Seth Brown has written up a great article about the gear he uses regularly:

A byproduct of this division between activity-specific gear and core hardware is that core hardware naturally organizes into layers. Core hardware that I use for shorter duration activities serves as the foundation for core hardware that I carry for longer duration activities. A smaller set of core hardware integrates into the layer above it. Each layer subsumes the previous layer like a series of Matryoshka dolls.

Nesting hardware like Matryoshka dolls has numerous advantages. It minimizes hardware redundancy and ipso facto reduces the number of items that need to be carried. Predetermined hardware configurations facilitates faster packing with greater fidelity. It’s harder to forget important items using logical hardware layers. This post explains my views about hardware abstraction and describes 3 of my core hardware layers that I use to get things done.

I always enjoy Seth’s posts. He has such a knack for applying an ideology to everything he does. A really great read.