Bask Light 69 Pack Review

[Stephanie Jordan]

Companion forum thread to:

Bask Light 69 Pack Review

[Roman Vazhnov]

Awesome! Roger, thank you for the review.

[Ken Thompson]

No pictures of the shoulder straps and backside?

Going to tell people how to get one?

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Hmmm… a pack that size needs vertical stays of some type. I've never had a framesheet-only pack that could properly transfer weight to a hip belt once the load went over 10 kg. Which is why I installed 1" flat aluminum stays (that I precurved) into a 5 liter Camelbak pack.

Thanks for the review Roger. Seems like a decently made pack that held up to many kilometers of hiking. I notice the hipbelt is "split" where it wraps around the iliac crest of the pelvis. I have always liked that design for its comfort. I first saw it on a British pack.

[Roman Vazhnov]

As for ordering – there is some Canada distributor on the contacts page of BASKcompany website – http://baskcompany.ru/info/contacty/ May be they can help.

[Yaroslav Istomin]

Bask is not a lightweight company. It is strange to see it at this site. Rather, russian lightpackers get a things like that pack when they can`t buy something else in US or Europe. We have the only beautiful, modern and big outdoor manufacturer – Sivera (well, maybe another is RedFox – second place). And Bask is just a company with an ordinary and a hard product line. Regards from Moscow ,)

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Roman

Thanks for the photo and the URL.

Cheers

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Eric

I agree with you that stays seem to be needed in many cases. That's why I tried this pack out rather cautiously at first: to see how it went with a good load but no stays.

Technically, it seems to me that what matters is not the stays themselves, but the rigidity of the pack when filled up. Does the shape slump? This was well covered by Ryan J in his two articles on the structure and load carrying of frameless packs:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/00179.html
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/00194.html

The first trip, in the Australian Alps, suggested that the pack was stiff enough with just the foam frame sheet and no stays. The European trip confirmed this for me, at least up to about 12 kg load.

Yes, the split hipbelt worked fine.

Cheers

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Yaroslav

Well, Bask contacted me, and their web site has an English version.
I had not heard of Sivera until now, and their web site is only in Russian.
Red Fox – interesting, but they also sell a lot of other brands? Some English pages.

We would love to hear more about Russian gear companies.

Cheers

[Roman Vazhnov]

Sivera has some very interesting and top quality products in their line (i have pointed to pair of them on BPL already). But it is very small company (say almost semi-cottage) and sometimes it is hard to buy what you want even here in Russia. And they don't want to sell abroad (at least today).
Red Fox has a couple of interesting products for adventure racing and may be for alpine climbing (as i can see from lightweight perspective).
As for this BASK pack – there is no pack of such volume to match its price/quality relationship‎ here in Russia.

[Tad Englund]

Roger, thanks for the review- I really enjoyed the pictures (is Sue still sporting the MacPac?)

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Tad

> is Sue still sporting the MacPac?
Sigh. Yes. One day, maybe.

What it lacks in the light-weight class, it makes up for in the comfort class. Sue still has not found a pack which is as comfortable for her.
Note for all: most packs are designed by males for males, but the female shape is DIFFERENT. (OK, long live the difference!)

Cheers

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Roman

I spent some time looking at the web sites for all three. Strange: I could not find any stoves or any cooking gear listed. Almost everything else, but neither stoves nor pots.
Where do you buy stoves and pots in Russia?

Cheers

[Roman Vazhnov]

We buy stoves in local stores or through the Internet. But they all are from foreign manufacturers, we have no russian stove makers, except for big wood stoves – for backpacking in large groups.
As for cooking pots – there are some from russian brands (for example this), but i think they all are from China catalogues. Once again-except for big pots – for backpacking in large groups :)

[Andy Jarman]

Guys, I'm trying to work less scenery please.

[Roger Caffin]

> Guys, I'm trying to work less scenery please.
Gee – I'm just trying to help you reset your priorities upwards…

Cheers

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Roman

Don't feel too bad about that – there are NO American stove manufacturers either (apart from alcohol stoves from cottage companies). And no American pot mfrs either. Yep, they are all made in Asia.

I could be wrong about aluminium pots, but I don't think so. I am not counting beer cans – I don't know where they are made. :-)

Cheers

[Author]

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