Going light and having enough stuff

I've seen both sides of this argument and can eliminate the extreme of carrying a full pack and a gallon of water per person on a 5 pitch 5.7, however as I progress in my climbing and am seeking out more grade IV and grade V climbs I'm trying to find the happy medium. Obviously it matters on who your partner is and how fast you will be moving, but what things would you skimp on before others?

I've been in a light rack situation where I ran out of slings for the crux and had to build a belay and end a pitch 40 feet early because we were going too light. I've been in a situation where we didn't bring nuts because "cams should be fine" only to find that the climb would have taken all passive pro and I really wished I had some stoppers.

I've also been on a longer climb with a stronger climber that we took doubles and a bigger rack than we needed, but it didn't seem to slow us down and I was never looking at my harness wishing I had something more. We moved through 1400 feet without simul-climing in 3 hours!

What kind of happy medium do you fellow climbers chose? I drink a shit ton of water, so I already know what I have to bring, when I can bring iodine tablets, how thirsty I'm willing to be.

What items are you willing to sacrifice and what items are you willing to carry?

I did Epinephrine on Saturday. Trying to be a hardcore "light is right" dude, I decided to only bring climbing shoes. I did the approach, the climb, and the descent in mythos. My shoes are pretty comfortable. Regardless, I am a idiot. This was the WRONG way to save weight. My toes hurt terribly on the descent!! I think my big toenail may fall off.

We did the climb in 13 hrs car-to-car and felt good about our time, but I don't think it would have slowed me down at all to throw some chacos in the daypack.

I'd really have to say that it is all approach/route specific what you "need". That being said I generally pack what I absolutely need and work backwards toward my luxury items. If you think you're going to get into longer routes you might find items like an MSR Dromedary or Drom Light useful for convenient water carrying capacity. Steripens, Thermarest NeoAirs, and JetBoils/MSR Reactors are all examples of lightweight gear that helps climbers go lighter, faster. Hope this helps!

As far as pro..more wires ! Have the second carry a tiny pack, if it doesn't fit, then it doesn't get to come along..Ditch the cordalette,gloves,prussiks,most lockers,

Find John Bouchard's "Light is Right " article it still rings true today.

definitely carry the REI flash 18L backpack. you can have the leader and second each carry their own and have room for extras, BUT still be light. i only recently discovered the Flash and it is awesome. I had it full the other day in Red Rock and didn't even notice it, until i had to squeeze in a chimney ;)