40L Framed Pack Recommendation?

@pboo

“What was the ultimate reason you returned the HMG?”

In my opinion HMG did a terrible job on nearly all the outside pockets.

1) The hip belt pockets are a really bad design. It’s incredibly hard to get anything in/out while the pack is on. Add belt tension and it’s even worse.

2) The front pocket missed the mark for me. It needs to be taller and after attempting to load all my day use gear into it, I immediately missed the mesh. The pocket is rather tight when loaded up and would only hold about 70% of my normal load. Astheticallly, it looked like a low hanging reverse pot-belly. Ugly.

3) The side pockets are decent, but as mentioned in the video, they render the lower side compression useless. In fact, even loose they make returning a water bottle maddening.

I contacted HMG about ordering the same pack with the changes listed above (on my dime). They declined.

In the end, I didn’t feel like a $300 pack should have so many compromises.

SJ

Im going to have to disagree a bit with james about hunting and climbing packs

i cant speak for hunting, but a climbing packs prime consideration is to feel like an extention of your body with perfect balance …

to fall on long moderate multipitch climbs especially in the alpine is exceptionally dangerous … Theres a very good chance youll get hurt and need to be choppered out …. If youre still alive

a climbing pack will sacrifice most other considerations to minimize this risk … Weight is also part of the equation as the more weight u carry the more likely you are to fall

when you put on a proper climbing pack you should easily be able to climb most things below 5.10ish and feel unencumbered …. If you dont then get another pack

many backpacking packs ive tried on, as well as a seek outside pack i recently purchased would not meet this simple test (though many simple daypacks work quite well)

i cant speak to the ohm as ive never tried it … But the HMG can climb for me at least, someone was kind enough to let me do a few laps in it

to put it simply one needs to be able to lead moderates (5.9 ish) at the end of the day with a ~10 lb load (water, food, puffy, emergency gear) in the pack and be fairly confident of not falling

here we are on pitch 11 of a moderate climb this past tuesday

Ask yourself if you can confidently do this in the pack youre looking at …

i make no recommendations on packs as every pack fits and climbs differently for each person

my recommendation is to go to rei and load up every pack with 10-20 lbs and try climbing on their wall they use to test out climbing shoes …. You may not buy a pack from em but it will give u an idea of what a climbing pack should feel like for you

disclosure … Im using a dead bird alpha fl 30 below …. and my sushi diet aint exactly working as you can tell from the flab

;)

That’s quite the rack (talking about the metal).

ito …

thats what happens when youre fat lazy and not too sure if the route will be a bit wet …

in retrospect i should have brought some tricams instead, but my partner hates cleaning em

to be fair for most normal climbers, the route does call for a “full rack” with doubles or triples in certain sizes …

;)