Lighten That Pack - Slideshow & Potluck

I volunteer for the Appalachian Mountain Club's Boston Chapter, as a 4-season Trip Leader, and for the past 5 years, as a Volunteer Coordinator of a slideshows & potluck series called the AMC Boston Slideshow Series. Through word of mouth, email and online, I gather friends, acquaintances and strangers to do all the hard work of going out on a great trip, making a coherent slideshow and telling us all about it. The slideshow attendees, or enthusiasts as I like to call them, bring a food to share... and all together we have a nice monthly event. I host about 9 shows a season, with as varied topics as a hiking trip to Japan, using only public transport to get around, a trip by bicycle across Mongolia, skiing first tracks skiing through desolate areas of Canada, an expedition to climb Mt. McKinley in the 1970s, a movie about a blind hiker's achievement of hiking all of NH 4ks in one winter season... among other inspirational trips taken by local Bostonians and New Englanders alike.

Last night was the final show of the season, which runs from Sept - May. As a real treat, I was not only the hostess but also the speaker. I've only presented 1 or 2 slideshows before, but despite that I wasn't nervous. The title was "Lighten That Pack", and I intended to discuss my own embarrassing story of lightening my backpack weight from a heavy 39lbs to 19lbs over the course of 5or so years. I thought if I can do it, anyone can lighten their load, by a little or a lot, through being efficient, creative and earnest with yourself.

Don't let this be you. Heavy!

I met up with Philip, Ryan and Allison at the auditorium, all 4 are local Trail Ambassadors for Gossamer Gear. Between us, and especially Philip, we amassed a load of lightweight gear to display including lightweight stoves, tarps, tarp tents, a hammock, water purification methods, and lots of day packs and backpacks. The crowd of about 50 ate, socialized, and inspected all the gear before the show, which lasted about an hour. My presentation also discussed the finer points of Light/Ultralight principles (simplify: rethink, repackage, replace), the key notion of multipurpose items, DIY stuff, places to go online to shop, gather info and discuss light hiking ideas.

Lighter, better!

After the talk we answered a few questions, and people were let loose to see the gear up close and try some packs on for size. The fact that we had a 20% discount for Gossamer Gear packs might have helped give them a boost to try lightening their load, or at least let people know these small companies exist and have big fans! I hope the hikers that were there last night will like GG packs and going lighter as much as the 4 of us do.

From those attendees that reached out to me after the show, I got the sense that hikers just need a little knowledge, a little encouragement, and a few tips to get the ball rolling to a lighter, happier hiker. If we can do it, you can too... its not so hard (though it may take a few years and some trial and error, ok... maybe alot of that!)

If you missed the show or are interested in downloading it for yourself, see the link below to the PPT or PDF:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y7rwtrv9l6d3fet/FJNKiiJ4Jy