Everything I need for life and godliness, weighing in at a scant and respectable 10 pounds*. I would say that all of the research and preparation work that I did paid off in no small way. For one, the gear that I began with was almost to the piece the stuff that I finished with, with only a few exceptions. For example, the GVP G4 pack that you see there ultimately ended up just having too much room for my tastes, so I downsized further to a Golite Breeze in Harper's Ferry. But anyway, the point is that I was fortunate to have no need of throwing burdensome and nonessential "bad ideas" gear off of the mountains of N. Georgia, and neither did I need to replace a single thing at Neel's Gap-- the Holy Land of Desperately Needed Lighter Gear to many thru-hikers.

And yes, those are 80's ski poles. I got the pair for $3 from a thrift store, no doubt donated by some Northerner transplant to my fair Virginia.

*Of course, I'm speaking here of "base weight," which is everything except the consumables of food and water.