Each of the principles covers some fundamental aspect of the Ultralight Philosophy. In addition each subsequent principle builds upon the previous one. Taken together they form a solid foundation which you use to enhance your backcountry adventures.

We start with Focus on Maximizing the Experience simply because we all want to maximize those few days each year we’re allowed to wander through distant mountains and wilderness unencumbered by the trapping of modern civilization. We need to go beyond the reach of cell towers, the internet and surveillance cameras, to where the roads are primitive and the trails lead us to sights seen by too few eyes.

In order to maximize the experience, we must first try to understand it in meaningful terms. To do so, we break down the definition of Experience into variety components that are easier to quantify. We can then look at look at how they interact with each other. The more we know about the experience we’re trying to achieve. The easier it is to evaluate whether our decisions will ultimately enhance or detract from the desired experience.

The principle Embrace Multiplicity builds upon the Maximizing Experience by giving us some tools with which we can start evaluating our gear. In order to Maximizing the Experience we must utilize the full potential of all the gear we carry. We’ll look at the gear we carry and analyze how it can be used to perform multiple functions.

By extending the number of functions a particular item of gear can successfully perform, the less overall gear needs to be purchased or carried. This will ultimately save you money that maybe use in some other way to enhance the Experience. It’ll also reduce the weight of your pack and help to make the miles more pleasant ones.

In The Power of Synergy we’ll look at combining individual items of gear together into a system. With synergy (where the outcome exceeds the sum of the parts) we are able to combine our gear, our capabilities and the environment through which we travel, in ways that make us not only safe and secure, but elevate us to new levels of confidence.

For too many us “The Wild” is viewed as our enemy. Our gear is viewed as our first and often last line of defense to whatever evils lurk in the dense forest or behind rocky outcrops on windswept ridges. With The Power of Synergy, we learn to stop looking at “The Wild” as some foe with which we’re at a constant state of tension if not war, but as a friend who’s glad to offer shelter, warmth and comfort, if we only know how to ask.

Finally there’s The Theory of Elasticity. It’s a rather academic phrase, which seems totally out of place as one of the principles of the Ultralight Philosophy. However; once understood, The Theory of Elasticity shows us how to really analyze our gear and how it’s used. When we cut our gear down to the margins, it is critical that we build systems that are not only light and functional, but also highly flexible.

One of the fundamentals of ultralight backpacking is to be forward looking. To look for potential problems then assemble the appropriate gear or devise a strategy to navigate safely through any potential hazards. However, despite our best efforts, there’s always the possibility of unseen pitfalls.

To overcome the unknowns, we need systems that provide enough flexibility that even failure of one component won’t cause the failure of the system. These systems provide a degree of redundancy. Fortunately adding in some redundancy doesn’t have to mean adding lots of extra layers of protection with the corresponding increase in weight. It does mean that must understand where vulnerabilities exist and what steps we can take to minimize them.