Article / Mei-Yun, Tso

Photo / Mountain2Plus

Interviewee / Mountain2Plu

If mountaineering is a metaphor for life, then “lightweight” is not only about controlling pack weight and pursuing lighter gear—it also has a deeper meaning waiting to be realized. What is the purpose of mountaineering? How do you decide what equipment to bring to the mountain? What is the meaning of life? What are you looking for? By climbing mountains again and again, mountaineers get to know their equipment, themselves, and the wilderness, and come to understand the relationship between all three. This enables them to make the most appropriate selections, successfully transition from the traditional mountaineering load to lightweight gear, and finally achieve clarity through cross-examination and repeated introspection and practice.

In this health-conscious era, everyone has some degree of experience with mountaineering. Some people go trekking through the Central Mountain Range for 10 days or longer; others spend a day or two hiking in the countryside before returning home. Regardless of the duration and the distance traveled, all mountaineers must prepare for their trip in advance, especially when the choice of gear is a matter of life and limb. However, preparing the load is a heavy burden in and of itself—mountaineers are often faced with the dilemma of what to bring, how much to bring, and how to optimize the weight so that the trek enjoyable and safe.

For mountaineers, human and backpack have a shared destiny, and the importance of the backpack is self-evident. But what to pack and how to control the weight are key factors that have made lightweight mountaineering a trend in recent years.

Hsuan-Hsu and Yu-Chan are two young partners who love mountaineering. In 2021, they formed Mountain2Plus to lead small, organized groups of mountaineers into the mountains. They started exploring the topic of “lightweight mountaineering” 6 years ago, when it was not yet popular in Taiwan and not many people were talking about it. They began their lightweight mountaineering journey by reading, taking courses, and exploring all available channels for self-study.

Stepping into the World of Lightweight Mountaineering

Safety is the foremost consideration in mountaineering, and the weight of gear is a sweet burden for mountaineers. Backpacking systems, sleeping systems, shelter systems, cooking systems, as well as warmth and electricity, are all essential. It is easy to believe the myth that the more you carry, the safer you will be. Hsuan-Hsuand YuChan once felt the same way. Both are licensed mountain guides, and they started out by following the traditional way of mountaineering. Hsuan-Hsu shared his personal experience of how he stepped into the world of lightweight mountaineering.

Six years ago, the pair climbed Mount Dajian and Mount Xiaojian in Shei-Pa National Park. At the time, they were carrying 15, 20 kg backpacks respectively, and halfway up the mountain, Yu-Chan suddenly suffered from cramps in her feet. Faced with the unexpected situation, Hsuan-Hsu was forced to assist by shouldering more of the load, and he suddenly realized that “something was wrong” after years of mountaineering. Since childhood, he had always loved to explore the essence of things, and he began to think about why he was really climbing mountains. The more gear he brought to the mountain, the more out of breath and exhausted he became. Wasn’t this contrary to the fun of mountaineering that he sought in the first place? Was lightweight mountaineering possible?

Originating in the U.S., the light weight mountaineering movement was still in its infancy in Taiwan at that time, and there were few resources, so Hsuan-Hsu put the spirit of research into action and embarked on a self-learning journey to find out all about lightweight mountaineering. Six years later, on a 2-day, 1-night, all self-supported trip to Lake Songluo in Yilan, he has reduced his backpack from the typical weight of 8–10 kg to a mere 3–4 kilograms.

As much as he loves mountaineering with a light pack, he still faces skepticism from others. He was once told by a senior mountaineer that he shouldn’t carry such scant supplies, and that it could be dangerous if anything happened, “You know, the mountain is an ever-changing place…”

Q：Will the pursuit of lightweight mountaineering result in greater danger due to insufficient gear?

Ａ ：Proper lightweight mountaineering does not increase danger; rather, it reduces weight, makes mountaineering more comfortable, minimizes physical exertion, and allows you to pay attention to the environment to avoid dangers. Of course, lightweight mountaineering cannot be achieved in one step, it must be done in a gradual manner, and the key word is “understanding”. Lightweight mountaineering can only be achieved after thoroughly understandingyourself, your gear, and the wilderness; understanding the relationship between the three; and a lot of thought and testing. Lightweight mountaineering is very personal and can only be achieved by oneself.

For those who are just starting out, safety should still be your first consideration. It’s better to bring more gear and not use it than to lack something and encounter danger on the mountain. But next time, you can learn from experience and stay aware at all times. “You can't make progress without awareness.”

Q：How do I know if I have actually achieved a lightweight backpack?

Ａ：“Lightweight” has a clear definition: The base weight (excluding consumables like food, water, and fuel) should be less than 9 kg. Additionally, there are different levels of lightweight: a base weight of less than 4.5 kg is considered “ultralight”, and a base weight of less than 2.27 kg is considered “super ultralight”.

Three Principles for Beginners

Is lightweight always good for mountaineering? Will there be any danger if I don’t bring everything I need? Is lightweight gear especially expensive? Is it durable? Many mountaineers who want to get into lightweight mountaineering have a lot of doubts in the initial stage, and Hsuan-Hsu provides three principles for everyone to think about when attempting lightweight mountaineering: multi-use items, enhancing specialized abilities, and carrying items accurately.

