Hiking the Via Alpine or Alpine Pass Route Switzerland

The two most important aspects of preparing for the trip are packing the Macpac backpack with minimum weight and creating a set of disposable maps from Swiss Toppo.

The Checklist for the backback contents makes you realise just how heavy little stuff is.  I'll spend weeks squeezing out cream from perfume tubes, weighing umpteen pairs of socks, and cutting labels off clothing to make everything as light as possible.  The rule of thumb for backpacking light is to carry only 15% of your body weight and me being about 50kg, means a total weight of backpack plus contents of just 7.5kg.  In the past, my backpack has crept up to closer to 9kg. But after a 30k hiking day, you soon realise that  LIM is the motto - less is more better. 

This year, my backpack weighs 7.5kg, including the backpack itself, Macbook Air computer, food, clothing, maps and toiletries.  Of that, there's just on 2kg of clothes and toiletries.  The rest is roughly made up of back pack (1.2kg), Computer and charger (1.3kg), raingear and gloves (1kg) Food and Water (1kg), and Maps glasses and travel documents (1kg).  That's it.