The Law of Luggage
The Law of Luggage states:
“The amount of gear you carry will expand to fit your luggage.”
This is closely related to the idiom that nature abhors a vacuum – if there is extra space in a pack, duffle bag or sled, it will be filled with extra gear whether you need it or not. This causes all sorts of problems, including painful (and costly) travel logistics and immobility due to excessive weight.
- Many tons of the lightest climbing gear on earth. I don’t know why we decided to bring all this, but it made sense at the time. Mark Holbrook, Katmandu
The Law of Luggage applies to day packs as well as expedition duffle bags. For backcountry skiing day trips, the best way to lighten your load and increase your mileage is to start with a small pack so you just can’t carry much to begin with. For expeditions, especially with the new fifty pound per bag weight restrictions, those sexy oversized expedition duffles will be your worst enemy by the time you stuff them full of 110 pounds of gear, not to mention the duffle weighing eight pounds itself. You won’t be going very far or very fast if you have to carry two of those behemoths. The fifty pound limit is actually a blessing in disguise as it encourages a tighter, lighter gear selection, which in turn means you can get by with a smaller sized duffle.
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Category: 14 Travel
“Those that say you can’t take it with you, never saw a can packed for a ski vacation.”
Anonymous
So true, and many a rental car has paid the price. With the windows rolled down, those Ford Neons have quite a bit of space. :)