Lightweight Pack recommendations

[ninjapuppet]

just got an email from Mike at Hyperlite Mountain Gear regarding his new pack which is just finished.
its going to be officially released at end of january but he can personally make you one if you wish.

here is the current windrider pack: http://www.hyperlitemountaingear.com/products/packs.html

His new pack is priced at $260 and weighs a few ounces more. Extra features are: axe loop, aluminium stays, hydration pocket, more padding on the belt. compression system is also slightly different. I decided the extra padding was worth it, so changed my order to the newer version even though current one is on sale. Its such a hard decision to go either with this or the golite jam currently on 40% off from golite, but i figured HMG's waterproof feature will all be worth it in the snow and rain when you dont have to fiddle with pack liners and pack covers.

Will give you a heads up on it when i get it.

[Rod]

That is a very cool looking website ninja-those shelters look impressive(pricey though!)
I will be very interested to hear how the pack goes

[cams]

just got an email from Mike at Hyperlite Mountain Gear regarding his new pack which is just finished.
its going to be officially released at end of january but he can personally make you one if you wish.

here is the current windrider pack: http://www.hyperlitemountaingear.com/products/packs.html

His new pack is priced at $260 and weighs a few ounces more. Extra features are: axe loop, aluminium stays, hydration pocket, more padding on the belt. compression system is also slightly different. I decided the extra padding was worth it, so changed my order to the newer version even though current one is on sale. Its such a hard decision to go either with this or the golite jam currently on 40% off from golite, but i figured HMG's waterproof feature will all be worth it in the snow and rain when you dont have to fiddle with pack liners and pack covers.

Will give you a heads up on it when i get it.

The extra padding does sound good. At this stage I've decided to go for an Aarn Mountain Magic 55. I was very impressed with the Marathon Magic 30 I tried but it just wasn't big enough. So I figure I'll go for the 55 which has a 37L back pack and 18L fronts. That way I have a 37L pack to fit my current requirements but can add the front pockets if I decide to do a longer trip. I know not using the front pockets kind of defeats the purpose a bit but I felt that even with nothing in the front of the MM30 the harness was very good and probably worth the increase in weight. It is 1490g overall and waterproof. So save weight on the pack cover, and without the front packs I'm hoping the weight will come down to around 1100g. Won't be buying till after christmas though, so still plenty of time to change my mind.

[Nuts]

I cant imagine the pockets lasting long NP.
Strewth the market skimmers are have been at work with Cuben Fibre. I Do like the shelter designs..... but those prices..... They'll be making shopping bags out of the stuff in a few years!
The single for example is very similar to golites, at twice the price. around 200grams saved. I could loose that much weight in an hour!

[photohiker]

At this stage I've decided to go for an Aarn Mountain Magic 55. I was very impressed with the Marathon Magic 30 I tried but it just wasn't big enough. So I figure I'll go for the 55 which has a 37L back pack and 18L fronts. That way I have a 37L pack to fit my current requirements but can add the front pockets if I decide to do a longer trip. I know not using the front pockets kind of defeats the purpose a bit but I felt that even with nothing in the front of the MM30 the harness was very good and probably worth the increase in weight. It is 1490g overall and waterproof. So save weight on the pack cover, and without the front packs I'm hoping the weight will come down to around 1100g. Won't be buying till after christmas though, so still plenty of time to change my mind.

That's the pack I ordered for my Scotland trip. Ordered it in October '09, but had to chicken out of it because the delivery date kept getting put back a month each month and I plain ran out of time. Real shame, I was in NZ and Aarn loaned me a prototype pre-production pack for a week to try, it was really good, comfortable and lots of space. Like all of his packs, it was strappy, but once you got that sorted it was fine.

In the end, I took a GG Mariposa Plus to Scotland. It was great! Couldn't help but notice its less than half the weight of the MM55...

[blacksheep]

did you consider the macpac amp race 40? The frame ( a PP sheet with closed cell sleeping mat) can be removed (if counting grams) and the load still transfers to a good waisty belt via fins built in the side panels. These are very popular packs with the expediition adventure race crew...

[Ashla113]

I have a GG G4 and love it. I use it w/ a thermarest zlite and tent poles to create a frame, and it works perfectly. The gorilla has a stay so that's awesome. Really love their products. My friend has a mariposa and loves it.

[hikingoz]

I'm shopping for a pack around the 50l mark and light also. I've used Golite Pinnacle on a couple of trips to SW Tas and elsewhere with no major dramas. Love this pack. It is starting to wear through on the bottom after many slips onto my backside through the Arthurs Ranges and beyond and the mesh has had a few repairs. I can also go to a smaller capacity.

I've got a Macpac Amp 40 and am sure it won't stand up to a decent flogging. I'm no adventure racer and don't plan on jogging back to the carpark when my pack falls apart.

So I'm looking at the dyneema fabric Golite Jam but am also considering the One Planet Umbra or the Wilderness Equipment Contour. This pack has a removable back pad. These canvas packs might stand up to a bit of scrub. I'm not buying anything designed or made in California. If more than half the outside is covered in mesh it is not what I'm after.

