Base weight is generally considered everything you pack in your backpack except for consumables like food, water, and fuel.
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Base Weight is the weight of everything you are carrying excluding your Consumable Weight and your Worn Weight. If you're carrying a fanny pack or have things in your pockets, these all count towards your Base Weight too.
How Much Should Your Backpack Weigh? The answer is: not more than 20% of your body weight, and ideally, it'll be about 10% of your body weight. If you weigh 200 lbs, you'd be fine with carrying 40 lbs for a day hike. If you're 160 lbs, you'd be okay with a ~30 lbs pack.
A loaded backpacking pack should not weigh more than about 20 percent of your body weight. (If you weigh 150 pounds, your pack should not exceed 30 pounds for backpacking.) A loaded day hiking pack should not weigh more than about 10 percent of your body weight.
Pack Weight for Backpacking and HikingA loaded backpacking pack should not weigh more than about 20 percent of your body weight. (If you weigh 150 pounds, your pack should not exceed 30 pounds for backpacking.) A loaded day hiking pack should not weigh more than about 10 percent of your body weight.
(Base weight is the total weight of your pack, fully loaded, not including anything you wear, hold or consume, ie. trekking poles, food, fuel, sunscreen etc.)
Before you start cutting the labels off your clothes, the edges off your maps and the end off your toothbrush, it is worth noting that the most significant weight savings will most likely be found in your “Big Three” items; namely your shelter, backpack and sleeping bag.
The typical conventional backpacker has a base weight around 25 to 30 pounds. Conventional backpacker's total pack weight with food and water can easily exceed thirty to forty pounds.