Load Carrying Capacity: Frameless vs. Framed

"Is your dad the landlord of my used bookstore in Maine?"

I assume that's Twice Sold Tales?

Yup, Doug, that's Twice-Sold Tales, still struggling to sell used books in the heart of Farmington after 21 years. Have you been in? We can make that rhetorical so BPL isn't dragged into promotion of non-related businesses.

Kelly, you'll be hearing from me!

"As far as training IMO there is rarely a better physical substitute better than the real deal… With BPing I'm training any time I'm can carrying my pack."

+1

I pretty much always carry a 15-20 lb pack, without a waist belt, on weekend hikes. When it comes time for a real trip, that weight is not even noticeable, and I can carry up to ~ 25 without a waist belt for full days comfortably. Even a little more is fine for the first few days until the food supply shrinks. It's not something I could have duplicated in the weight room. (When I was younger and stronger, but not as used to carrying a pack, my upper torso would complain under that same weight.)

Thanks in large part to this group's influence, most of my current packs are unframed, and some don't even have a waist belt. As I've gotten used to walking without a waist belt, it's become my habit to leave it unfastened even when I'm wearing a pack that has one, unless I need it. My body can move a little more freely, and my digestive system is generally happier without something fastened tight around my waist.

Like some others, I took the key question here to be about shoulder vs hip weight-bearing, but the frame question is germane. If I'm going to carry the weight on my shoulders, a frame is unnecessary – good packing can give a pack the requisite structure, and when the pack starts to empty out, it no longer matters. But in my experience, a pack with a robust hip belt that lacks a rigid connection between the two (generally associated with some type of framing) is like a bicycle without a chain – there has to be a strong connection between the pack and the hip belt or else there's no way to transfer the weight.

Cheers,

Bill S.

No

As someone that used to have traps galore, working out shrugs with 500+ lbs, the idea that it is related to muscle strength is not correct.

A bouncing pack on your traps, makes them ache. There is a sensitive pressure point there.
Pinching a trap will disable a person and put them on knees.

Like most, i found under 15 ok frameless. Above that, really kidding self, the framed light pack ALWAYS more comfortable, because less wt on shoulders.