The Appalachian Trail Without Re-Supply

At sunset tonight, Demetri Coupounas, the president and co-founder of GoLite, with the weight  of a small person strapped to his back, will set out to hike the Appalachian Trail. For 40 days and 40 nights, Coup will take the classic American pilgrimage—with no re-supply—as an elaborate field test of GoLite’s products. While 127 pounds (eight of them are chocolate!) is, to most, not a particularly light cargo, his journey is meant to affirm the company’s core values—that the outdoors is a lot more fun once you take a load off. He’s commemorating the 10th anniversary of GoLite, which he founded with his wife and late father, while hoping that by the end of his trip, on April 30, he will have broken the current 620-mile World Alpine Style Backpacking Distance record by at least a couple hundred miles.

How far are you going to walk?

One of my favorite maxims is that “in real adventure, the outcome is unknown.” I have maps for about 1100 miles. And it’d be a shame to carry a bunch of maps many hundreds of miles and then not use them. Still, I’d settle for 621 miles without much regret. I want to find out just how far I can go in 40 days. Since the AT is 2176 miles long, I won’t have to worry about running out of trail!

Why not just re-supply?

I like keeping the hike as untamed as possible. Every single one of my workdays has a schedule; every single one of my hikedays doesn’t. Alpine style thru-hiking also rededicates me to the core mission of GoLite. I will experience a maximum load of 127 pounds and a minimum load of 15 pounds. Guess which end of the spectrum is more fun?

What’s in the pack?

I have less than a 15-pound base load—equipment and clothing that will be with me the entire time. The other 112+ pounds is food and other “consumables.”

Anything unusual?

A GoLite Shangri-La 2-person shelter because my food will take up as much space as a 2nd person the first few nights. Also, I want to be able to accommodate any visitors I might get.

2 pairs of shoes because you shouldn’t count on more than 400-500 miles per pair.

A GoLite Ultra 20* Bag Top, basically a 2nd sleeping bag to keep my food from freezing at night.

A Blackberry and recharger because while, technically, electrons can be thought of as a re-supply, this isn’t to aid my hike but just to allow me to communicate with my mother, my wife, and my office.

3 different kinds of lubrication with different mechanics of delivery because different parts of the body respond better to each and it takes a stick to reach the most important place.

What pack are you using?

An off-the-shelf GoLite Odyssey, Men’s, Medium, Crimson. GoLite because we make the best backpacks to carry such a monster load—I am biased because I designed them all. Odyssey because it is our biggest and plushest with the suspension, volume, and features I need, and nothing more. Men’s because I suffer from testosterone poisoning. Medium because I am bigger side-to-side and front-to-back then I am up-and-down. Crimson because our Sales Manager Kevin Volz told me it looks better on me than “Tempest.”

What will be the first thing you do when you get home?

First I'll give my wife a big kiss. Then I’ll shower. Twice.

-Claire Napier Galofaro

Comments

[awaykate]

Actually, Outside has written about Sherpas. Here are two articles from 2007 alone. http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200711/sherpas-1.html
and
http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200706/Nepal-sherpa-1.html

[GatherNoMoss]

Unusual items:

3 types of lubrication. Say what?

[tom]

Whiteblaze.net experts confirm he made it about 30 miles in five days before common sense got the better of him.

link here: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showpost.php?p=576581&postcount=32

[tom]

Wouldn't it make more sense to drag all that food in a red wagon with wheels, or something?

(Actually I'd bet the Himalayan Sherpas Outside never writes about because they prefer photogenic white people carry loads like this every day).

[SP]

The word on the trail is that he has quit at neel gap.

[Vincent]

I think this is a fake.
We are talking here about the president of Golite and it would be an enormous mistake to communicate on such a project. They are supposed to be experts over there at Golite and they behave like amateurs.
Would any one of us buy or trust a brand whose co-founder goes on a 40 days hike this way. Would you buy their products if they were not Golite?
I can not believe this is true.

If you read french, read this http://www.journaldutrek.com/40-jours-en-autonomie.

[LOL]

You're going to sleep with your food? Why not bear bag it and get rid of the heavy 2 man tent for a 1 man and ditch the sleeping bag for the food and keep the bears out of the tent.

Where can we keep up with the outcome of this all?

[Ken]

"While 127 pounds (eight of them are chocolate!) is, to most, not a particularly light cargo, his journey is meant to affirm the company’s core values—that the outdoors is a lot more fun once you take a load off."

Carrying 127 pounds to demonstrate taking the load off doesn't compute.

[Ray Jardine's Ghost]

Where's your Golite Dome umbrella? If it rains you'll be stuck in a tent the whole time without an umbrella.

[Milliner]

You're doing it wrong. I assume you're joking about your food freezing? I assume you're joking about carrying an extra sleeping bag for your food? Carry the food you'll be eating that day in your pocket and it will defrost in a couple of hours.