Has anyone tried the WE Contour pack?

[Lindsay]

I have a Mariposa Plus from GG and I love it. I'v only used it on one trip so far and it handled the NZ conditions with no problems, including a day of bush bashing. Only 680g, I had it loaded with 11.9kg starting out weight and the comfort and balance were excellent. I almost forgot I was wearing it. There was a small sweaty back problem but this was not enough to detract from the overall excellence. Cost including 2 waist belt pockets and postage was $ 217.23

GG Mariposa Plus packed for NZ tramp.

[johnw]

...the Wilderness Equipment Contour. This pack has a removable back pad. These canvas packs might stand up to a bit of scrub. I'm not buying anything designed or made in California. If more than half the outside is covered in mesh it is not what I'm after.

Has anyone tried the WE Contour pack?

Yes, I've had one for about 12 months. Very robust canvas pack. No frills, commonsense design. I really like it. I got it primarily as I do some bush regeneration in the Blue Mtns and we need extra capacity for tools and other stuff. These are mostly day trips but it's about 40 litres so may be OK for lightweight overnighters with judicious gear selection. We do a lot of off track on these trips and I've used it crawling underneath scrub, logs, scraping it over rocks, wading through creeks etc. Seems to handle all this quite well. I recently took it to Tassie, did a number of day walks and also used it as aircraft cabin luggage. Even though it's reasonably large capacity it can be compressed quite small to meet airline requirements. I keep forgetting it has the removable back pad, which you can use as a sit mat, but that might be a useful feature for some. Very good harness, even fully loaded I still find it comfortable to use.

[cams]

I still haven't bought anything. I'm waiting till I go to NZ in April where I can hopefully find some Aarn's to try on. Also possibly waiting till I go to Canada later in the year to check out McHale. However, I did just get a Backpacking Light Absaroka pack in the mail. My brother and I got some gift vouchers for christmas and the pack was his choice. First impression is that the frame is very substantial for the size of the pack. Will give more impressions after we have a chance to load it up. I was also waiting for them to release the spare parts for sale so I could get him a small waist belt. So now I'm looking at this spare medium waist belt and wondering how I can attach it to my Golite Peak.

Incidentally, my pick was the Vapr bivvy. Also picked up a cocoon parka in the closeout sale.

[Liamy77]

what about a OP WBA?
(One Planet " weighs bugger all")
are these solid or should i just go the extra weight on a strezlecki or macmillan?
i like the harness fit on these...

[Nuts]

My OP Umbra is a nice pack, ILSW was right though, it is only a 'trail' pack. The standard WE Contour uses light canvas also. Neither is in the true 'U/L' category but nice all the same.
Osprey have a new pack (Hornet) that are being reviewed on BPL. Whilst I didnt like the bow shape of the atmos i tried (or the mesh hip pockets..) they do offer good ventilation (which is missing in many frameless packs) and are very light:

http://www.ospreypacks.com/Packs/Hornet ... Superlight

[Nuts]

Though it does sacrifice the frame/ventilation of the Exos, another nice light pack, I wish some of these companies would make a Tassie model:

http://www.ospreypacks.com/PackTech/ExosSeries (LOL)

[ninjapuppet]

Backpacker this month names the HMG Windrider as the ultralight pack of the year for 2011.

I beg to differ.

Over the past few months, its been the only pack ive taken out and nearly all of my trips are bushbashing through untracked territory. The material has held up extremely well and none of the mesh has snagged or ripped when my shirts and pants have. Pack has been waterproof in light showers, which doesnt say much because i havnt had rain to test it in.

I really like the idea of the pack, its design and materials. I just dont understand why its not comfy.
Maybe the frame doesnt contour my back, maybe the straps arent thick enough... who knows.

My fav pack now is a Mountain Hardwear South col, but thats a totally different category. Maybe the Windrider is a leader in its own niche, but in my books its still not perfect at that. still room for improvement in the harness category.

[Robbo]

I've just recently purchased a OP Shadow (60 Long) and have now walked with it a couple of times and am very pleased with it. It is obviously not designed to carry big loads but with a few adjustments to what I carry it is working really well and my knees and legs are really thanking me!

Cheers

TR

[Nuts]

I did just get a Backpacking Light Absaroka pack in the mail.

This pack (and the fittings) are on sale (reverse auction) atm...

[Nuts]

Another couple of lightweight (framed) options:

http://www.lowealpine.com/eng/products. ... 0&type=man

http://www.theomm.com/products/packs.html

[cams]

I did just get a Backpacking Light Absaroka pack in the mail.

This pack (and the fittings) are on sale (reverse auction) atm...

Yeah, saw that. Of course it's just after we got it. I'm thinking about getting one for myself now though. We got out for a walk on the weekend and my brother used the absaroka loaded up with about 10kg. Overall he was very happy with it. Commented on the nice and wide hip belts. He liked the hip belt pockets, although the small sized belt has pockets about half the size of the medium belt. It rained all day Saturday and he was using a pack liner, however the pack itself kept most of the water out. It is mostly made of silnylon and has a good roll top closure but the seams aren't sealed.

