How does this pack fit look?

I'm sure you will get many personal preference responses with this so I may as well say, when hiking in warmer (60*+) weather, I like some air flow onto my back with space between me and the pack. When in cooler temps, I tend to draw the pack in a bit to help with warmth. Mostly though, it's balancing the pack on your back and how you pack in making it comfortable. As far as "making it fit" try other packs if this one isn't comfortable. I tried and tried to find a pack that fit me AND had the features I wanted in a pack. I finally gave up trying to "make it fit" and spent the money on a Dan McHale custom pack.

Looks good to me. How does it feel after 10 miles with a load? No hot spots or chafing? No weird kinks or cramps in shoulders or lower back? HIKE! :)

… where are the lift straps? Those are (IMHO) an integral part of a good fit.

Eric, No, there are no load lifters on this pack.

Stephen, I had the same problem. I have an 18.5" measurement and can usually wear either a large or medium. (I have a large Osprey, GoLite too.) Well, I got a large. It turns out that Gossamer Gear has them sized slightly large. That is, if you have an intermediate size back, get the medium. I would start with a large at about 20".

According to my records, the pack will slip down about 1-2", till the shoulder straps are about 75 degrees on your shoulders. So, the bends on the stay is likely wrong for your back. This means the lower hipbelt mount will also to push up, into the pad keeper. (Force it if you can, you can get about 1" adjustment out of it. This will also force it's way behind the pad making a fair lumbar pad.) I traded it in for a medium Gorilla.

If the pack is too large, it will be out of balance and hang fairly loosely on your shoulders when you use a hip belt, pulling back and applying pressure on the front of your shoulders. And because of the pivoting, it will press strongly into your lumbar but with little effect on load carrying. The belt appears to fall *just* over your hips, rather than on them. Do you have a pic with the belt in use? (Just to be sure.) I believe the pack is too big for you.

No amount of bending or adjusting can fix a clearly oversize pack. Give Grant or Jonathan a call at Gossamer Gear. Explain the problem when asked. I know it is out of warranty, but they might make an allowance. They are good to deal with. Or, sell the pack and get a new one (medium sized.) They hold value pretty well.

Overall, I'd say it's pretty good, but there are a couple of points that I think may help you a bit:

"I've always had difficulty keeping the pack pulled against my back, and strangely, this got worse as the pack got lighter (I would keep pulling the waist belt and shoulder straps tighter and tighter, but still had trouble keeping the pack from riding down and falling back)."

This is absolutely related to the stay not shaped to the upper bend of your back. This is probably the most common problem I see. The stay simply needs to be bent further towards your back.

"Another thing that doesn't help is that I don't have much of a natural uh, "shelf" for the weight to rest on."

Everyone always focuses on the lower "shelf," but there's also some purchase at the top bend of the stay, on the musculature of your back, to rest on.

"I had to bend it *a lot* to achieve this, to the point that it was difficult to get the stay back in its sleeves."

Perfectly fine and normal. The key here is for the stay to follow the curves of your back.

"I've also attached the belt to the body about 1/2" higher than normal in an attempt to lower the pack a bit."

Yeah, not an ideal situation, but if that's the only place to adjust…

"The result seems to be better, though there is a little pressure in the upper part of my lumbar curve that I don't love."

More on this below, but I think this is mainly due to the location of the bends in the stay, not the amount of bend.

"Here's a pic with the pack loaded up to a light but puffy 13 lbs. What do you think? Any suggestions for further adjustment?"

Here's an annotated pic:

Starting from the bottom of the pack, I dislike when packs extend much beyond the lower edge of the hip belt. I can feel my glutes knock into the pack at certain times which is annoying. Furthermore, I feel like it disrupts the fit of the lumbar region. I assume yours extends so far because of the adjustment you made to where the hip belt is placed.

The lower bend looks like it's placed properly and shaped correctly. The pack fits close and follows your contour.

Going up, the second bend appears to begin too low (notice the gap). I bet the pack would feel much better if you changed the center of the bend about 2-3" higher up.

Finally, the top of the pack is about level (strap attachments & stay), which is good for this style of pack, but I think you could go up a bit (lower the hip belt placement) since when more weight is added it's sure to slump a bit more. Maybe try a 1/2".

A properly fitted pack is a wonderful thing that will make you smile (see annotated pic). I went through a similar process with my HMG Porter. I'd bend the stays, fill the pack with some weight, and take a profile pic. Review & tweak, over and over.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

Looks pretty good to me. Alex's feedback about the middle bend may help you, or that issue may not be a big deal, likely depending on pack weight.

Repost a photo with 20+ pounds and truth will out.

Now that there is a smile, it is fitting nicely ;)

a couple of my packs utilize bent frame sheets as an important part of the suspension. your pack looks pretty good. this video might be helpful. skip to the 4 minute mark to avoid the rambling.

Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to reply!

Here are responses to some of your comments:

Dale
– Just going hiking to see how it works sounds like a good idea, until I remember that I live in Houston, and it is July.

James
– I'm not sure which way you are telling me to force the hipbelt
– "Do you have a pic with the belt in use?" What exactly do you want a picture of? The hipbelt is on and cinched up, with the point of my hipbone at the midline of the the belt width. Does something look off to you?
-Yes, I agree that the pack is too tall. My friend bought a Medium Mariposa after I bought my Gorilla, and when I put it on it is obviously a better starting point. I bought this pack off Gear Swap, not directly from GG. What I need to find is someone who wants to trade the body out for a medium. The pack is a L torso with a S belt, probably not too many buyers for that. I have a trip in < 2 weeks, so no time to get a new pack before then, but I will certainly be looking afterwards.

