Alter ego backpacking gear

Hey Will, do you have a page, or a pdf "cut sheet" for your packs that shows all the options, sizings, prices, etc? It's just difficult to get a clear idea of what each bag has, it's options, weights, etc from the blog. The pics and stuff look interesting, but it's tough to get a clear idea in a quick fashion to decide if/what I'd want.

Shoot him an email. He was very quick and thorough with me. I can't wait to take his pack out on the trail. I'll get some pics posted up when I do.

Same as above..answered all my questions completely and quickly. Pretty excited to get my new pack and take it for a test spin in a couple weeks.

I also had the same experience. Fast response time, easy to work with, very reasonable prices in my opinion…I'm really looking forward to trying out my pack when it arrives. I think it'll be exactly what I've been looking for.

There has been a slight price change to 75$ and 80$ with basic custom work so just 10$ more. I'll make a PDF sheet or something like it soon Stevan as soon as I nail down everything so proably in the next couple weeks

edit posted above

Just stopped by Will's place (turns out he's right down the road) to check out the packs. I gotta say, the pictures don't do them justice. They look very, very nice. Will was happy to answer all of my questions and even brought up a few I hadn't thought of beforehand, great guy and super easy to work with.

I ordered an Alter Ego Assault from William earlier this month. The specs were dyneema grid body and bottle pockets, 70D back pocket, silnylon draft tube and a padded hip belt. I also asked for D rings to be sewn to the shoulder straps so I could hang my shaker bottle from it…my trail name is Sir Mix-a-lot for that reason after all. I wanted to see how well thought out this pack was, so I didn't mention that I wanted the bottle pockets to be deep enough to hold a ~2 liter Gatorade bottle and for the hipbelt to fit my too-wide waist. I'm 5'9" and a little over 210 lbs.

I had been wanting a much smaller pack to replace my ULA Catalyst. Right now I'm much more concerned about reducing pack size than pack weight, but this would help me do both.

I got the pack yesterday, but today was the first day I brought it out on the trail for a brisk 6 mile walk.

First the bad. The straps for the shoulder straps slip a little and the cinching system for the roll top could get things tighter for when the pack isn't completely full. I might be able to fix the latter problem by moving where the cord is routed. I'll try that on my next hike. Now onto the good.

On a personal note, I was very happy to find that I could fit all my gear and food for 4 days into the main compartment, ~2 liter Gatorade bottles in both side pockets, and that the hipbelt fit…barely. The total pack weight with food and ~3.5 liters of water was ~20 pounds. I am in the process of losing lots of weight, so I wouldn't have been dismayed if it didn't fit, and I didn't use it today anyway. The shoulder straps seem to fit well. I had one shoulder strap feel like it was about to slide off one of my shoulders, but this happens on every one of my other packs from the ULA Catalyst to my Dana Designs Astralplane, and the Assault has the least shoulder slippage…I think my form is bad or maybe I'm lopsided since this happens no matter the pack or how they are adjusted.

That's all I have for now. I'll take it on a few more day hikes and then for a few days on the PCT later this month.

Thank you for the input eugene I am addressing the compression system as well as shoulder straps in my next round of changes in the next couple of weeks I Am also going to try xpac fabric