Starting out?

Hi,

I would appreciate some help with this one please.

A friend leant me his 2010 Golite Jam Medium for a hillwalk. The pack weighed around 10kg when laden. I was wearing a baselayer, a  100 fleece and a cascada jacket. My back length is 45cm.

Golite suggest:  44.5cm to 49.5cm = MEDIUM; 49.4cm-54.5cm = LARGE. There is no small size.

Below is a description of how I adjust the MEDIUM pack for me:

I start by tightening the hip belt so that weight is placed there. I have the shoulder straps fairly loose and the pack is leaning away from my back. I now pull shoulder straps so that the pack moves towards my upper back and is no longer leaning away from it. However I find when I do this last adjustment that weight is removed from the hip belt and moved to the shoulder straps. My ideal soultion would be for the weight to be placed on the hip belt and the pack resting close to my back so that it feels snug and moves with me.

I will sometimes want to wear only a  baselayer in warmer weather. There is no retailer of Golite Jam in Aberdeen where I live, so I can't try a large on before I buy.

My question is, why is the above happening and can you suggest anything ?

Thanks, Alastair

either - the back length is too short

or, you haven't packed the pack in a way where it has some vertical rigidity, so it's folding/shortening between hip and shoulder.

I either use a thermarest folded into 1/4s and slightly reinflated as a back panel.  Or I use a karrimat as a tube frame - eveything else goes down the tube. (I use both in my Pinnacle in winter)

I now use a homemade frame for heavier loads.

 10kg is top end weight for an unframed Jam IMO

You certainly should be able to get the weight on your hips and the sack pulled tight into your back, and it sounds like you're going about doing it the right way. 

Might well just not fit you I'm afraid.

I can't help you with precisely why that should be but basically the same thing happens to me with an awful lot of rucksacks. When I can get the length all right (non universal) and tighten the hip belt, I can very often just shrug the hip belt off with no effort at all.

My vague suspicion in my case is down to having very thin shoulders/waist. 

I'm certainly far from convinced if extra back length is likely to help. A couple of years back I had some shop staff spending some time adjusting the length on a talon to try and avoid this. Didn't work at all

(I have now got some ruckascks which do fit me properly so happy. Which is why I'm so obessesive about telling people to try rucksacks on for fit!).

I'd certainly be intrigued to know if anyone does know quite what causes this, but guess maybe quite variable causes. Oh well.

It sounds as if it was too shorttoo me then.

Personally I'd go for too long over too short as I carry most weight on my hips (even with daypacks) .

No, no. In my case at least its something else.

The actual ruckascks which did turn out to fit me - some of the lighter OMM things as it happens - have relatively short back lengths as such things go. Certainly < than a fully adjusted talon and some of the other bits I've tried.

Actually I've done it with a long back length one of the Golite running sacs too, as with the medium.

Its not so crazy this you know - rather optimistic to expect the fit of a 3D thing like a rucksack to boil down to one measurement

I have actually wondered about wondering into someone like Alguire Alpine just to ask what my 'problem' actually is

This is a reply from my friend outside the forum :

"My back measures 49.5cms and the medium Jam just fits me. A Large would be too long for you.

Because the Jam doesn't have top tension/load lifter straps it's impossible to get all the weight on the hips without it leaning away from your back a little. I usually split the load between the shoulders and hips with the Jam. The Pinnacle has top tension straps and that's why GoLite give the maximum weight it can carry as 18kg while for the Jam, which has the same hipbelt, it's 14kg.

Also, whether there are top tension straps or not a frameless pack like the Jam or Pinnacle always needs to be packed more carefully than a pack with a frame as the back can distort if packed badly. The advantage is the light weight of course."

Looks like I'll just stick with the medium Jam, thanks for your help, Alastair

Martin Carpenter wrote (see)

No, no. In my case at least its something else.

what my 'problem' actually is

Maybe

What I've found with rucksacks which are simply too short (quite a few of them, even if not by much) is that its been obvious really quite quickly that the hip belt isn't in the right position.

Why most  adjustable/back length option things don't fit is more mysterious.  Some don't hold my waist while some simply lever off the top of my back instead.