Hi All,
This a response to a guy on another group who mentioned being caught on the peak of Mt Washington with a group with almost no gear at all because they were "traveling light" to summit. They spent hours finding their camp and their gear. They were lucky, after all he wrote about it.
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I want to make a point here and no offense. Why was "your gear in the other direction'? and why did it take hours without the right gear to get to your gear?

Don't you think the moral of this story is about summiting with inadequate gear for what could happen? Somehow there is this idea that we should leave our real gear that we carried on the less dangerous part of the trip behind while we go on the more dangerous part. The "summit" day pack concept is in my opinion one of the extremely stupid light weight concepts that has "gotten" more people is serious trouble than most light weight ideas.

A day pack capable of holding anything even remotely reasonable for one of the worst peaks in the US is gonna weigh a pound and a half. These days people have backpacks that weigh 2-3 pounds and then they add another pound and a half for the purpose of leaving their gear behind. Does this make sense? I have a large 3 pound spectra backpack. If I want to summit a dangerous peak a long way off, I would dump the pack out in my tent and put in my survival gear - which is mostly warm weather tight clothing, some food and water and then carry it up with me. In the worst case the pack acts as a short bivy sack, or a pad to sit on, and its large enough for my coat, warm pants, gloves, balaclava and yes even my sleeping bag if I want it and also a foam pad to sit on. So what does this weigh you ask?

pack 3 lb

coat and pants, balaclava and foam pad 3 pounds

food and water 3 pounds

other stuff, flashlight, lighter, gps, map, err maybe a compass - 1 pound

So I'm talking about a 10 pound summit pack that can save your butt and even help you be comfortable and find your way back to your tent. I am a Traditional rock climber and I climb vertical stuff with 25 pounds. ;)I say if you can't carry ten pounds to the summit, stay in camp and leave the summit for the big dogs, maybe get into better shape before returning to become a problem for SAR...
Jim Shaw