Best lightweight Food Options for the Wall
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Highest calorie/weight ratios of foods are lard (256 cal/oz) , followed shortly by oil (~220-240 cal/oz). The issue is you can't eat pure fat and still feel okay as it is difficult for your body to emulsify and digest. I've found that things that clock in at ~150 cal/oz are about as high as I can go and still feel okay. Things that fall under this category include sesame sticks, peanut butter filled pretzels, peanut m&ms, etc... |
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kevin deweese wrote: You had teeth? That must have been amazing! I had to gum my wood shavings until they softened up enough to swallow them! |
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If your packing some reasonable mix of protein/fat/carbs at some appropriate caloric value weight difference will pretty much be the water content of the food. Maybe focus on food that is edible and digestible. Shy away from large amounts of fats or salty food (freeze dried and canned). Leave the stove behind. Drink cold Via or bring Double Shots (my preference) since you'd be hauling the water for coffee anyway. Keep alcohol to a minimum. I've always been happy with bagel sandwiches (P&J or salami, cheese and mayo), trail mix, some bars, granola and dried milk (Nido is the best!, look in the hispanic section) and fruit yes apples! yummy. |
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One thing that has helped me do better on walls is putting electrolyte tablets (I use nuun) and Chia seeds in my drinking water. When I do it this way I am less likely to chug the water and I put it in my body more efficiently. When I do this I need less water per day. (I still drink the same amount, it's just a luxury instead of desperation.) I think you´re going about it the wrong way. Bring all the food and water that you are going to need for the climb. Do two trips to get the gear to the base if you need. Haul 2:1 until you can space haul, then body haul. When you're at the top if you have left-over water good job, you can drink it, pour it out, or leave it for a future party. In my opinion there is no such thing as too much water (within reason) on a wall, only an inefficient way of moving the weight upwards. There is such a thing as NOT ENOUGH water though, and that fucking sucks, so cutting corners with water is a bad idea. I also try to bring foods with water in them though, so maybe I'm the crazy one. I bring a tetrapack soup with me on most walls..... haha I also bring child size packs of applesauce, great little pick me up when I have to haul after a long lead and I'm whiped. As far as dropping weight, think about things that have to make the total trip with you. Can you pare down the rack? Can you bring less clothes? Can you do without that papernback novel that you're not going to read anyways? What kind of ledge do you have? I have an A5, it's why I don't have the BD Cliff Cabana. Michael Holland, I brought pizza up The Zodiac, so I feel ya ;) |
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Sam nailed it! |
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40 GU packets and a litter of water ;) But seriously we took two large pizzas on our push of zodiac and it was a life saver, the GU and bars wherent cutting it. Ive taken cold hot dogs on the wall and roasted them over the jet boil for the first two nights. But my go to is boxs of instant corn bread stuffing (I mix it up, one or the other) packet instant mash potatoes, a packet of instant gravy, a can of chicken and if I'm feeling fancy a tiny can of cranberry sauce. Especially enjoyable on thanksgiving ledge. To add even more variety i bring boxes of mac and cheese, it cooks well in a insulated pouch, and then I put either a can on salmon of tuna in. I find I can get this meal down easier on days I'm really worked. Candy is a must for me, I bring a full party size bag of peanuts m and ms and I munch on those through out the day. bags of gummy life savers hits the spot and they are a crazy amount of calories and you can't get them down even when partched. I enjoy coffee at the start of a climb but I can do caffeine later on. I find a packet of jello just consumed hot gets me out of my sleeping bag quicker than anything else on a cold morning. My friend on my last wall brought only a few gallon bags of buttered noodles and bags of dry cereal. We had storms that held us back. It ended up being 14 days and the noodles starting going bad so he finished them at the end of the first week. He still charged through the second week somehow. Testament to the power of boxed wine, and cigarettes. |
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Hi there, long time lurker, short-term poster. Besides wasting hours on this site, I guide backpacking and develop meals for our trips, so I think about this stuff a lot. A lot of people are saying this without saying it bluntly: You carry the water no matter what. You either carry food that has water in it, or you carry straight water and add it to the food/drink it. It's a zero-sum game, if being hydrated is your goal. Freeze dried meals only save weight when you can collect water at the end of your day. So if you like freeze dried meals, then bring them. If you like canned fruit, then bring that. Or bring cheeto bricks and an extra 2 liters of water per day to help choke the dust down. (Does cheeto dust work like chalk for climbing after lunch?) It all comes out the same. On a side note: for those looking for protein, instead of carrying the full roaster and racing the bacteria to finish your climb, these pouches of chicken are great. They don't have a lot of excess water, the foil pouch is way lighter than a can and could double as your bowl for the rest of the wall (if you're really trying to cut extra crap) I also know of a guy who stopped at McDonalds on his way to a weekend backpacking trip and fueled himself with about 15 quarter pounders for 4 days. He said they lasted the whole time and even traded them for a beer far in the backcountry. Also, they apparently pack well into a bear canister. So whatever works. Whatever you bring, don't forget the hot sauce: |