In the West you have to carry way more shit because you can't rely on natural resources to improvise. For example, the only sleep pad you need in the East year-round is an ultralight closed cell cheapo pad, because you can just pile as many hemlock boughs underneath it as necessary for insulation and comfort. For shelter you can use a bivvy style tent and make a vestibule or other expanded living space from saplings and branches and bark. You can save tons of weight by just using a hammock tent. Dry firewood is absolutely everywhere and you don't need a stove. You don't need trekking poles because you can just make a walking stick. A folding saw and a sturdy fixed blade combined with some skill can replace almost half the shit people carry. Very hard to pull that off when you're in a place with very few trees that are all weak softwood and where touching them is banned. Lots of conventional backpacking gear and strategies considered basic and critical by others I just don't give a shit about because I've always just relied on bushcraft instead and see no reason to change. I don't even own a single inflatable sleep pad or fuel burning stove anymore, I would never carry such a thing.