Backpack help!!!!!

“So my G/F and I go to buy her very first pack at Galyan's about a week ago.

She tries on about 7 diffrent packs, none fit - or even close to fitting except the Gregory Reality that took major adjusting. Which we also tried with weight.

So we do a pre-hike this weekend (Before our big hike on memorial day weekend) an the pack is all over her no matter what we do.

Sinching it up top doesn't seem to pull it any closer to her back. The waist straps never seem to fit on her hips, if they do they move around too much. As my G/F says it seems just as if "I can't sinch everything down tight enough".

We hiked 1 mile in and 1 mile out. she had to stop once each way because the weight was all on her shoulders. She was miserable - now has bruised hips from the rubbing, bruised shoulders from holding all the weight there and also has strained sore back.

I don't want her first backpacking experience to be a horrible one.

She is about 5'6, 106lbs, tiny frame. Anyone recommend any packs I should look at - or anything to help, period?

(Keep in mind the lady who helped us at Galyans was no novice either).”

“Miss Opie is about the same size as your G/F...She currently uses a Black Bull Jr. It's a older child-young teen external frame pack that is marketed to the Boy Scouts exclusivly. All i can say for it is that it works..and doesn't kill her. I'm thinking of getting her a internal pack just for her soon. So i may have your probs coming”

“yeah, and seeing as how Miss Opie carries her gear as well as most of Opie's, it must be a h@ll of a pack.”

“Hey saltlick,

My wife had the same problem, and we found that the only way for her to feel comfortable wearing a pack was to really LOOSEN the straps from shoulder to pack (you know, the ones that bring the top of the pack close to your back), letting the pack rest at a more distant angle from her shoulders, and putting more weight on the hip belt.

She also had to really tighten the hip belt to just above her hips, and then slide it down to where the weight felt right. Eventually it worked out fine. She's been on 5 day trips with the pack like that, and it's been comfortable.

The one thing is that it sways a little more than mine when she walks, because it's farther out from the middle of her shoulders, so if you're about to do a stream crossing or a ridgeline , you should tighten those two straps up for the time being.”

“I'd agree that you should take a look at "junior" sized packs, which often will say for adolescents or small females. Kelty makes some. Also, if the shop didn't have any of the Lowe Alpine ND (female proportion) version packs, check for those. There are some other brands that have sizes, including XS. Often the XS seem to be the ones on sale, so check out Killer Deals at Northern Mountain Supply on the web. They might have some sizing info to help.”

“i had the same problems when i was trying to find a pack about a month ago. there was always some part of it that wasn't tight enough. she should try the REI Rising Star. i tried on about every women's pack in Galyan's and REI, and some smaller men's packs before i got to this one. EVERYTHING is adjustable...there's even a "ladder suspension system" that lets you set the strap level to the perfect height, so no matter what your torso length is, it fits.”

“Bruised hips in 2 miles? How much weight was she carrying? I always get bruised hips on long trips (more than 2 days). It is part of backpacking.

What Phadrues said.”

“She was carring 27lbs.

This one is tought BTW.

Since she is 106lbs she can't carry nearly as much as me. She has a sleeping bag, sleeping pad, clothes, water, and food for two. Im carring EVERYTHING else. Im at about 40lbs, she is at 27 (We estimated about 10lbs for food for 2 days so I added some weight in her pack for the pre hike). Was this way off? Should we not expect 27lbs from a 106lb female?”

“Didn't Snow Nymph say people eat a pound of food a day?

I don't know Saltylick, I would say get it down to 20 lbs for her first trip. Especially if she bruises easily.”

“10 lbs of food for two days? What are you carrying, frozen steaks or something? 2L bottles of pepsi?

Two pounds of food is probably way more than you'll ever eat, and I know plenty of backpackers that make do with 1lb. Unless that was a typo and you MEANT 1lb of food per day....”

“You know, in hindsight that doesn't make sense.

Last time I went hiking my partner planned the food part so I never knew the weight.

I just came across something in a magazine that said to feed 2 people for 2 days would be roughly 10lbs of food. But that doesn't really make sense does it.

Remember I was just compensating for weight I thought she would carry on the trip.

Damn, Im a newbie. ”

“Wow I really came off like a dick in that post, didn't I?

Sorry about the tone. Anyway, try getting rid of about 4lbs of that food and you'll probably be fine.”

“maybe 10 lbs for food and water”

“Agree on the 20 lb. limit for your wife's first trip. That's about what I arranged for my wife - about 40 for me, 20 for her. She decided she didn't like backpacking, but not because of the weight/pack. Heck, make it 10 or 15 - the point is to get someone to enjoy that first trip so you can have a partner for it in the future.”

“I had read a long time ago that the magic number was 2 pounds of food per person per day but I don't think they were considering dehyrated or freeze dried stuff at all. I know you can get below that without the freeze/Dehydrated stuff anyway.

