For some of us, it's either go as lightweight as possible or quit backpacking, something I'm not about to do as long as I can put one foot in front of the other. There are two of us on this forum who admit to being in our late 70's, and both of us are still active.

My base weight went up 6 oz. this year due to my reently getting a more comfortable--and warmer--sleeping pad. However, my base weight is still only about 12.5 lbs including fishing gear and camera (items omitted from most gear lists, even when photos of the trip are included).

When I went lightweight, I modeled my gear list on the 27-lb., 7 day gear list on the home page of this site (lots of articles there on lightening up). That one has a base weight of about 15.5 lbs. For the most part, my gear is lighter than what is on that list, but I take everything I need to ensure both comfort and safety, and (since I'm often at high altitude) can stay warm down to 15*F if needed. To reach a 15 lb. baseweight I spent only about $300 for lighter gear (primarily tent and pack), plus another $325 for my Western Mountaineering sleeping bag (the bag now costs about $100 more). Basically, all I bought were a 1.8 lb. pack, a 2 lb. tent, the sleeping bag (1.6 lb.) and a canister stove. Everything except the sleeping bag was on sale. The big expenditures were to get rid of the last 2 lbs. I'd say that about half my weight savings were from lighter gear and the other half were for eliminating unnecessary or duplicate items.

The maximum I can carry these days is about 25 lbs. total pack weight. This allows me to go out for 8-9 days without resupply. (I mostly backpack in places where water is plentiful, so I usually carry only 1/2 liter at a time.) It's quite a change from the 50 lb. pack I staggered under durin a 9-day backpack through the North Cascades, before the knee injury that put a halt to that sort of thing.

There is such a thing as overdoing the cutting of weight, or what Andrew Skurka calls "stupid light." The trick is knowing what is necessary and what isn't. Generally only experience will tell you. You can be warm, dry, comfortable, well fed and hydrated with a lot less than many people think. As you gain experience and learn skills, you can accomplish this with less.