The heaviest thing in your pack is the thing you carry for emergencies that never happen.
I used to carry a satellite phone, a SPOT tracker, a PLB, a backup GPS, and a secondary headlamp on every expedition. I was prepared for everything, and I was exhausted by my own preparedness. The weight of my contingency planning slowed me down in the actual terrain.
I still carry the PLB. The rest I reconsidered.
The Subtraction Principle
Every item you bring should answer yes to two questions:
- Have I used this, or something like it, on a previous trip?
- Can I think of a specific scenario in the next 18 days where this item is my best option?
If an item answers no to either, it is a comfort object pretending to be gear.
This is harder than it sounds. The mind generates scenarios with great fluency when packing. What if it rains for a week? What if I blister badly? What if I need to signal from a peak? The imagination is catastrophizing at 3am the night before departure, and your duffel bag suffers for it.
What Actually Gets Used in Patagonia
Every day: Hardshell jacket. Trekking poles. Boots. Merino base layer. Sunscreen (yes, even when it’s overcast — especially when it’s overcast). Headlamp. Water filter. First aid kit subset (blister kit, ibuprofen, tape).
Most days: Fleece midlayer. Gaiters. Gloves. Camera.
Some days: Rain trousers. Second layer wool socks. Map.
Almost never: The camp shoes I always bring. The backup rain jacket. The full first aid kit. The small luxury item I always justify and always regret.
The camp shoes weigh 400 grams. In eighteen days of Patagonia trekking, my feet have never been dry enough at day’s end to warrant changing out of boots into something lighter. The boots dry overnight (barely). The camp shoes add nothing except weight.
I still bring them.
The One Exception
There is one category where I do not apply the subtraction principle: sleep system.
If you are cold at night, you cannot recover. Recovery is everything. A bad sleeping bag that leaves you shivering through three nights has eliminated the benefit of every other good decision you made on that expedition.
Buy more sleeping bag than you think you need. The weight is worth it. Cold sleep is cumulative suffering. It compounds.
What Every Guide Carries That Guests Often Don’t
A notebook. Not for logistics — the GPS handles that. For the things worth remembering. The exact light on the Torres at 6:47am when the wind drops for twenty seconds. The name of the bird that followed us for three days along the Río Grey. The conversation with Carles.
The expeditions blur together faster than you think they will. The notebook slows the blur.
One luxury item they genuinely use. Ingrid brings coffee in a small French press that she has carried for eleven years. Marcus brings a small Bluetooth speaker for the evenings in camp. Rajan brings a pack of playing cards.
The luxury item signals to your nervous system that you are allowed to stop moving. That this is also, occasionally, fun.
A repair kit they know how to use. Not the one they bought at the gear shop. The one they have used. There is a difference between owning a repair kit and knowing how to field-splice a trekking pole or re-waterproof a jacket with a candle flame.
The Final Rule
Leave at home anything you have not touched in the last year. Not worn — touched. If you cannot remember the last time you held the object, you will not need it on a mountain.
What you do need is already with you. You have been carrying it your whole life: the willingness to be cold, uncomfortable, uncertain, and still go forward.
That is weightless. Pack light and trust it.
Elena Vásquez has led over 200 expeditions. Her personal pack weight is consistently under 11kg for 18-day Patagonia treks.