I've been backpacking and climbing longer than i care to remember. I am not an Ultralight guy, but I appreciate the manufacturers making lighter gear and i have reduced my pack from 50 lbs in the early days to half that now. I am a bit mathematically inclined and wanted to come up with a definitive way to evaluate my pack weight, or any person's pack weight and here is what i came up with. I haven't seen this anywhere else. I like a % of body wt estimates, but what about overweight people, they would not exert the same effort as a fit person with the same % Body Wt. pack. So here is my idea. You take your height and calculate your Wt. at BMI 25. (calculators and charts are available on line) Then you take 15% of that and that will be a reasonable weight (but not UL). Then you take 20% of the weight at 25% BMI and that tells you what most people will carry on a multi day trip. Then you take 20% of that ideal body weight and that will be more than any reasonable person would enjoy hiking with: Too much by far. Of course elevation gain, distance and fitness are also factors, but for me and the people I hike with my little formula seems to work well. here is a chart of how it works. the column headings are out of line, but you get the idea. height, h squared, div by 28.12 then the three columns of good, okay, not okay; weights in pounds. (none are Ultralight wts and include food and a liter of water).

Height h^2 h^2/28.12 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%

54 2916 103.7 15.6 20.7 25.9
55 3025 107.6 16.1 21.5 26.9
56 3136 111.5 16.7 22.3 27.9
57 3249 115.5 17.3 23.1 28.9
58 3364 119.6 17.9 23.9 29.9
59 3481 123.8 18.6 24.8 30.9
60 3600 128.0 19.2 25.6 32.0
61 3721 132.3 19.8 26.5 33.1
62 3844 136.7 20.5 27.3 34.2
63 3969 141.1 21.2 28.2 35.3
64 4096 145.7 21.8 29.1 36.4
65 4225 150.2 22.5 30.0 37.6
66 4356 154.9 23.2 31.0 38.7
67 4489 159.6 23.9 31.9 39.9
68 4624 164.4 24.7 32.9 41.1
69 4761 169.3 25.4 33.9 42.3
70 4900 174.3 26.1 34.9 43.6
71 5041 179.3 26.9 35.9 44.8
72 5184 184.4 27.7 36.9 46.1
73 5329 189.5 28.4 37.9 47.4
74 5476 194.7 29.2 38.9 48.7
75 5625 200.0 30.0 40.0 50.0
76 5776 205.4 30.8 41.1 51.4
77 5929 210.8 31.6 42.2 52.7
78 6084 216.4 32.5 43.3 54.1


Jim