In preparation of the upcoming hiking season, I have started carrying weight in my backpack. I’m saving my Mountainsmith Ghost for the trail, so I’m using my Cabelas Alaskan packboard. What a comfortable pack.
That’s the thing about packs, they really can’t just be considered weight. If you are carrying a super light weight pack, okay, it is just weight. But if you have a nice pack that will lift and carry the weight off of your shoulder you are able to carry more weight with comfort so you can’t really count the whole pack as weight.
“Just Dave” and I use to laugh about the ultra-ultra light backpackers and say their sport wasn’t backpacking but getting their pack weight down. Just Dave said, “Why don’t they just bring a water bottle and a space blanket?”
Best Hike–The Blog list several ultra-light packs. There are many hikers out there who will tell you that their ultra-light packs carry well. I ask them, “Compared to what?”
The Camera Trap Codger, writes about a way that would possibly improve the carry of a light weight backpack–the trump line.
Mountainsmith quit making my pack, probably because of too many failures. It weighs just over 2lbs(1 kilo). The entire support is a thin fiberglass rod that forms a U shaped hoop and exerts a ton of pressure on the bottom of the pack. Eventually it wears a hole in the bottom and the rod pops out. It’s a good design though. “Pinball” thought that if you used a “D” shaped rod instead of a “U” shaped rod that it might remedy the problem. It completely lifts the weight off of my shoulders. It also is a front loader so I can get at whatever I want without taking everything out. Someone should start making this pack, again–in red or saffron and with no logos, please.
