The shelves are full of decent mountain rifles. Every time my rifle was to heavy, I was also not in good condition. Every time... Not being in fairly good condition is like the difference in going to a theater and watching a movie and going to the theater and watching a movie with a toothache. A "good" movie only makes the experience marginally better if at all. Being in good gym shape isn't the quite the same as hunting shape. There's no substitute for putting on a pair of boots, a back pack and a 10 pound something or other in your hand and going up and down for a while. If you don't have mountains then substitute with a stairwell or bleachers. Oddly enough, a heavy stick of some type helps because you need to work your forearm to keep from it digging into the ground, the same as you rifle. Pulling weight on your shoulders and/or neck and craning your head up is not a natural act but your doing it all day long when hunting. You'll probably get sore and achy. That's fine cause working it out of yourself at home where there's good food, sleep, a bathtub and maybe an extra day or two of rest before you do it again is so much better than just showing up on the mountain, charging hard from the git'go and powering through the pain while your trying to hunt.
Your basic 7-8 lb. rifle and 16 to 22 oz. scope is fine if your in an area that has game in it. If you need to hump 15 miles a day, your just in the wrong place and your gear isn't the problem. If you do need to go 15 miles a day, you need a horse. I find that good balance in a mountain rifle is important. With a long nose-heavy barrel and bipod, your fighting the nose of the rifle from dipping towards the ground when going uphill and it seems your always going uphill. If you have to have a bipod, I'd be considering a quick attach/detatch model for my pack. Barrels from 20" to 24" are about right for the sake of balance. 308 and 30-06 are popular calibers for a mountain rifle but probably a .270 and up will get'er done. Those calibers mentioned specifically aren't important so much as their effective range of operation. A guy ought to be able to reliably make a shot out to 450 yards or so. When you get beyond that in field conditions, a heavier rifle will be your friend. Although this is a long range site, shooting game at more intermediate and closer ranges isn't a sin and as stated earlier, you rifle get a whole lot lighter the less you carry it. Short actions balance a little better but long actions are fine too. Magnum actions can seem hefty in terms of weight and balance and frankly a little more weight might be a good thing for a boomer but if your grip, arm and shoulder have been previously conditioned to carry some weight on the end of it and make micro adjustments for extended periods (all day long), then it's just a thing to deal with but you'll be up for it.
Lately I'm digg'in on a Styer Pro Hunter in 30-06 with a Leopold VX-2, 3x9 as my mountain rifle although as long as it works, anything sorta like it would be just as good. It's probably 8 or 9 lbs all up. It's not "light" but she carries her weight in all the right places (double entendre) and I have confidence in the rig. "Light" rifles have given me inconsistent results at the range and they are usually magnified in the field and carrying them when I'm not in decent condition still beats me up a little so it's better for me anyway, to spend a little bit of time in advance walking a few hills, maybe a scouting trip, going where I've seen game recently and toting a non-extreme rifle that I have confidence in.
