Looking for a good expedition pack

[S Long]

I am in the market for a good, comfortable pack for week plus trips with climbing gear (rope, trad rack, alpine rack, avalanche gear, etc.). I have looked at Mystery Ranch, McHale, and Cilogear. I would like to be able to handle loads up to about 70 pounds as comfortably as possible. The weight of the pack is kinda secondary to comfort. That being said, if I can cut four pounds off the pack itself, that instantly translates into a lighter load and more comfort. I was looking around and saw someone posted the new Kuiu pack on this forum as a possibility for heavier loads. I was thinking that it looked pretty intriguing. With the carbon fiber Icon frame and maybe a custom pack bag made by Chris Zimmer or another talented person I could conceivably have an awesome pack at a pretty light weight. Does anyone have any thoughts on a pack that would be ideal for my uses?

[wander lust]

I don't have any experience with the mentioned producers, but I love my Aarn Pack.

The frame and details are brilliant. you might want to take a look at his Stronglite Packs.

http://www.aarnusa.com/pack_loadlimo.htm

maybe the load limo could work for you. the packs also work pretty good without the front pockets.

on the other hand, a lot of people here swear by mchale: excellent custom work, you choose what you want, might be expensive though.

[rOg w]

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[David Ure]

Any MR with the NICE frame is going to easily carry those loads. Although the frame is a bit heavy, you can add a number of different pack bags to it to great the volume you need.

[Steve Thompson]

I like McHale and though pricey, suggest you give Dan a call. If you are in the Seattle area you can pay him a visit for fitting and getting a "test" pack. If not you can do it by mail.

As part of his process you'll drop a deposit (all or maybe only part of it non refundable if you don't buy) and he'll send you a "test" pack to try out so you can see if what he has to offer will meet your needs.

Me, I have 2 of Dan's packs. Both packs have his "bayonet" system which adds 6-8" of frame above the shoulders to steady/handle big loads.

A 20 year old Inex, weighs 8 pounds and holds enough gear for just about anything. I used it as a family sherpa, carrying gear for me, wife, and 2 kids on weekend long hikes (used just about all its volume), 2 week solo hikes (used about 1/2 its volume) and myriad hikes with the Boy Scouts where I was the responsible trek leader (used about 2/3 its volume). The heaviest load I carried was 80lbs. The load was heavy but the pack carried it well. No chafing, no sore hips or shoulders, no pain at all. Just a grunt.

And a 5 year old Sarc-chasm. Gotta love the name. This pack is maybe 50% of the volume of the Inex. I've never used the bayonets on this pack. Weighs 3lbs no bayonets/lid, maybe 4 with. Heaviest load carried on a 10 day Grand Canyon trek is 55lbs. The pack easily handled the load.

The strength of a McHale pack is three-fold. First is the frame. Dan uses a real frame that is strong enough to carry big loads, and is stiff enough to balance the load between the hips and shoulders. Second is the hipbelt. Dan's hipbelts are about 5" tall and use 2 buckles. The hipbelt masterfully distributes the pack weight without pinching, chafing. Very comfortable. Third, is the custom fit. There are a few other custom pack builders who I am sure offer the great fit, but don't have the great the frame and hipbelt.

If you want UL, Dan will craft a pack bag of cuben, but I think for 4 pounds you can get a great pack, well suited to your needs. When you go to the mchalepacks website, look for the Sarc packs as I think these as intended will meet the needs you outline.

[Luke Schmidt]

A friend of mine used a Dana Designs pack to carry about 90 pounds if I recall when he was taking doing special treks at Philemont (apparently they took out some steaks wrapped in dry ice or something crazy like that).
Heres another thought. Your pack will probably weight 4-5 pounds minimum. Some of the cheaper name brands are going to be a couple pounds heaver. Before you spend a lot of extra money on a slightly lighter pack I'd wonder if you could save the same amount of weight for the money by lightening up other gear.

[S Long]

I've already got a 2000 Dana Designs Terraplane but was hoping to update a little. I do a lot of longer duration alpine climbing trips (Wind Rivers, Tetons, etc.) and am planning on doing Denali next May/June. Ny climbing and packing gear are pretty dialed in. It seems the vast majority of the weight for the longer trips ends up coming from food and fuel (especially if melting snow for water). There are a few tricks, but nothing outstanding for reducing weight on food and fuel. I need a pack that can handle the extra weight of the consumables as comfortably as possible. Ideally the pack would also collapse into a reasonable summit bag or have a modular "pocket" that converts to a climbing pack. That is a feature I find attractive on the McHale and Cilogear packs.

[Rakesh Malik]

"If you want UL, Dan will craft a pack bag of cuben, but I think for 4 pounds you can get a great pack, well suited to your needs. When you go to the mchalepacks website, look for the Sarc packs as I think these as intended will meet the needs you outline."

