James,
Very personal especially in the sleeping system. Making compromises here has been the hardest thing to achieve. I can deal with cold and wet when I'm active and its been easy enough to find my boundaries on day walks. It's been harder for me to build confidence in a lighter sleeping system. I think the above is the lightest I can achieve. I sleep quite cold. The only possibility left in my view is to trade in the self inflating mat for a torsolite or foam. I Imagine the trade off in terms of comfort is considerable.

I find that quite often taking a holistic approach to functionality and weight of kit works for me.

For example if you look at a "sleep system" that comprises mat/mattress, sleeping bag and clothing as a whole you may be able to reduce weight.

I have found particularily that by using a very good mattress I have not only increaded my comfort but also that I have reduced my overall weight carried.

eg was using a down bag in the winter at 1200g, a mat/mattress at 200g and extra clothing at 500g ish total 1900g.
Now I use a mattress at 900g, a sleeping bag at 500g and no extra clothing = total of 1400g for the same conditions

the incredibly effective insulation provided by the mattress means I can get away with a very light bag and no extra clothing

doesnt work for everyone I know but if you look at kit in a holistic way you may be able to reduce overall weight without compromising functionality (and also possibly reducing duplications)

sleeping systems
as my philosaphy goes "if you dont get a good nights sleep, your grumpy"
if you have an accident "do you have emergency warmth"..
all my problems were solved with my Haglofs lim down sleeping bag(900g) a small packsize.
Expensive but will cover summer and winter(compfort 1,max -15) in this country With my non expensive self inflating matteress and snugpak bivvy bag you simply cant fail!!!

any suggestions for tents!!!!
to weigh no more than 1.4k

Tents - I still love my Henry Shire's Squall Tarp Tent, about which I've been bleating for more than four years now. It's a two-person single-skin shelter with a sewn-in floor that weighs 893g. Two very light poles, four very light stakes and, with practice, you're in business in under a minute. Henry does lighter, smaller shelters of course, but given that we have a more humid climate in the UK than Henry enjoys in the west of USA, the extar space offered by a two-person Squall over, say, a one person Tarp Tent Virga, allows for more room to turn over in the night in your sleeping bag without brushing the tent walls and getting the bag drenched in condensation. And sure a 893g two-person shelter is better than a one person 1500g shelter!

There are other light weight shelter builders in the US... Ron "Falling Water" Moak's Six Moon Designs always springs to mind ... and the shelters just continue to get lighter every year.

Look closer to home too of course, at Terra Nova's Laser series, at Bob Saunders' great lightweight tents, and others.

As for long johns, I usually carry them too if I think I'm in for a cold spell, but I carry silk versions cos they weigh Stanley Football Accrington but contribute significantly to warmer pins.

Contact lenses - I use the Bausch and Lomb 30-day lenses, which as the name suggests you leave in for up to a month, not even taking them out at night. I carry only one pair of spares, and no solutions, though I do carry spare specs in case things go udders-up. I turned to contact lenses cos I was sick and tired of trying to navigate with wet specs, a wet map case, and a wet horizon (that's also one reason why I've enjoyed walking in California!).

I'm also far too lazy to be bothered with the whole process of taking them in an out every night, so I picked the 30-day models. Not everyone has the eyes that can take them, and I freely admit to getting more than my fair share of eye infections - probably about one infection every six months, perhaps a bit less - but I like 'em {edit: - I like the lenses, not the infections! [blush] }.

Kids - our first is due in March so I expect to start trimming a lot more weight then! [w00t]

Ah. Silk undies. Sound like fun. Where can I get em (the technical kind that is).

Got mine at REI when I was in the USA in 04. Carried 'em 2700 miles and no-one pinched my bum once.

re the tent suggestions.

I try other tents but I come back to it time and time again. The Terra Nova Laser Competition. i know its not everyone's cup of tea but I have yet to find a major fault with it. Its really light for a 2 skinned tent at 900g and it can cope with a wide variety of conditions with a bit of aforethought.

I have been using mine consitently for 18months now and still love the fact that its easy to put up and gives a nice solid taut pitch. I happened to use it in a gale in November in the Brecon Beacons and it performed very well indeed. I made a few minor mods to it by adding 4 extra guylines and using a few y-pegs in place of some of the tiny TN pegs supplied with the tent. Windspeeds in the night reached 60mph+ but in the morning the tent hadnt budged and will still showing a nice taut pitch

Having said that, it doesnt stop me experimenting with other tents and I am using tarps and tarp tents quite often as well !!!

John- are silk long johns lighter than synthetic? have you weighed them? (apologies for being a gram counter!)

John - just a quick congratulations on your expected one in March.

It becomes harder to lighten the load with little ones in tow - I should know I take all four of mine some times just out for a walk and after hats and coats there's no more room.