Planning tool

Pack-weight calculator

List your kit item by item and see where the grams go. The calculator splits your load into total, base, worn and consumable weight, breaks it down by category, and places your base weight against the bands backpackers commonly use.

By Ryan

Pack items: name, category, weight in grams, quantity, worn and consumable flags
Item	Category	Weight (g)	Qty	Worn?	Consumable?	Remove

Worn — on your body when you set off (boots, trousers, the jacket you start in). Consumable — used up as you go (food, water, stove fuel). Both are excluded from base weight.

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Your load

Total weight: 0.00 kg
Base weight: 0.00 kg
Worn: 0.00 kg
Consumables: 0.00 kg

Total counts everything in the list, worn items included. Base weight excludes worn items and consumables.

Against the bands commonly used for multi-day backpacking, your base weight of 0.00 kg is ultralight (under 4.5 kg).

The bands describe multi-day backpacking base weight — they are not meaningful for a day pack.

Weight by category

On your back at the start: (total minus worn) — use this figure in the walking-time calculator's pack-weight field.

What base weight means

Base weight is everything in and on your pack except consumables (food, water and fuel) and the clothes and footwear you are wearing when you set off. It is the standard way backpackers compare loads, because it stays roughly constant from trip to trip while food and water scale with the length of the route.

Common base-weight bands for multi-day backpacking
Band	Base weight	Roughly
Ultralight	under 4.5 kg	10 lb
Lightweight	4.5–9 kg	10–20 lb
Traditional	9–14 kg	20–30 lb
Heavy	14 kg or more	30 lb+

No governing body defines these bands — they are conventions from the backpacking community, useful as shorthand rather than as targets.

Why worn and consumable items are excluded

Consumables change with every trip. The same kit produces a very different total on an overnighter and a week-long crossing. Excluding food, water and fuel isolates the part you can actually optimise: your gear choices.
Worn items load your body differently. Boots and clothing you wear do not hang off your shoulders and hips, so they are left out of the comparison — though weight on your feet still costs energy with every step.
Your legs carry the lot regardless. For estimating effort and timing, the weight on your back is what matters: our walking-time calculator adds roughly 2% to the estimate per kilogram above a 5 kg day pack, so a few saved kilograms show up directly in your day.

Is lighter always better?

A lighter pack is easier on joints, faster on ascents and less tiring late in the day — but the number is not the goal. The right question is whether the pack covers realistic conditions for the route and season, at the lowest weight that still does.

Keep the safety margin

UK hill weather can turn quickly, and in winter the sensible base weight goes up, not down: ice axe, crampons, extra insulation, a group shelter and spare torch batteries all earn their place. Cutting survival kit, spare layers or navigation backup to chase a band label is a false economy — read our safety notes on what to carry and why.

Before you start shaving grams, make sure the essentials are actually in the bag: build a checklist with the kit-list builder, then weigh it here and feed the result into the walking-time calculator to see what your pack costs you in minutes.