inception: I started backpacking in 1980, about six months after moving to the Pacific Northwest.
continuation: I hit it pretty hard for two seasons, but then laid off. For almost 20 years I did only an occasional winter trip to the beaches of Olympic National Park, but picked it up again in the late 1990s.
calibration: In July 2001 I weighed my loaded external-frame Kelty just before a four-day trip. At 40 pounds, I thought I was setting off pretty light.
enlightenment: Seeing someone cook for two on a tiny Trangia alcohol stove set a fire under me. I began searching for alternatives to my heavy white gas stove, but I found much more -- Hennessy Hammocks, Pepsi Can stoves, G4 packs, Sil Shelters, Tarptents, Frogg Toggs and Montane Featherlite clothing, Arc lights, Ray Jardine.
liberation: By the end of 2001 I had made two multi-day winter trips to the ocean, in shoes, carrying a frameless pack, sans Gore-Tex, hoisting an umbrella, using an alcohol stove I made from garbage, and it all worked!
confirmation: An early 2002 four-day trip: total pack weight under 17 pounds. Later: the whole Wonderland Trail at Mt. Rainier, total pack weight under 28 pounds (with an SLR camera and a week's load of food). A week at Mt. Hood: under 21 pounds. Then two 33-mile ultralight day hikes around Mt. St. Helens. Success, success, and more success.
conclusion: It works. It really works. And it's getting to be more fun all the time. Why don't you lighten up too?