Here’s what sets them apart: Backpacking quilts don’t have back fabric and don’t wrap around your body like a sleeping bag. However, well-designed quilts still have excellent insulating and heat ...

Over the years, ultralight backpacking has garnered an unfortunate reputation: obsessive, elitist, unsafe, prohibitively expensive. While we could debate the first three (obsessive is the only one I’d ...

I first encountered the ideas of ultralight backpacking in 1994, in an article in now-defunct (and much-missed) Backpacker magazine. It was titled “Less is More,” by Mark Jenkins. (I still have a PDF ...

For plenty of outdoorsmen and women, ultralight backpacking conjures up a particularly kooky image. Sawed-off toothbrushes. Dingy plastic water bottles with water filters screwed on top. Backpacks — ...