New McHale Pack

I’m with you on the fabric issue; that pack is made from X51, which is only slightly heavier than lead…but I consider my packs to be the armor that surrounds all of my other, lighter gear.  Likewise, the suspension in this pack is heavy: 4″-wide conical/tapered belt, wide/thick shoulder straps that are spaced to fit me, and the aforementioned twin stays and poly sheet, all of which are removable.  The ounces add up, but the effect is that I can carry anywhere between fifteen and fifty pounds without a huge difference in felt weight.  If I recall correctly, at fully-stripped weight the bag is around 2.5 pounds…but it’s really not as comfortable without any support, even with the lightest of loads.  That’s why I went away from frameless UL packs entirely; they’re simply not worth the pain and effort, for me.  I see some nice ones out there, but the vast majority of them are simply not my bag, baby.  Literally.  After stepping into custom bags I won’t go back to stock models; yeah, it’s an expense, but it’s an expense that – as you said – I only have to endure once.

So does your pack have internal back padding? I really like the design of this. The hip belt also looks lovely on that. And are you using this pack year round as well?

It does, yes; there’s a foam sheet that extends over the entirety of the main back panel.  1/4″ high-density, which doesn’t sound like a lot until you realize that the pack fits my back curvature exactly…so any padding is more than enough.

The hip belt is, indeed, lovely.  It’s also 1/4″ high-density…and it’s conically tapered to sit correctly on top of my hip crest.  Straight and/or narrow belts never fit me well, so John built this one to my specs and measurements.  It’s also removable in case I need to strip this down for summit use, or in case I need a different belt for one reason or another.

I do use it year-round.  I try not to be on hard trails on the hottest days, though.