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Privacy policy

Last updated 2026-08-14

Plain language, no lawyer padding. Here is exactly what UltraLightSetup.com collects, who else sees it, and what you can do about it.

The short version

We do not ask you to create an account. The gear list builder and every calculator on this site run entirely in your browser, and the gear list you build is stored in the page URL rather than on a server. Nothing you type into a calculator or a gear list is ever transmitted to us or saved anywhere we can read it. What we do collect is anonymous traffic analytics, and the retailer links on this site set cookies when you click them.

Who we are

UltraLightSetup.com is published by Cozy River Studios. For anything in this policy, reach us through the contact page.

The gear list builder and the calculators

This is the part most people want to know about, so it comes first. The gear list builder is a client side tool. Every item you add, every weight you enter and every price you record is held in your browser and encoded into the page address, which is what lets you bookmark a list, reopen it later, or send it to a hiking partner. That encoded list travels in the URL fragment, the part after the hash, and browsers do not transmit URL fragments to a web server. We never receive it, we never store it, and we could not reconstruct your gear list if you asked us to.

The same is true of the calculators. Base weight, food weight, water carry, pack volume, sleep system temperature and pack weight to body weight all compute locally. Your body weight, your pack weight and your trip plan stay on your device.

Analytics: Google Analytics 4

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how the site is used: which pages get read, which calculators get opened, roughly where visitors come from, and whether a page loads properly on a phone. This is aggregate reporting, not individual tracking, and we never attempt to identify a specific person from it.

Google Analytics collects information such as:

  • Pages viewed, time on page, and the path taken through the site
  • Approximate location, derived from your IP address at a city or region level
  • Device type, browser, screen size and operating system
  • The referring site or search engine that sent you here
  • Anonymous event data, including clicks on retailer links, which retailer was clicked, and which product identifier the link carried

Google Analytics 4 does not log or store full IP addresses, and IP data is anonymised before it reaches our reports. Data processing is subject to Google's privacy policy. You can opt out of Google Analytics across every site you visit by installing Google's browser opt-out add-on.

Affiliate links

UltraLightSetup.com participates in affiliate programs with Backcountry, through the Impact network, and with Amazon through the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. When you click one of our product links, the destination retailer typically sets a cookie recording that you arrived from us, so that any resulting purchase is credited to this site. That cookie is set by the retailer, not by us.

We do not see your name, address, payment details or order contents. What we receive is aggregate reporting: numbers of clicks, items ordered, and commissions earned. None of it can be tied back to an individual reader. We also log an anonymous event in Google Analytics when a retailer link is clicked, recording which network it went to and the product identifier where one exists, so we can tell which recommendations are actually useful.

Some of the gear on this site is sold direct by small manufacturers who run no affiliate program at all. Those links earn us nothing, set no tracking cookie on our behalf, and are marked as such on the page. Full commercial detail is on the affiliate disclosure page.

Cookies

Cookies used on this site fall into three groups:

  • Analytics cookies, set by Google Analytics 4, used to distinguish one visit from another and measure traffic. These typically expire within two years and can be cleared at any time.
  • Affiliate cookies, set by Backcountry, Amazon or another retailer when you click through to their site. These record the referral so a purchase can be credited. Amazon's affiliate cookie generally lasts 24 hours; other networks vary.
  • Advertising cookies, if and when we run display advertising. Ad partners may use cookies to limit how often you see the same ad and to measure performance. Where a consent notice is legally required in your region, one will be shown before non-essential advertising cookies are set.

Every modern browser lets you block or delete cookies in its settings. Blocking them will not break the builder or the calculators, because those run locally in your browser.

The contact form

Our contact form is processed by FormSubmit, which forwards your message to our email inbox. The name, email address and message you submit are transmitted to FormSubmit for delivery and are subject to their handling practices. We keep the resulting email so we can reply and, where the message is a correction, so we have a record of what was changed and why. We do not add contact form addresses to any marketing list.

What we do not do

  • We do not sell, rent or trade personal information.
  • We do not require registration or store passwords, because there are no accounts.
  • We do not store the values you type into any calculator or gear list on this site.
  • We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to request access to any personal information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, and to object to certain processing. Because we hold almost nothing beyond emails you have sent us, most such requests resolve quickly. Send them through the contact page and we will respond within a reasonable period.

Readers in California may also request that we do not sell or share their personal information. We do not sell personal information as that term is normally understood, and we will honour any such request regardless.

Third parties and external links

This site links to manufacturers, retailers, land management agencies, standards bodies and other external resources. Once you leave ultralightsetup.com you are covered by that site's privacy policy, not this one. We have no control over how third parties handle your data and we encourage you to read their policies.

Changes to this policy

We update this policy when our tools or partners change. The date at the top always reflects the current version, and continuing to use the site after an update means you accept the revised policy.