I subscribe to the blog Ultralite Skunk Works. He is sort of a mad scientist of ultra-lightweight gear. Here he is, asleep on his balloon bed . 
Ballons replace closed cell foam in the mind of an ultra-lighter.
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I subscribe to the blog Ultralite Skunk Works. He is sort of a mad scientist of ultra-lightweight gear. Here he is, asleep on his balloon bed .
Well, that balloon bed is one of the loonier things I’ve seen. He says he’s trying to break the 5lb barrier, but only if you don’t count food, hiking poles and things that *should* count. After all, if it’s on your back, you’re carrying it, so it counts.
Carolyn H.
He is “camped” in a shelter on the AT. I guess if the shelter would have been full, he would be curled up in a ball trying to stay warm in his cuben fiber sleeping bag while he was trying to stay dry from the wind blown rain under his cuben fiber tarp when, “BANG!” , the balloons would start popping and he would think, “Man, I hate life.”
It looks like he has the shelter all to himself. Might be when he took out all those balloons and started blowing them up some people left. Then when he laid down and started “squeaking” the rest left.
I’m guessing he has to pop them every morning and start over with new balloons.
Maybe the way to go, would be helium balloons, then they could help carry his load during the day.
This picture illustrates two things: why I laugh at ultra-lighters and why I avoid shelters.
That’s a gag, right?
No, not a gag. The balloons go in his hiking kilt, I think, so they don’t go flying all over the place.
He has some good ideas and I enjoy seeing what he is up to.
I think he may spend more time working on his gear then actually using it. It’s all good when you are laying on your couch and sometimes it’s good when you are on the trail. It’s that day you are just surviving, you want to watch out for, because that’s the day that will get you off the trail.
The more I look at this balloon thing the more confused I get. Does the guy carry tons of unblown-up balloons with him? Once you tie them off, is it possible to un-tie them in the morning so they can reused the next night? Or do you just pop them and blow up another 20 balloons the next night? If you pop them in the morning, it’s a lot of waste and trash. And, a lot of balloons to carry on a long hike.
Carolyn H.
I don’t know… he says he carries a bag of balloons. Maybe he could twist them in to a balloon hat in the morning and carry them that way… or he could tie them around his waist and make a balloon skirt out of them… or he could twist them into balloon animals and sell them to day hikers…
http://asthecrowflies.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/img_2581.jpg
Check out this website for a proper balloon bed for only £20. It weighs 100g and takes up the same space as a tin of baked beans. You americans are way behind us innovative brits! http://www.balloonbed.com