His only real complaint was the lack of load lifters, although I'm not quite sure how well they would work with the pack anyway because the shoulder straps attach to the top of the frame and there is no more pack above this point to pull forward. The frame itself could possibly do with some bending towards the top to make it conform to the upper back a bit more.

I used my golite peak for the trip with some last minute additions (my brother with a knife and some webbing during the car ride to the start of the walk) of the spare medium hipbelt we got with the absoraka pack. With a bit of tweaking this will work very well with this pack and are much more comfortable than the ones the pack came with.

[cams]

Well, after procrastinating up until this point I've finally settled on a pack. I got a nice little bonus at the completion of a project last month so decided to blow some of it on a McHale. So I made contact and after sending in a ton of measurements and photo's and after deciding on the Little Big Pack 36 (36" is the diameter of the main pack body) and about a month later I finally got the demo pack last week. This size should give me a capacity range between 40L and 50L with the roll top compression. Depending on the final choice on materials and the accessories fitted I should hopefully end up with a pack around 1.2kg. Maybe less.

Not UL but for the strength of the pack and the comfort I think this will be worth the extra 600g or so over the lightest framed packs. I'm very happy with the demo pack so far. The hip belt is easily the most comfortable I've tried. The shape of the bag is perfect IMO (a straight tube, how hard is that to get right). Back padding is minimal compared to some but in the right places. Depending on how rich I'm feeling when it comes time to order the final design I'll probably go for the 100% dyneema fabric. Should be pretty much indestructable.

[ninjapuppet]

That pack in my profile pic is a mchale. Was a mates pack so I'm unsure what model but it was 100% dyneema and incredibly light! It had an external crampons pocket which was a really great way of securing crampons unlike traditional bungee. Looks home-made but I got nothing except good things to say about that pack. However my mate paid close to $1080 for it, so I would doubt I would ever own one when I'm happy with my south col mountaineering pack. How much is you LBP quoted for?

[cams]

Ahh sweet. I wondered if anyone else on here had one. There is apparently 2 more demo's in Oz atm. Do you know what type your mate's is? Do you have a bigger photo? So far I've paid $550 including shipping. If I go for a standard material like dyneema grid stop it shouldn't cost too much more than that. They still come with 100% dyneema on the base and a couple of other bits as standard. If I do decide to go for full 100% dyneema it will add to that cost significantly. Probably get close to your mates cost depending on what pockets and stuff I get. I can always get extra external pockets made in the future. I'm planning on going for a pretty basic clean configuration with no permenant external pockets on the main bag.

[ninjapuppet]

Sorry didnt have any photos of the McHale itself other than it being worn, and it was comfy while it was worn!.... Or maybe the psychological aspect of wearing a $1000 pack made me think it was comfy.

Wasnt my pack so I'm unsure what model.

[Dale]

I've just pulled the trrigger on a Six Moons Design Swift backpack:

http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/index.php ... Itemid=109

I also considered the Zpacks Dymeema X26, the Mountail Laurel Designs 2300 Burn and ULA CDT. I haven't used a frameless pack before - currently my lightest pack is a Granite Gear Vapor Trail at a kilo, these packs sit between 350g - 500g and should be good for a few nights. I also chose the stays (just in case...) and the a wing belt which are belt storage pockets.

I stumbled across this site which was a boon for selecting a pack, the website has a bunch of other gear also compiled:

http://www.tenpoundbackpack.com/gear-li ... backpacks/

[ninjapuppet]

Thanks for the link Dale. its one of the best UL comparison websites Ive come across. Though I dont necessarily agree with all of his recommendations and he left some packs out such as the HMG windrider, his tents list is very detailed.

[Dale]

Funnily I'd been tapping away at a spreadsheet trying to figure a comparison on frameless packs and wondering whether I had them covered when that site popped up ! Someone is sure dedicated...

[MJD]

Dale - nice link, thanks.

Got a Granite Gear Vapour Flash that got used recently for a three nighter on the Central Plateau. Very nice. Good size at 52L.

[Dale]

Granite Gear make nifty packs - they seem to be no frills and funcitonal. With my Vapor Trail I did have to get use to the extendable roll top - there's quite a bit of it ! Apparently Granite Gear are discontinuing the Vapor Trail - not sure what's replacing it. Hope the Vapor Flash keeps working well for you

[Whits]

Ive been using a Black Diamond Axiom 40L for the past 6 months, hiking as well as travelling so its taken some punishment and stood up to it ok, apart from the holes that rats made in it in the Philippines. Got the large which weighs 1.2kg and is 42L. Very comfortable, esp the reactive suspension system. Picked it up cheap in Nepal when I downsized my pack for S.E Asia.

[cams]

So I finally received my McHale pack. Very happy overall. Doesn't really belong in this thread though. The weight ended up a bit on the high side at a minimum of 1.45kg, but for all the plus sides I'm still very pleased.

Fully stripped down:

All accessories added: