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Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

Topic Date User

The ideal hiking pack 7-Jul-2006 At 8:47:26 AM climbau

Message

I would agree with JamieF. Get the fit right for you!
+Look for firm foams in the waist belt and shoulder straps.
+ Soft squishy foams break down and flatten out quickly and don't distribute the weight as evenly. Test by squeazing(?) straps across their width and through the depth. Plastic sheeting is often used to give additional support, just make sure it is in conjunction with the firmer foams.
+ Foams should be laminated.
+The two ends of the hip belt should not meet (or come anywher near to meeting) at the front.
+There should be no sharp angles when the harness is fitted to your back
+ You can always get a pack tote bag, or have your pack shrink wrapped, or wrap it in tough plactic when travelling.
+ Try on packs with weight bags properly loaded (if there is a divider sleeve, sit the weight bags on top of it), and try as many packs as you can.
+ Think about your body size. If you are 5'1" and 45kg, you probably won't be able to carry an 80Lt pack full of ropes and climbing gear. However if you need to carry that sort of volume and weight of gear then thats a different story.
+ Bar-tack stitching on all straps and stress points (can be hard to see on some packs as they hide it under layers of material)
+Get brochures on the different pack brands and look at their sizing reccomendations. Each pack differs in its fitting procedure. The basics are the same, but the fine tuning may differ.
+ worry about features after fit.

I have a bias towards Macpac and WE packs due to the harness construction and materials used, but make sure whatever pack you get fits well.

I hope this helps
Have fun shopping
Andrew