Weight limit on a Gossamer Gear G5

Based upon 1st-hand experience, I don’t think that you will damage the pack. I didn’t find it that comfortable at 25lbs – but then, perhaps i’m just a wimp. 20lbs was fine for me though.

for more info, see my comments in the LIGHTTITUDE awards thread on the G5.

More power to you, but I couldn’t do it. That’s a lot of weight for little structural support. If you were canning all that weight early in the trip, and only had to carry more than 20 for a day or 2, I might reconsider.

Dr. J, not sure if who you were replying to. If to me, then you’re right. I did it (24lbs ONCE!!!), but would never do it again (see my comments in the Lightitude Awards on G5). Starting w/20lbs & losing ~1.5lbs a day (food) is a better way to go. The 20lbs is typically at least 7.5lbs of food, so gettin’ rather light by the end of the 5day trek. Also I typically carry 2L of water & the full amt is counted in the starting pack wt. A more normal starting wt for me is 12-15lb – shorter treks or just load up with extra water when day hiking to maintain some conditioning.

My base weight will be about 13 pounds. The rest of the weight will be 2 pounds of water (max) and food. Rethinking our food usage, we’re going to be getting through about 3+ pounds of food a day so I should be down to about 20 pounds by the third day. I may load up the pack this weekend to see how it feels.