Vapor Trail Fit?

The fit you're describing sounds like a pack that's too small for you. Remember, the load lifter straps are to lift the load OFF your shoulder straps, not too lift the load UP to your shoulders. If they're sloping down from your shoulders to the pack, they're not working. This would also explain why the hip belt is riding too high. There's an explanation of pack fitting here

http://www.jandd.com/Technotes/technotes_Packfitting.asp

On the large, it sounds like the shoulder straps may have been a bit too loose, hence the pack was hanging away from your torso. When you loosen the load lifter straps all the way and tighten the shoulder straps straps, the load lifter attachment point should slope up above your shoulders. Tighten these gently to pull the pack in towards your body. Tighten a bit more to decrease the load on your shoulders and increase the load on your hips.

Using this information for fitting, you may find the straps rub less on your neck. Where the straps join the pack in a V should be lower than your neck line, about the level of the spine of scapula (shoulder blades). By the time they get to your neck they should be widely separated enough to not rub.

A GOOD salesperson should be able to sell you the correct size pack, and fit the pack properly for you. Of course it's a lot harder to find a good salesperson than a good pack!

Of course there is always the possibility that the Vapor Trail doesn't fit you, in which case nothing you do will really help.

Kyle, the things you're saying all kind of work against each other. If you bought this from a shop and were "fitted" for it, then they screwed up. If it's something you bought online, well, let's see what we can do.

Here's an at-home exercise for y'all- standing normally, put your hands on your hips. If you slide your hands up just a bit, you should be able to push in over the top of your iliac crest. When you do that, try pushing down. Your hands can't move, right? That's what you're ultimately trying to do with a pack frame and hipbelt– transfer the weight of your pack to your skeletal system. Keeping this in mind,

Before you put the pack on, make sure your load lifters are loose. When you get the loaded pack on your back, the first thing you need to do is position the hipbelt so that the middle/top third of the hipbelt is sitting right on that iliac crest. That's your foundation, that's where you're measuring from. Next, cinch down the shoulder straps snugly. Last, cinch down the load lifters. If the pack fits, then you should have about 1.5 inch of wrap from the top of your shoulder down your back. It sounds like you know, but then you'd want for the load lifters to rise from your shoulder to pack at 30-60 degrees. If that's not roughly what you see, with the hipbelt positioned as above, then the pack pretty much doesn't fit. Some smaller frames/packs will have load lifters with pretty minimal rise, but you should have more…

There's definitely a chance the pack doesn't fit–but it sounds to me like you first need to really ascertain your "for real" torso length. If you've got someone who can measure you, have them measure from the top of that iliac crest to your 7th cervical vertebrae–if you tilt your head forward, there should be a bit of a bump at the base of your neck–that's your target.

If you want to call me at work, I'd be happy to talk you through it, too.

Good luck!
Brad

I tried on the med and the large (although not with my own gear packed in them) today, and honestly neither seems to fit. I got measured again, this time at 18". On the medium the load lifters are way too low, and on the large the shoulder straps are even with my neck, causing them to rub. I will probably call about the Circuit in the morning.

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