The first principle of lightweight mountaineering is “multi-use items”. Try to imagine the functions of items. If one item can fill three different roles, then you can carry two fewer items, which is the most natural way to reduce the weight of the backpack. Hsuan-Hsu cited the trekking pole as an example. The trekking pole not only helps to save energy and improve safety, but the sharp part of the pole can also be used in lieu of a shovel to dig holes when toileting in the wilderness. Moreover, trekking poles can also serve as tent poles. One item can be used for three different purposes, eliminating the need for two items and reducing pack weight accordingly. Other examples include using a backpack as a sleeping pad for the lower body, which eliminates the need for a full-length sleeping pad, thereby halving the weight through multi-use practices.

The second principle is “enhancing specialized abilities.” Hsuan-Hsu used indigenous hunters as an example: They only need a knife and a bag of salt to live in the mountains for a long time, because they have the ability to avoid danger and find resources in the mountains. If a mountaineer has good physical abilities, even while carrying a 20 kg pack, they will be able to walk smoothly. The more abilities one has, the less pressure to reduce the weight, which is another kind of lightweight mountaineering.

The third principle is “carrying items accurately.” According to Hsuan-Hsu, the reason mountaineers carry more and more i tems is due to their “ignorance” of the gear and their “fear” of the wilderness. They don’t know what they need, the situation on the mountain, and the actual function of each item. This lack of understanding creates a lot of imagined fears, so they desperately stuff everything they can think of into their backpacks. Since everyone’s needs and conditions are different, this situation can only be improved through step-bystep scenario planning and repeated testing

Learning from Mistakes, Avoiding “Stupid Light”

We all make mistakes, and in the process of learning lightweight mountaineering, we need to accumulate experience both practically and psychologically to avoid falling into the trap of “stupid light”, i.e., going lightweight for the sake of lightweight.

One of Hsuan-Hsu’s most impressive experiences occurred during a solo trekking trip to West Syue Trail of Xue Mountain in December 4 years ago. He started his 7-day trek with his newly purchased “bivouac bag” (at that time, he chose the combination of canopy and bivouac bag for his shelter system), believing the manufacturer’s claim that the product was completely waterproof without any actual testing. Halfway through the trek, it rained in the middle of the night, and the water seeped through the bivouac bag, making the sleeping bag almost completely soaked. Fortunately, Hsuan-Hsu was able to respond calmly, reversing the consequences of possible heat loss in a situation where the apparent temperature was close to zero,and he managed to complete the entire trek safely down the mountain.

After this incident, Hsuan-Hsu, who had many years of experience in mountaineering, realized that nothing can be taken for granted, and made sure to avoid repeating the mistake in the future. People cannot always avoid mistakes, but as long as they learn from their mistakes, they can continue on the path to success.

However, because mountaineering is a very personal thing, and everyone has different motivations, physical strengths, preferences, habits, hobbies, and financial resources, lightweight mountaineering can only be customized through practice.

Hsuan-Hsu began his exploration on his own, and later with his partner, Yu-Chan. Both are experienced mountain guides with professional skills and determination, so even when they make mistakes, there’s always a chance to reverse them and treat the experience as nourishment for the future, so that they can move forward continuously

Success comes to those who are prepared, and to achieve lightweight mountaineering, HsuanHsu has well-organized notes emphasizing three essential skills. The first is continuous learning and exploration: absorb knowledge like a sponge, always maintain curiosity, and accumulate skills over the years.

The second is to be “aware” and consciously understand all of one’s gear. Before mountaineering, carefully understand the function of each item, record the weight on a digital scale, and then consider whether the item is truly needed or imagine how you might use it. For example, do you really need chopsticks or an umbrella on the mountain? Do you need to prepare sleeping bags with different warmth levels for different temperatures on each trek? These questions have no standard answers; the answers are in one’s heart.

The last and most important principle is practice. To be successful in lightweight mountaineering, you must do it over and over again. Even if you have everything in place, you still have to climb the mountains in a gradual and uninterrupted manner, and keep testing your gear sets to see if they can satisfy the two prerequisites of “comfort” and “safety” under different conditions. After making many corrections, you can finally achieve the right result and complete every trek with lightweight and safe gear and return home safely.

Q：Lightweight gear seems to be very expensive; is the more expensive gear better?

Ａ：The quality of some items is directly proportional to the price. This includes the “big three” items: sleeping bags, backpacks, and tents. Functional items that are also lightweight, such as fluffy and warm down sleeping bags, are certainly not cheap.

However, this isn’t the case for all items. For example, gas stoves cost at least NT$600–700 apiece, but can be replaced with DIY alcohol stoves made by drilling holes in NT$20 cat food cans. Canteens cost anywhere from NT$500–600 to well over NT$1,000, whereas plastic bottles cost only NT$10–20 .

Explore from the Heart and Open the Boundaries of Imagination

Mountaineering, like life, can be approached from a variety of angles. Traditional heavy loads are one approach, and lightweight is another, just like everyone can have different personalities. HsuanHsu, who has an introspective personality, believes that through the process of learning and exploring, he is now able to elevate the concept of “going lightweight” from an intellectual and technical level, and integrate the key words into his life. He realized that what he is pursuing is the “simplicity” of life, that he only needs the real necessities, and that anything more than that is not only unhelpful, but may even be a hindrance. This applies to both mountaineering and life.

Through lightweight mountaineering, Hsuan-Hsu has gained a better understanding of himself: What does he want in the journey of life? What ideals does he want to live up to? It turns out that simplicity is his true pursuit, and lightweight mountaineering is just one of the means to achieve it.