We’ve found the answer to the age-old question: How can I make my backpacking gear lighter? (Except this solution doesn’t require cutting anything from your pack.) It requires helium. Can you guess where this is going?
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Brendan Carberry (@outsidebrendan on Instagram), is a maker and an all-around outdoors-y guy—a great combo. He comes up with some clever, usually goofy inventions (like a cookie warmer adapter for your mountain bike or a flashlight vest for your four-legged adventure buddy).
Carberry recently tested whether you can use helium as a backpacking assist, and the results are pretty funny. In the video, Carberry attaches a very large helium balloon to his pack. When he puts it on, he’s immediately sold.
“It’s the opposite of putting on a backpack normally,” he says. “Oh my gosh. That’s a dream.”
Later, he jokes: “It’s almost too light; I’ve gotta pull it down.” And then he adjusts his pack’s hip belt to keep it from riding up his torso.
Watch how helium can lighten your backpacking gear here:
If you do go this route, you’ll just need to make sure your pack doesn’t float away. Perhaps the best part of Carberry’s demonstration is when he takes the pack off and has to leap to catch it before it floats away.
What do you think? Is helium the best new backpacking hack?
