go about carrying it .

I will be in the market for a new pack and I am not sure what size I will be looking for. It will depend on what I decide to put into it. I have been looking at the Aarn packs from New Zealand. With a dodgy back I like the concept of the balance pocket, but that will depend on what they feel like on.

But the main issue I am trying to work out is what is the ideal weight I should be looking at carrying. I am seeing references to 10% of my weight. This make sense but at 65kg, that doesn't seem to leave any room for essentials like shoes (1.2kgs) and undies and things! So then i have seen references to FSO weights, but I have no real idea what this stands for. Help!

Hi
I am going to walk Camino, May/June 2016,
I have been reading so much of what other people that have done the Camino,
I recommend a book called the Kiwi sisters , I and after I read there book,I emailed them Sue, because they recommend the Aarn back packs,from New Zealand , and funny that's where they live, but did not have them for camino,they got them for Camino Portuguese and love them,
So that's what friend and myself are going to get
Bit expensive , but feel well worth, and they will ship to USA
But there book Brenda

 

[dougfitz]

You have plenty of time.....

All of your answers will be here. Just spend some time reading the forum and using the search function first. Then you'll probably have some more specific questions to ask...

The idea weight of a pack I would suggest is.............as light as you can make it And still be able to carry all your essentials in relative comfort.

FSO = From the Skin Out. ie pack weight plus what you are wearing / carrying.

I would suggest that 6.5 kg is easily achievable... The more you read and learn the more you will realise just how.

Not avoiding your question! Just that a full answer would require a book ..........

IMHO........and as i was advised. Buy the pack to fit what you will be carrying...............not the other way around

I agree with this, but would like to extend some of Robo's points.

FSO vs 10%. From the skin out targets ensure that you account for all the things you are wearing and carrying, including food, water, whether you have light trainers or more robust walking shoes or boots, etc, etc. A FSO target of 20% of your ideal walking weight is the same for spring, summer and autumn. The 10% rule for bare pack weight is really only valid for summer. If you search in other threads, you will find that I am an advocate of the FSO measure over the simplistic 10% guideline. The latter is little more than a magic number, but it does capture the thought that one should travel as light as possible.

Pack size. My rule of thumb is that for a summer walk a pack size in litres that is half your body weight in kg is what is required to carry a 10% load in reasonable comfort. Any less and it will be difficult to pack and you will be hanging things on the outside. More and you will be tempted to carry more unnecessarily. This is a chicken and egg problem. Until you have chosen your pack, you won't know how much of your weight budget it will consume, while if you have chosen a pack it might not be large enough for what you can carry in your weight budget. My rule of thumb will get you in the right zone, but its a start point, not necessarily the end point.

Boot weight. An earlier comment was made that walking shoes at 1.2kg are heavy. That is a view, but I would observe that decent walking shoes, rather than lightweight trainers, will be around that weight. I do have lightweight trainers that are much lighter. There are good discussions on the subject of footwear in the forum.

Enjoy your research, but remember, when forum members get together, there will always be one more opinion that the number present!

 

[Anamya]

I agree that 10% is just a reference and the important thing is to see how light you can make your essential.
Having said that, I lived for 15 days with a 4.8kg backpack (and I weight 52kg). Simply because any more than that made my back hurt during my training - so I HAD to cut down my stuff to the bare minimum.

First of all, make a list of things you think you need. Put together what you have at home and weigh it, preferably inside a backpack you already have, just for testing. Walk around the block with it. And improve from there - lighter gear, less gear, different backpack.

And very important: enjoy it!

 

[Seabird]

@dougfitz -- thank you for your clarifying comments about a 10% pack weight versus a 20% FSO weight. (And I read one of your comments in another thread about packing density and volume.) I couldn't figure out how to account for things like hiking poles, hiking shoes, and such things.