Grogory Z Pack vs Osprey Aether 60

“I have a friend who uses the Osprey Ariel 60, she like you carries most of her wait on her hips. She is also not happy with the Osprey. Her words.." over-rated & over-priced".
I have two packs one of which is a Kelty Moraine 3600 CU internal frame backpack. I let her use it two weekends ago, and she has since gone out and bought her own, and loves it.
Question: would the amount of weight you are hauling be too much for your pack? Or is it within the packs weight recommendations?

HTH..”

“I'm pretty light, I have been cutting weight for some time. I think I am around (with my Trek 2#)25ish pounds with a few days of food and water.

I have to make this change since I was diagnosed with 5 herniated disks. I am in rehab now but any weight I put on my shoulders would compress the disks again, so if I want to hike....

I will look into your pack suggestion.”

“That is about what I carry in the kelty, and it is very comfortable..

good luck”

“Thanks I'm not in a hurry since I can't hike for a while. Lots of time for research.”

“I carried an Osprey 75 this past weekend adn liked it - it fit me really well. I'm carrying it to Glacier next week too, with a bigger load so I'll know a lot more after that.

It'll all depend on how it fits your body build - for me, teh Osprey seemed to wrap around really well and it was set up to 'fit' a wide range of torso sizes - maybe that other gal's wasn't set up just right, because mine had a lot of room to adjust and once the guy at REI helped me fine tune it, I could tell a big diff in how it fit.”

“I'm not sure how much you want to spend, but I know Dan McHale's hipbelt can directly load your hips with as much as you dare. The double buckle arrangement cannot fall off and slip down your hips like traditional designs do. He can build the pack to your body dimensions for a true custom fit. When I had trouble with my neck after surgery and had pretty much the same problem you have I called McHale to build me a pack. I couldn't buy a store bought pack that fits this good. Now I cannot use a store bought pack for anything, but carrying light day loads.”

“Thanks Roam. I wonder if I could somehow alter the shoulder straps so they actually attach to the front of the hip belt. Oh yeah, YOU RAT, for going to Glacier!

RichB is he at Mchale.com? If I can get to hike again without popping my discs out any amount would be worth it. (Well almost any amount) Thank you for the lead.
last edited: 8/01/05 8:31:31 PM”

“RichB found the website. Thanks!”

“He is at McHalepacks.com I believe. Some of the lighter packs are less money. You'll have to demo one first which is a good idea anyway.”