I weighed my food bag last night for a four night trip for one and it weighs with cook pot, spoon, matches and pepsi can stove at about 4 pounds. And yes I am using some dehydrated stuff. (about half)”

“Oops, I meant girlfriend, not wife. No pressure, though....”

“I'm at 107 lbs right now (winter fat), 4'll". I'm using the Kelty Flight 4500 and love it. I've been carrying 32-36 lbs (winter camping, self sufficient, with 4 lb snowshoes). The Flight feels great. Last year I tried the Mountainsmith Chimera, but the shoulders were digging in with 30+ lbs and the straps were being tightened constantly. People who carry 20-25 lbs love that pack, but I can only use it for dayhiking. The Flight is comfortable, but I've only used it on 4 backpacks so far this year, (3 of them in snow, and 1 in the desert carrying 10 lb extra water).

When putting the pack on, loosen all the straps. Tighten the hip belt first, then the side straps that pull the pack to the hip belt. I have a belly ring, so the belt sits just below the ring so it doesn't get irritated. Tighten the shoulder straps, then the straps at the shoulders to the top of pack, then the sternum strap.

I eat 1 lb/day of food, but SnowDude eats 1.5 lbs. It depends on the person.

Once I carried 49 lbs over a 12K pass, and couldn't put the pack on the next day. Had to play girl so the ranger let us stay a second day (it was a one day limit at that day).

Keep her pack light, and make the trip enjoyable for her. My first trip was memorable and I knew from that time I wanted to be in the mountains, (even though I got AMS ... had to give up smoking too).”

“40 + 27 = 67 pounds

How many day's are yall out for?!?!

If it's just an overnighter, you need to look back through your gear.
Something is VERY heavy!”

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“Another thought. It really doesn't matter how tall she is, it is her torso length that determines whether her pack will fit or not. It is measured from the bump in the back of her neck down her spine to the top of her pelvic girdle. The pack that you look at should have a torso length measurement on it. Good luck”

“Opie, is that TownDawg's new gig?”

“Good call Tango.”

“Saltlick,

Find a likely candidate pack, and beg, borrow, or rent one for a weekend. Try before you buy if at all possible. I have lots of friends who purchased the 'perfect' pack, only to sell it at a loss (usually a BIG loss) after the weight/trail monster appeared....”

“Consider a women's pack. I got my fiance a Dana Design Glacier. I think the pack weighs about 5 lbs. and has a hip belt designed specifically for women's hips. I think it's around 5000 ci. I think I've loaded it up to about 40 lbs. before tho I'm sure it got lightened along the way :)”

“How much food to take depends on a lot of factors. One is how much weight you are willing to lose, or want to lose. I like math, so I used a mathematical formula to compute my calorie expenditures and possible weight loss for a 14 day trip. I computed the amount of food to take and my approximate weight loss. It worked out to be very close.

One formula to use is BMR (base metabolic rate) times AM (activity modifier).

One table for activity modifiers goes like this:

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job
Or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)

1.9 is a good modifier for backpackers. 2.0 might be better for someone who is really hauling a$$ over mountainous terrain.

The formula for BMR is:

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Note: 1 inch = 2.54 cm.
1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs.

I couldn't find a web site that would compute it for me.”

“Using my calculator, I have simplified (and tested) the formulas:

Backpacking Calorie Consumption per day is:
Men: 125 + (11.83 X wt in pounds) + (24.13 X ht in inches) - (12.92 X age in years)
Women: 1244 + (8.29 X wt in pounds) + (8.69X ht in inches) - (8.93 X age in years)”

“The other things to consider are. For every 3500 calories you burn that you don't consume, you lose one pound.

Most backpacking foods average around 100 calories per ounce. High fat items yield a lot more calories. Low fat items yield less. Dried fruit often gives you about 80 calories per ounce.”

“ GOOD GOD, PEDXING

And I thought I was over-analytical.

I guess the unexamined weight is not worth losing, eh?”

“By way of illustration. Saltlick's gf is 5'6 (66 inches) 106lbs. Lets say she is 25. For full days of backpacking, she would need 2472 calories per day.

The computation would be 1244 + 878(8.29 X 120 pounds) + 573(8.69X 66 inches) - 223(8.93 X 25 years)

If you got just over 100 calories per ounce, she would need 24 ounces of food, i.e. 1 1/2 pounds per day to maintain her weight (24 X 103 = 2472). Depending on how well you pack calories into the food you carry, she could do OK on a pound a day for a relatively short backpacking trip (135 calories per ounce X 16oz = 2160 for a deficit of 312 calories per day. At 3500 calories per pound, she would lose almost a pound every 11 days 3500/312=11.218)

See: http://www.atozfitness.com/cgi-bin/report_server/reporter.cgi?a=81&t=template.html
for some examples and a description of this and an alternate formula.”