2012 Mchale Bump pack

I should have that demo in my hands this week :)

It is the result of the small pack I have been discussing with Dan for a few months and had posted about earlier. Can't wait.

"Are you planning on doing cuben with spectra with your order?"

David,

I am not sure at this point. I have done a lot of backpacking the past 6 weeks or so with the Zero and it has held up. I am still not sure Cuben will hold up over time. The other factor is that I am usually hiking cross country and up/down canyons, so an occasional minor slip is not uncommon. Dan has some special Cuben and is confident in its strength and his construction methods. I suspect the total weight of Cuben versus Dyneema Grid will not be significant and I do want spectra for parts of it. Once I play with the demo, I will discuss the options with Dan, and then most likely go with his recommendation for material. The goal of this pack is not weight, but small volume that can comfortably carry a lot of water. With this size pack I can do a 7 day trip in 3 seasons, but need a real suspension. I like the options of a full McHale belt, a web belt, or no belt. Also his side pockets can hold a 64 oz Gatorade bottle. I have torn up most of my UL packs on brush and rocks and don't want a pack to determine where I can go, I want a small pack that can travel where I want to go.

David,

I am not going to have much time to play with it. Just want to see it in person and make sure the dimensions are what I want. I will take it for a quick day hike and send it back to Dan, because I am leaving on a trip for the rest of the year to wander around the Nevada desert.

Probably won't get the extension collar, but maybe a small summit lid. Probably no lumbar pad. It has a sleeve inside for a sleeping pad. Water pockets and a shoulder pocket, since I often hike in shorts and shirts that have no pockets. I may even skip the mesh in the back. I will have to discuss all of this with Dan. He is really good at pointing out things I may not have thought about.

I did demo a Merke, so I have an idea of the basic layout. I kept that one so long, Dan had to ask me to send it back :)

It appears to be a tall pack with narrow width, given the size. I wonder if that would limit water hauling, expecially hydration bags?

Actually I want the narrow width. I never use hydration bags. With the 1500 cu in Zero I put a liter Platy in each side pocket and sometimes a 2 liter Platy inside, which is a little bulky. My last few desert trips I used four 1 liter Platys, two inside and two outside.

I can carry 128 oz of water in the McHale side pockets, which is a little over 8 lbs at the bottom, so with a tall and narrow pack I can better distribute the rest of the weight.

In 3 seasons my other gear has gotten ridiculously light and small (Tim Marshall quilt, cuben Hexamid, z Packs cuben poncho/ground sheet, torso length foam pad, MB Ex UL vest, Houdini, Capilene 1 bottoms, FAK, and a Fosters Caldera Cone (cone and Esbit fits inside the can) is about all I carry on most trips. Once I get through most of the food and water I have to fluff up the down stuff to fill out the Zero. I did a 4 day trip last week with a base weight a hair over 5 lbs and it included a MB Ex UL jacket, MB down inner pants, and a Neo Air with a full length 1/8" pad. The last day I had to fluff everything up to fill out the pack. I brought a little more stuff than usual because the nighttime lows were 28F. The total pack weight at the beginning was probably around 18-19 lbs, and really too heavy to be comfortable, but the system worked out excellent aside from that.

I mentioned that there was a sleeve inside the pack for a sleeping pad. Dan just told me the sleeve is for the dedicated pad that is included with the pack and trying to force a sleeping pad into it makes things to bulky.

Interesting.

Hello, Gents! Nick – Did you ever get a chance to properly demo the Bump? Do you have your very own by now? I'd love to get your thoughts/impressions on it.

I've contacted Dan about demoing one of the Bumps myself. I'm rather large fellow, 6' 2" and 260 pounds, and Dan was out of long framed Bumps at the time so sent an LBP for me to test in lieu of a Bump.

Initial impressions of the LBP are that the quality and construction are outstanding, but much more… pack than I'm looking for. Like you, I also would like to demo a Merke to at least get a comparison.

What were your impressions of the Merke vs. the Bump?

David – Did you ever pick one up yourself? I'm definitely looking for suggestions/concerns.

Also, I guess Spectra is back in the in-crowd. I am leery of an entire spectra pack as I think it'd be overkill for my purposes. Other than spectra strap backing and bottom, I think I'll stick with cordura for the pack body as the examples on Dan's page show. Haven't totally decided on this though. Will determine when that time comes, but certainly would appreciate any input on fabric choices and pros/cons.

Thanks for the reply!

Counting pennies indeed. One of these days I'll get Dan to make me a full spectra pack. Maybe some panniers too. Gonna need a lot of pennies.