Can Europe’s first dedicated ultralight gear shop beat the competition and make the lightest list yet?
As I started out on the ultralight path it quickly lead me to Ultralight Outdoor Gear. I think for most of us in Europe a few years back UOG was the first stop to pick up lightweight gear, but with lightweight gear getting more popular also other specialized shops popped up across Europe. I’ve spent quite a bit of money at Ultralight Outdoor Gear (my last purchase there was my UL Esbit Setup), and Mark Richardson has done a superb job to make UL gear from across the globe easily accessible in the UK and Europe. Mark sent me two lists, one lightweight, the other ultralight. I present the UL one here, after all that’s the name of the game!
| Item | Name | Weight in gram | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backpack | ULA CDT | 634 g | £129.99 |
| Sleeping bag | Lightwave Firelight 250 | 535 g | £319.99 |
| Mattress | Thermarest Neoair Xlite Short | 260 g | £94.99 |
| Shelter | Terra Nova Laser Ultra | 552 g | £749.99 |
| Pot | EVERNEW ECA-267R | 99 g | £61.99 |
| Stove | Evernew EBY-255 | 86 g | £89.99 |
| Cutlery | Optimus Titanium Long Handled Spoon | 19 g | £11.99 |
| Knife | Victorinox Classic SD | 22 g | £14.99 |
| Lamp | Petzl E-Lite Zip | 26 g | £24.99 |
| Trekking Poles | Black Diamond Ultra Distance | 270 g | £109.99 |
| Shoes | Inov8 Roclite 286 GTX | 628 g | £119.99 |
| Fleece | RAB Talus Jacket | 312 g | £74.99 |
| Insulation | Montane Fireball Jacket | 328 g | £125.99 |
| Rain pants | Minimus pants | 120 g | £94.99 |
| Rain jacket | Minimus Mountain jacket | 234 g | £144.99 |
| Boxers | RAB Meco 120 Boxers | 62 g | £24.99 |
| T-Shirt | RAB MeCo 120 SS tee | 118 g | £42.98 |
| Longsleeve | Rab Meco 165 Zip Tee | 244 g | £65.99 |
Total Weight: 4.549 g
Total Price: £2.303,81 or 2.796,69 €
My thoughts on the list:
- The lightest list thus far!
- Excellent choices for backpack and sleep system
- Ultralight Outdoor Gear has a wide assortment of Tarps so a shame they didn’t pick one of them, the price would have been substantially lower and likely also lighter
- Good choices for the stove system as well as knife & cutlery
- Very nice garment choices, those Rab MeCo Boxers look great!
- Mark paid special attention to weight in this list, hence some very high-priced items (like the shelter)
- Overall a superb list, if a tad high-priced. Swap out the tent for a tarp and save £700 and ~ 250 g
The standing thus far:
| Trekking-Lite-Store.com | 6.157 g | 2.288,80 € | 0,47 € per gram |
| CampSaver.com | 5.316 g | 1.993,80 € | 0,52 € per gram |
| Globetrotter | 8.995 g | 3.272,20 € | 0,36 € per gram |
| Partioaitta | 7.354 g | 2448,15 € | 0,33 € per gram |
| Bergfreunde | 4.657 g | 2.440,10 € | 0,52 € per gram |
| Walkonthewildside.eu | 6.143 g | 2.349,45 € | 0,38 g per gram |
| Backpackinglight.dk | 4.994 g | 2.464,35 € | 0,49 € per gram |
| Racelite.de | 5.884 g | 2.145,05 € | 0,36 € per gram |
| Ultralight Outdoor Gear | 4.549 g | 2.796,69 € | 0,61 € per gram |
| AVERAGE | 6.005 g | 2.466,51 € | 0,45 € per gram |
Next up is Bergzeit.co.uk!
Disclaimer: The One Stop Shop Series was Carsten’s idea and he gave me permission to translate his posts to English and contact a few more shops around the world. If you can read German, you can head over to his blog and read the posts in German.