Packs


Those terrible things that bruise the hips and tug on the shoulders

Reviews reviews reviews, click HERE

With the myriad of packs out there, the choice is rather difficult. I could give all manner of advice, but for South Africa, a lot of it is irrelevant as the packs simply aren’t available here. However, for really good all round information on backpacks, try MEC’s superb site.

What they can’t tell you is what is good for the berg. So enter my opinion.

I would start by saying that like everything else, there is no one bag that is perfect for everything. So get something that does most things well. You will need at least 65 litres for anything more than weekend trips. You have to fit a tent, stove, clothes, sleeping bag, food and fuel into the bag, which is a fair amount. As there are no good external frame packs in SA, go the internal frame route. Remember, that a pack is the one item that you need to wear all day trekking, and most last a very long time. So cutting costs at expense of quality and comfort will be a compromise that your shoulders may have to bear for a while. Shop around, because some people find one harness system better than another. Those external pockets and great trails of webbing can be useful, but are not always necessary. I have got to the point where everything goes in and out the top of my expedition style bag after I started out with a 5 pocket Boulder. Why? Well it’s the most space efficient way of doing things and its great to have a pocket less bag. If my shoulders and hips get through, I know the bag will. (This is possibly more use squeezing through stations and airports than in the wide open spaces of the berg, bar bundu bashes and rock gullies which are the fun bits anyway)

Don’t get talked into buying something not purpose made for walking. Many supposed travel bags, are in fact hopeless to trek with, and you’d do almost as well carrying a suitcase into the mountains. Top trekking bags, however, are great for travel (shrink wrap at airports gets past those silly webbing getting stuck tales) so if you want to do both, get a good trekking bag.

For group walking, the convenience of having someone pull a snack or lip ice from a side pocket is great, but when soloing you need to drop the pack anyway. For durability buy the best materials you can in the pack. The cheaper materials tend to work fine, but abrade quicker, which shortens the pack’s life. I have a love hate relationship with webbing. Most of the time it gets in the way, and I think there is too much. But every so often I need to really load the bag (especially true if you climb) then every little strap helps, and still there is too little. When you buy the bag, webbing cannot be too long. Its easy to cut off whatever you think is excessive, but if its too short, well, its too short. I personally don’t like gimmick. North Face have become the queens of gimmick backpacks, which I think is one reason to steer clear. The more bits of pointless webbing and strangle geometry’s the more a bag weighs and the more stitching to unravel. Simple and well made is my motto, and Backpacker seem to adhere to this. Of course they can’t compete with MACPAC (which is my bag), but then in the simple well made ethic, nobody can.
 

SA Bags Review

Thats right folks, here are my thoughts on some SA bags. These are personal rather critical views, so don't take anything personally. That said, listen up SA manufacturers, because there is a lot of work to be done on R and D side

Backpacker Thar

This would be the ultimate locally made bag, so I took a stroll down to the outdoor warehouse to check it out. And, its not that bad a bag.
Good Points
Its well made. The small initial capacity is excellent as it means you tend to not load it. The expanding hood is good too, if a little big. The harness system looks reliable. There is plenty of webbing for strapping on all that extra gear, and there are even Ice axe loops. This is a bag that should go the distance, and for high berg adventure walking I would rate it the best available in SA
Not so Good points.
I'm a little worried about some of the stitching in this bag should one choose to really load it up. This is a concern that I've had with Backpacker products over the years, with the front compression straps (a bit of a backpacker novelty) tending to pop. I personally don't like the harness. If you are taller than 188cm, these bags will be too short for you in the back length, despite what they say on the harness. Given the 5 point system, the hip belt stabilising straps seem to be pretty useless and have almost no effect. This is a pity as these straps help to move the pressure around different points on your hips. The webbing itself looks a little cheap, and is poorly finished, and could well unravel. The webbing D buckles on the hip belt are horribly irritating, as they make hip belt adjustment such a pain (you can of course remove them). Other concerns include the lack of crampon straps, and the way the pack tends to tower behind one hindering upward glances.
These last two facts disqualify this bag from been a genuine expedition bag and limit its use to trekking and scrambling rather than mountaineering and climbing. Admittedly one can use it for those activities at a push, but if you were buying for mainly those functions, it may be worth looking offshore for a bag. (here's a shameless plug for the Macpac Torre)For SA though, this is possibly the Fly recommended bag

Vaude Terkum 65/80 versus the Backpacker Boulder

I like the finishing on the Vaude bag. Not that it is anything special, but it looks a better put together product than the Backpacker ones. Not much though. Neither of these bags are technical ones. They are very much designed solely for walking. I'm in two minds about the Vaude harness system . It is a moulded plastic system, very different from the normal aluminium stays of the Boulder (which is the same as the Thar. It is vastly more adjustable than the Boulder, but at the same time I think that the rigid nature of the frame would either agree or disagree with one. Bottom partition access is marginally better than the Boulder, but otherwise the two bags are much of a muchness. Given the record I've had with backpacker products, I still feel that they have a lot to recommend them and thus would possibly go for the Boulder although I think there seems to be little wrong with the Vaude

Cadac Sunseeker Hike

Well, what a bag. I didn't know it was possible to put more webbing on a bag than TNF did, but, well, it happened. I've had very poor experience with a sunseeker bag in the past, so approached this one with reservation. But, aside from the webbing, it actually looks like an OK bag. The harness system looks good, and the extra buckles for various back lengths are great to see. I'm still too tall for this bag though, so can hardly give a decent comment on the comfort. It does look comfortable though! The build is OK, certainly better than the old products. But that webbing. The side pockets strap on, a good idea poorly executed. At least, should you need to belay, you can cut the webbing off this bag and have 20m to play with! It's a little more technical than the boulder range of gear, and may even be as good an "expedition" bag as the Thar. Some comments on how it performs on the trail would be good.

Karrimor

Sorry to all those Karrimor fans out there, but I really can't abide their packs, especially the crap they peddle here in SA. I know, they are reliable, but the bottom compartment zips burst, the harness (for me) is unbelievably uncomfortable, and they are sinfully ugly. Mo, my great hiking partner, will kill me for this comment, but sorry, given the price of their products and what else is available in SA, don't bother(remember Mo, you had the harness changed!)! Strange, because I had a pair of their boots, which I still rate very highly, and their daypacks are good. Why they can't produce a useful backpack is anyone's guess!
feel abused? think I'm being unfair? want to add your own abuse? mail me at  fly@cheerful.com