Alex
– I LOVE the redlined photo! Very instructive. I do need to remember to smile more.
– I will try your several suggestions to see what helps and what doesn't. If I can raise the pack back up off my butt it would be nice.

Dave
-Fair enough. I'll put some more weight in before I make changes.

Thanks again!

"Dale
– Just going hiking to see how it works sounds like a good idea, until I remember that I live in Houston, and it is July."

Wait for sundown, throw 20 pounds in there and go for a nice long walk around the neighborhood with a load of well iced Margaritas in the hydration bladder :) At least you don't have to go uphill! If you run out of gas, call Mrs Parks to come get you.

We're setting heat records here in Seattle, and we DO have hills. Any bike ride from my house ends with a 300' climb back to the barn.

James
– I'm not sure which way you are telling me to force the hipbelt
Well, the pack with 20-25 pounds in it will "settle" onto your back/hips. Mine would eventually slip down to about a 75 degree angle on the shoulder straps (or 15 degrees depending on how you look at it.) This will also drop the stay and bends a LOT.
The belt can be "forced" upwards about an inch or so. Mine eventually did this naturally (after about a week of struggling with it,) but you can remove the belt and push it back on again, using the stretch of the pad-keeper. This will move the velcro somewhat higher, but it will be OK. This will have the effect of shortening the torso length as much as possible…maybe as much as an inch. Also move the SitLite pad to the top of the pack. A triple layer NightLite will also give you a greater contact area in your lumbar area. But, as others have indicated, the stay needs to be rebent to compensate for the new position on your back. These changes worked a lot better for me. I am hoping they will work for you. But, 13 pounds is very light. I would load it up with about 35pounds and put it on, then do some jumping jacks. This will settle everything into place. Adjust as needed, and repeat. THEN take your measuments.

– "Do you have a pic with the belt in use?" What exactly do you want a picture of? The hipbelt is on and cinched up, with the point of my hipbone at the midline of the the belt width. Does something look off to you?
Sorry, I need glasses. I did not see it. Yup. It looks about in the correct position.

-Yes, I agree that the pack is too tall. My friend bought a Medium Mariposa after I bought my Gorilla, and when I put it on it is obviously a better starting point. I bought this pack off Gear Swap, not directly from GG. What I need to find is someone who wants to trade the body out for a medium. The pack is a L torso with a S belt, probably not too many buyers for that. I have a trip in < 2 weeks, so no time to get a new pack before then, but I will certainly be looking afterwards.
OK. Yeah, too big is too big. That version was over-sized and really starts at 20-21" for a torso measurement. The medium went UP to 20". I am guessing you are 18.5-19.5 (I am 18.75) so, like you, I run into size problems a lot.

I will check with Grant, that might have an older medium around…

I've bent this frame stay so much that I now have a bruise/welt on my palm…

I was fairly baffled by this pack. The bottom ends of the stay don't end up against my body, so just bending to match the curve of my back doesn't quite do it. Anyway, I ended up making the curve for the upper part of my back (the convex part of my back) quite a bit longer overall. Now the pack hits my upper back all at once when I pull it forward, which seems like a good sign. The pressure in the upper part of my lower back was resolved by removing my FAK/misc ziploc bag from the water bladder pocket (duh!). Shame, it was such a convenient place. Although it doesn't show in the pic below, I moved the belt back down on the pack body to lift the pack off my glutes, with moderate success (more weight in this pic).

Still there is a line of pressure across my lower back where the bottom of the sit pad is. Moving the pad up so the bottom edge didn't correspond with the bottom edge of the belt helped a little, but some pressure is still there. It is a little annoying at 19lbs, but much better at 15lbs. At 13 lbs, the pack seems like it will stay in place and not slide down like it did before any adjustments.

The pic below is at 19 lbs., about the most I will have on my Wonderland Trail trip with 6 days of food. I still suspect that a medium would be better. Somehow the pack just seems a little mushy down in the lumbar area and it can't distribute the weight out there very well. (Are the bottom ends of the stay wider apart on a large pack than a smaller one?)

There is currently a Medium gorilla on gear swap that I might be able to get before I leave next Sunday, wondering if I should pursue that…

I have a size medium dyneema Gorilla, I don't want to sell it but I would be willing to send it to you to compare with the large if you want. I probably won't use it again until winter so if you like it better than the large you could use it for your Wonderland trip. Message me if you are interested.

I'm in the same boat as you size wise. I have a 19" torso which is in between the med and large. I called GG and asked what they suggest. They said go with the med. When I received it, I was excited and immediately put it on. I didn't have it loaded (I know, I know) and it rode up so high. I knew it would, but it seemed ridiculously high. At that time I thought I should've got the large. Of course, when I loaded it up it fit like a glove.

I guess what I'm saying is to get a medium if you can. Also, I know GG says 25lbs is the upper limit. Every time I load it with 25lbs I start to feel it in my shoulders after about 10 miles. I've found it carries incredibly well from 15-20lbs.

@Stephen, The pack looks like it contours your back really good now, but if it doesn't feel right then move on. Give a size medium a try to see if that changes things. Also, some packs just don't fit & feel good, so you might be in the hunt for a new one. Good luck.

Excuse my delay in responding; I've been out of town for work and was very busy.

Chad, thank you very much for your generous offer to lend me your Medium Gorilla, but at this point I'll just have to take what I have and make do. I know I'll get by – I hiked Torres del Paine with this pack, and while it wasn't perfect, it won't hurt me too bad.

Don, I'm glad you got a recommendation for the medium. Just like you, the average of my measurements was right at 19". I did call GG, but didn't get a strong recommendation either way.

Alex, you may be right. I'll probably try a medium Gorilla at some point, but even if it fits my back well, the straps are really too wide and are tight against the sides of my neck, as some other people have reported. And it would be nice to have something a little lighter, as always…