There is a definite line when it comes to comforts and actual comfort delivered from things you can haul in when backpacking. If you carry all the things that could make your campsite more comfortable you’ll be so exhausted when you get there that its likely you’ll just go to sleep and not even enjoy them because you’ll be too worn out to even think about them. They might not even come out of your pack. I’ve been a skeptic of many products I can attach to a backpack. This is a longwinded review but I want to give it some perspective from a lightweight backpacker’s point of view.

About ten years ago I took a trip to the White Mountains and hauled a 60 lb. pack up Liberty Ridge. My brother-in-law, Jonathan, and I planned to hike the Presidential’s and we had enough stuff to do it twice. We met our friend Luke in New Hampshire who had run one of the huts for a few summers. He was going to hike with us for a couple days and be our guide before heading back to Maine where he worked on a lobster boat. When he saw the size of our packs he immediately grabbed them and started taking things out and throwing them on the ground. “What the heck is this for?” and “Look you fools have two stoves. Are you cooking on different mountains?” We initially started with about 80 lbs. each but he convinced each of us to leave about 20 lbs. behind. “You’ll never make it up that trail to the ridge line. It’s hard.” I think he was even a bit annoyed at our lack of experience.

The trail goes straight up the side of a mountain over large boulders and gives no quarter to fools with a 60 lb. pack. After that I went to lightweight backpacking with a vengeance. I took everything unnecessary out of my pack and often times I still don’t even bring a tent or a tarp. I’ve done a considerable number of trips since the White Mountains and I can honestly say that places like the Mountaineers Route on Mt. Whitney in the winter, Mt. Rainier and the Northeast Face of Grand Teton felt easier by far than Liberty Ridge with a 60 lb. Pack.

One of the items Jonathan refused to leave behind when we were at the White Mountains was his camping chair. I think it weighted about 4 lbs. and it took up a massive area on the outside of his pack. We made it to the ridge but it was exhausting and Jonathan and I became somewhat crazy from the extremely difficult haul up the mountain. Jonathan left our camping area for a bit and when he came back I was sitting in his chair. That didn’t go over well with him. “I hauled that thing up here. Get out of it. Your chair is down there at the car.” It’s a decade gone by and we still laugh about it but now we're both into lightweight backpacking. Jonathan probably went at it with a bit more insanity than I did. It must have been that heavy chair. He's a total weight weenie who does extensive research on every product with a calculator in hand.

Last year at the Outdoor Retailers Show in Salt Lake City I acquired a Crazy Creek HexaLight LongBack backpacking chair. I’ll say I was a skeptic of it because I don’t like to attach things to my backpack but in looking at it I thought I could use it for winter trips as a way to insulate myself when sitting on the frozen ground. The construction of the chair seemed to be quite durable and the hex foam configuration in the center where you sit and lean back seemed like it would offer enough insulation from the ground to also use it as a sleeping pad. Having it be a dual purpose piece of gear seemed to make it worth a try. Last month I took a trip to Suomi Hills in Northern Minnesota and did just that.

The chair comes with a harness style case that can easily be attached to the outside of a pack and it’s so light at about 1.1 lbs. that I didn’t even notice it was there. They have two styles for the chair as well and a HexaLite PowerLounger that has an additional flap, which could provide additional padding for sleeping at only 24 ounces. I had the LongBack because I wanted to use it as a minimalists sleeping pad. The shorter back chair is a bit lighter at 14.0 ounces but it may not be long enough for some to use as a sleeping pad.

When we got to the campsite I took the chair out and my brother-in-law laughed at me. “Fool”, he said but an hour later I saw him out of the corner of my eye checking it out. Then another hour later I saw him sitting it. “You could probably just use this as a sleeping pad too” he said. That was the plan and I did do that. It worked out fine for me but someone who is taller and requires a longer sleeping pad may want skip on the LongBack and get the PowerLounger. I also found the LongBack light enough to bring both a sleeping pad and the chair though but I only used the chair for sleeping on as a pad. In comparison to my Z-Rest sleeping pad the Z Rest is about 23 cm longer and about 7.5 ounces lighter but the Crazy Creek LongBack is still under a half pound heavier and its also a chair. I can’t use the Z rest as a chair.

This will most likely become a permanent attachment on my pack for trips and surprisingly the weight weenie brother-in-law agrees. Due to the new policy at Generation Outdoors all gear that Josh or I get will be given away. I'll have to go buy one of these.

For more information on the HexaLite LongBack chair or other Crazy Creek products follow the link below.

http://crazycreek.com/index.php