Fastpacking
Base weight calculator
Adds a kit list up the way the sport defines the terms — base weight excluding consumables, pack weight including them, worn weight separate — and names the heaviest items.
The question this answers: “What is my base weight, and which three things are actually making it heavy?”
Result
- Base weight
- 2.65 kg
- Pack contents excluding food, water and fuel.
- Pack weight
- 4.85 kg
- Base plus 2.2 kg of consumables — what you actually lift at the start.
- Total carried
- 5.75 kg
- Including 0.9 kg worn or in hand.
- Heaviest base items
- Pack, Quilt, Bivvy or shelter
- Pack 0.7 kg · Quilt 0.55 kg · Bivvy or shelter 0.5 kg
Worth knowing about this answer
- This adds up what you tell it and nothing else. It suggests no target base weight, because how much margin to carry depends on the route, the season, the forecast and your experience — and trimming insulation to hit a number is the specific mistake the fastpacking page warns about.
- Base weight excludes food, water and fuel by convention, which is why two people quoting base weights are often not describing the same thing. Compare like with like.
Show the working
- Base weight
6 items in the pack, excluding consumables2.65 kg - Consumables
2 items2.2 kg - Pack weight
2.65 kg + 2.2 kg4.85 kg - Worn or in hand
1 items, excluded from pack weight0.9 kg
Base weight: 2.65 kg. Pack weight: 4.85 kg. Total carried: 5.75 kg. Heaviest base items: Pack, Quilt, Bivvy or shelter
Base weight is the sum of everything in the pack that is not food, water or fuel. Pack weight adds the consumables. Total adds what is worn or carried in hand, which by convention is excluded from pack weight. The three heaviest non-consumable, non-worn items are listed, because savings are usually distributed and a single dominant item is the one place a large reduction exists.
- The conventional definitions, which are the source of most confusion when two people compare base weights — they are frequently not describing the same thing.
- Every weight is supplied by the reader. The tool contributes the arithmetic and the definitions and nothing else.
- It suggests no target base weight, and that is deliberate rather than an omission. How much margin to carry depends on route, season, forecast and experience, and trimming insulation to hit a number is the specific mistake the fastpacking page warns about.
- It cannot tell you whether a kit list is adequate for conditions, which is a judgement made against a forecast.
- Water is entered as a consumable like any other. It is also the item whose weight changes most through a day, and a start-of-day figure overstates the average.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere. Last reviewed 2026-08-17. More on Fastpacking.