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April 4, 2014 / Comments (3)

LighterPack: Gear List Builder

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Allison is the founder of trailtosummit.com which she began as a way to track and share her first round of the NH 4000 Footers. Now on round 5 (the first round for her dog Ruckus) she has been honored to have taken part of many people’s firsts. She is an experienced trail maintainer, speaker, and passionate member of the outdoor community. In New England, Allison enjoys trekking along the highest peaks, bushwhacking to less traveled areas, and has a fondness for sunrise and sunset trips. Outside of New England Allison has also thru hiked the John Muir Trail and explored mountains in the German and Austrian Alps, Israel, and the Azores. Her goal is to share her passion for hiking and backpacking with others, especially with women, to inspire them to experience the freedom of the trail!

To all the over planners, spreadsheet nerds, and gram weenies: welcome.

I have been using the John Muir Trail as an excellent excuse to buy new gear. I’ve been searching the web for the lightest, yet efficient gear (without breaking the bank!) and am well on my way to having everything I need for the trail this summer.

Along the way, I found LighterPack. I use an excel spreadsheet to create gear lists. I also make spreadsheets for practically everything, but I discovered I could have a spreadsheet with photos and a pie chart!

LighterPack is a free web based program where you can list all your gear for a specific trip.

You manually add in the categories, each item, its description, and weight. You can choose from a variety of measurements (pounds, ounces, grams, etc) and then have it totaled.

I love the fact that you upload your own photos and can click the shirt icon to add it to the “always worn” category. It will then separate those items from your pack weight.

The pie chart above is an easy visual to see what you carry the most of. My bear canister weighs so much! I am not completely done with my packing list, but it’s interesting to see the options as I go.


You can also click on each category and it will also visually show you which item weighs the most. For example, in my “sleep system” category, my Western Mountaineering bag and Six Moon Designs Wild Oasis shelter are my two biggest items, but the total for that category is just over three pounds.

Do you have a planning tool that you love? Share it in the comments!


Last modified: November 28, 2014

3 Responses to :
LighterPack: Gear List Builder

  1. Jake Morrison says:
    April 4, 2014 at 12:32 pm

    Interesting app. Thanks for sharing this.

    Reply
  2. Kyle Menig says:
    March 16, 2015 at 10:25 pm

    Amped to use this for my 2015 JMT planning. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    1. allison says:
      March 16, 2015 at 11:06 pm

      It’s addicting! I love the pie chart it creates

      Reply

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