Chris, what you call general 3 season backpacking and what I call general 3 season backpacking are very different things. It happened that the July trip with an ice axe and crampons was in the high Sierras. Not an unusual trip for a Californinan, and now I live in the snow capped Cascades, or Oregon, further north.

I know what baseweight is. But when people say I went from 50 pounds to 20 pounds, I wonder what they mean. I don't think they meant that their base weight went from 50 to 20 without also saying "I spent a ton of money".
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These are my own opinions based on wisdom earned through many wrong decisions. Your mileage may vary.