You're a hoot, Barry. It's good to look back, occasionally, to remember where we came from. This site - "The Lightweight Backpacker" - began in 1995, I would say on an inspiration from a backpacking trip in 1991 with a group of old timers along with group of high schoolers. One old timer actually brought a cast iron grill about 18" x 12" and it weighed a bunch. One high schoolers brought a 1/2 gallon of milk and goodies to go along with it. I, myself, had a lot of really good gear, albeit heavy, and my pack weighed 60+ pounds. After that trip, I spent some time reflecting on how much easier, safer and more enjoyable it would have been had we took more time to plan out our gear strategy and took less heavy stuff especially those things that had lightweight counterparts. Anyway, that was the genesis of the site. The sponsor came along in about 1998 when I hooked up with BackcountryGear.com whose site carried Western Mountaineering bags (lightest nicest bag on the market at that time and still right there on or near the top in quality) and also was interested in supplying lighter weight gear, also for climbing. It was and still is a good match. But when I say sponsor, they are a sponsor in the sense that if you shop there by following a link from here, I get a small commission (if you actually buy and pay for something). This may (or may not) be obvious to you, but this relationship helps the "sponsor" as well as helps keep this site alive.

So there you have a little history that may (or may not) be interesting to you. I'm pretty certain that you are not as ignorant as you make yourself sound, but whether you are or are not makes no difference to me. You are welcome here -- unless you don't fit in. The choice is yours.

packlite