Philosophical questions about moving towards UL

Thanks for the responses, fellas. :)

Sorry….lost sight of the thread question. I carry my tents strapped on top, then loop the bag drawstring over my umbrella handle, umbrella is in side pocket, that way if the tent slips off or to the side it's attached. I carry the tent on top cause if it rains and I want to set it up PDQ I can without exposing the insides of my pack.

Heck yeah. I like keeping the tent outside of the pack for that reason. I use a tiny plastic s-biner to clip the drawstring of the stuffsack (gasp a stuffsack and a biner) to somewhere on my pack in case it takes a dive. Thanks for confirmation!

GG Kumo just arrived and I threw my whole load into it. I think this frameless setup will work well for me. I can’t wait to try it on the trail!

Great Matthew. I hope you waited for the 20% markdowns GG unveiled on Wed. Looks like a nice pack.

It turns out I made an error about my baseweight.

I loaded up my new pack (with a bunch food and water too) and took it to REI and hung it on their scale: 15.0 pounds.

I didn’t believe the weight so I came home and broke out the spreadsheet I never finished and their scale was correct. Now that I have weighed everything carefully to the gram I realize my baseweight is at 8.26 pounds.

I’m a lot lighter than I thought! :)

I took the new pack out for a hike this weekend with a full two-night backpacking load minus about 2 pounds. I found it extremely comfortable and never felt the need to use the hipbelt.

I’m used to packing my food at the top of the pack but that creates a feeling that the pack is pulling away from my shoulders in this pack. I’m finding it much more comfortable with food riding against the my back in the higher lumbar region.

I’m finding the Kumo much more comfortable without the sitpad in place.

Not that it makes much difference with only two days of food but on longer trips I put the good for that day in a ziplock on the top of my pack.  The rest of the food stays near the bottom of a pack usually in a bear can as they seem to be required where I do long trips.

Mathew, Yeah the Kumo is a good pack. I have an older Murmur that is identical except for fabric weights (2012.) I actually prefer a 3 panel foam pad stuffed into the back of the pack (also doubles as a torso sleeping pad.) It helps support >10# loads. It doesn’t seem to help that much with <10 pounds, though. Each layer added (I have used up to five) adds about 4# to the maximum load. At about 4-5 layers it bottoms out (about 2″ of pad.) The pivot effect of moving the load back, away from your shoulders/back, falls even with the increased load carrying capacity the extra stiffness adds, though.

I agree, heavy weights on the top of the bag tend to force the pack down(weight) and back(pivoting.) This can lead to sore shoulders, a sore lower back and an inefficient carry. With about 15# and no pad to stiffen the load or belt to carry weight, the pulling gets bad with that pack. Higher weights (up to about 20 pounds) it gets really bothersome. Try picking up your pack at about 3-4″ along the shoulder straps, about where it rides on your shoulders. You’ll see the pivot effect in action as it tries to balance itself. The current Kumo and older Murmur have similar problems with this making the pack suitable for <20 pound loads even with the waist strap. With a pad frame it can go up to 25# and still be comfortable, though. Just my thoughts…

Along with the weight and lack of any framing, you have to be very careful loading gear to prevent pack collapse (this is what you are experiencing.)