Shoes: Low cut hiking shoes are fine, in my experience. I too had the big monster Scarpa Manta boots, which worked great climbing but not so much for walking. Now I wear very light trail runners on all kinds of hikes. The Lowa low-cut shoes are very nice, too.

Sleeping bags: 2 pounds 9 ounces for a 40-F bag? Yikes, that's heavy, and I would be cold in those bags a those elevations. A good 30-F rated bag might be a better choice. Down may be expensive, but it's much cheaper in the long run, as down bags outlive synthetic by many years. If that's not enough for you, the Campmor 20-F Down Mummy bags are terrific value, and should be about the perfect temp-range. You can always unzip it and use it as a quilt.

Tent: 5 pounds for two people isn't bad. If you did Outward Bound, didn't you stay under a tarp most of the time? (That's my recollection.) My wife and I have used several shelters from the Tarptent.com site. Their three-person Rainshadow II weighs about 2.5 pounds and has significantly more room than any 2-person tent. It's like a big shaped tarp, but it has a floor and bug netting and a vestibule and all that stuff. Our original Rainshadow easily sleeps three adults, the version-II has more headroom. It's a veritable palace for two people and gear. Tarptents require a little more thought about campsite selection, like a tarp, but it sounds like you have plenty of experience.

Pack weight: 50 pounds is a lot these days, even for traditional hikers. It shouldn't be hard to walk into a local backpacking shop and come out with a set of gear and clothing -- good down to freezing -- that weighs under or around 20 pounds for everything. Add a couple of liters of water and 6 days of food and you are around 35 pounds total weight. You don't need to be a gram-counting ultralight weenie like those of us on this forum. 35 pounds is a whole lot easier on my back than 50 ever was (and I made the transition from Army hiking to civilian hiking, which made 50 pounds look light. Then I got old. Well, older. Now 35 pounds looks kinda heavy.)

Packs: I would recommend a pack in the 60 liter range (4000 cubic inches.) It should weigh absolutely no more than 4 pounds, and there are plenty of great packs in the 3 pound range. These are not ultralight frameless rucks -- we're talking packs with real frames, capable of carrying 35 or even 40 pounds in comfort.

Examples: The Osprey Aether 60 and Ariel 55 or 65 (the Ariel 55 is my wife's pack - she adores it); the Osprey Exos 58; the REI Flash 65; The Six Moon Designs Starlite (my pack for the last 5 seasons -- love it); the Gregory Z-55; any of several packs from U.L.A.; several Granite Gear packs; the Golite Odyssey pack; etc.

If you're not carrying 75 pounds, or even 50 pounds, you do not need a 7 pound pack. Pack technology has advanced leaps and bounds in the last few years, and a good 3 pound pack should be plenty.

Again, none of this stuff is "bleeding edge" ultralight. That's not a place you want to go without some recent experience anyway. But these days it's relatively easy to pack a lot lighter and still be very comfortable in camp.

Kitchen: When my wife and I go hiking, we like to take two small pots (large mugs, really), and eat out of them. That way we have two pots for cooking when needed, and don't need plates or bowls. We have various sizes of Snow Peak titanium mugs, the 600, 700, and 900, and take the appropriate sizes for the trip.

Sleeping pads: The Thermarest Prolite 4 is a very comfortable lightweight self-inflating pad, and was just replaced with the new Prolite Plus pad. My local outfitter has the old model on 30%-off sale, and I expect others will do the same. For a true inflatable, my hiking partner loves his Big Agnes Air Core insulated pad. The latest-and-greatest is the Thermarest Neoair, but it's quite pricey and unproven as yet, though most initial reports are positive.

Good luck. Enjoy the trips.