MH Thruway 50 (out of the box)
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Looks like this pack will be hitting stores soon. I'll be testing this pack extensively over the next ~5+ months, and along with another long established UL frameless pack from major manufacturer doing a review which will discuss in depth not only the features and load carrying ability of each pack, but why each pack has the load carrying ability and characteristics is does. Which aspect(s) of each pack fails first when loaded beyond capacity, things like that.
The jury will be out on that for months, so what follows is the basic numbers and some descriptive photos to better guide any potential early adopters.
First weight. My size large is 1 lb 15.4 oz for the pack, and a further 12.8 oz for the folding foam pad which comes stock.
The pack is between 10 and 11" wide, around 8" deep, and 37" from the bottom of the backpad to the top of the roll top.
Torso length. The issue of proper torso length, with and without load lifters, will be addressed in depth in the article. There's a little more than an inch of up-down adjustment with the velcro hipbelt attachment, under the lumbar pad.
The lumber pad is a thinish bit of dense foam atop a piece of plastic sheet. The upper back pad is thick 3D mesh over a corrugated plastic sheet.
The stock foam pad is a pragmatic 20" by 48".
The joints are cut down and sewn to facilitate low-profile folding. It's a very dense, rubbery closed cell foam, which explains the hefty weight for the thickness.
Fortunately you can fold it so the creepy, abstract bird eyes are not visible.
Using another pad will be tricky, as most won't be long enough. The zipper above the load lifters is a waterproof #5, and leads to an inside compartment.
Upon which LNT guidelines are printed.
Shoulder straps are thick, very dense foam. Against the skin is a light, wicking fabric.
The stock belt is very thin. I'll be testing the pack with both this one and the thicker Alpine belt MH offers.
Ice axe loops. I reckon the blue ones wouldn't work on many axes, and I'm not sure why there are two.
The bottom fabric sure feels like Dimension Polyant DX40, or something darn close. Should be burly. The body of the pack (dark blue) is a densely woven 100D nylon which seems like it should be a good balance between burl and lightness.
The compound back pocket on the Thruway looks fantastic. There are no dividers between the side pockets (easily reachable with pack on) and the back pocket which is quite deep. My experience building packs with similar features has shown this to be a very versatile design. An interesting addition here are the secondary, upper side pockets, also stretch mesh. They are totally open at the bottom, so presumably meant to help hold things like poles and fishing rods. The bottom compressions strap does seem to close them off, so they could likely be pressed into service to hold rain gear and the like.
The roll top buckles fit together, and the straps for the roll top can be buckled together across the back of the pack.
I'll be interested in seeing how this performs in the field. The feature set and materials are certainly to my liking.
My ThruWay 50 doesn't have the Owl eyes on the pad…maybe they thought people would get freaked out…
Here is it next to my ULA Circuit for comparison. BTW is was 34 oz. out of the box with everything (20"x48" CFF mat = 4 oz., Waffle plastic backpanel insert = 1.45, Waist Belt = 3.63 oz.). Looks pretty cool and looking forward to trying it out for a NET thru in a few weeks or so.
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