I think you mean Dyneema. Dan uses woven Dyneema, at least he did when I got mine. It's a lot lighter than I expected it to be, and it carries a lot better than I thought it would, also — and that was after using one of Dan's demo models for almost six months :)

In addition Dan has great customer service, and he will work with you to help you choose the right features for your needs, too. I went to him with my previous backpack, loaded up with my large format camera gear, and told him this is what I carry, and I need to also carry survival stuff. Then I asked him for his advice, and ended up with a full Dyneema SuperSARC. :)

[Ismail Faruqi]

UL + Sturdy fabrics + Load hauler + Custom fit and needs = Mchale packs.

Frankly I dont see any other options at the present CMIIW

[David Ure]

These are getting some decent reviews:

http://www.kifaru.net/ultralight.html

These are rated to 100lb loads but are considerably lighter than Mchale and MR.

[Paul Hope]

I have always liked the look of:

-Wild Thing's Andinista:
http://www.wildthingsgear.com/wild-things/shop/packs-duffels.html

and

CiloGear's 75L WorkSack:
http://www.cilogear.com/7511.html

another option is BD's Mission
http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/climb/climbing-packs/mission-75-pack

and

Mountain Hardware's South Col:
http://www.mountainhardwear.com/South-Col™-70/OU4058,default,pd.html

All of these are 75L+ and around 4lbs or under.

[Richard Fischel]

both are great packs with a strong following. if you are looking at standard pack materials and not woven/non-woven dyneema the cilogear 75l is going to cost $375- and the mchale is going to cost somewhere between $750 and $850+. that's a pretty big difference in price. you can rationalize and amortize the price over time, but is it really twice the pack. the cilogear will weigh in at 4.8 pounds and the mchale somewhere in the mid to high 5 pound range. both will strip down to a lighter weight. the mchale will provide for the ability to customize your pack while the cilogear is a simple well thought out spartan design.

i have on occasion found myself with 45+ pounds in my 40l worksack. was i running up the mountain; no, but i wasn't suffering either. the 75l has a much beefier suspension and is designed for the work-horse days with 70+ pound loads. it's too bad that both packs are for the most part difficult to find locally to try on.

here's a video of what one guy takes to denali in his cilogear worksack. i'm always amazed at how much gets pulled out of one of thses packs when you watch the cilogear what's in your pack videos.

[Justin Baker]

Have you considered the kirafu ultralights? Expensive, but they seem to have really pulled off a lightweight pack with amazing load carrying ability.
http://www.kifaru.net/KU.html
They have an under 3lbs, 85 liter pack capable of carrying 100+ lbs.

[James holden]

if yr in canada sometime … try the mec alpinelite 85

139$

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Packs/MultiDayExpedition/PRD~5013-822/mec-alpinelite-85.jsp

[David Goodyear]

Seeing the price ranges of the above packs make me glad I made my own. You can get exactly what you want/need if you try a little MYOG. The people on this site are most helpful – give it a shot.

Dave

P.S. check out this link to save weight on fuel for snow melting. I take half the fuel I use to using this setup.

http://straightchuter.com/2009/05/expeditions-stove-set-up/

[David Ure]

Wow. You made a Mchale?

[David Goodyear]

Not quite, but better suited to my needs. My friends call it the "goody bag" :)

Not all of us can thrown down $700 on a pack.

Enjoy,

Dave

[David Ure]

Agreed – $700 is spensie.

Do you have any pics of your MYOG pack and the type of frame used? I think this would be helpful to the OP and being self serving, I would love to see some pics.

[David Goodyear]

It's an external frame, not suited to the OP's alpine hiking needs, but there are many who are designing packs that may fit his purpose in the MYOG forum. My pack can handle 100 lbs, but the design is low-military style to match my hiking needs.

Link:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=48577&skip_to_post=464981#464981

Enjoy,

Dave

[S Long]

I am such a gear nerd that I would LOVE to try all of them, but I think I am going to save my pennies and go with a Mchale.

[Jim Colten]

P.S. check out this link to save weight on fuel for snow melting

Hey Dave,

The "aluminized stoveboard" mentioned in that link … anything more than plywood wrapped in aluminum flashing material?

[David Goodyear]

Sorry Jim,

I just got back from a 4 day trip. I made one out of 1/8 " luan (sp) plywood covered in aluminum and glued to a piece of foam. I bolt the stove to it. On sled trips I made an integrated windscreen that doubles as a hobo stove if I have a gas stove failure. It is riveted to an old cookie sheet and it also serves to protect the MSR – so I can leave it assembled. (less fumbling around without mitts on)

I can send pics if you want as it is hard to describe.

Dave

[Rakesh Malik]

> I am such a gear nerd that I would LOVE to try all of them, but I think I am going to > save my pennies and go with a Mchale.

If you save enough pennies, you can go whole-hog and get a McHale made entirely of Dyneema to save weight. It's probably Dan's most expensive option, but it might be worth considering if you're going for one of his bigger packs, since the weight savings is related to the pack size.

[David Goodyear]

+1 on the Mchale. Saw one in action last weekend. Very nice, well built and tough as nails. If I had an unlimited gear budget, then I would have to have one.

Dave

[Anthony Weston]

If I was going to haul 70 lbs of gear up a mountain, I'd go with
Granite Gear Stratus Flatbed; they sell them on amazon

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