maximpactphotography

This 1 pound, 10 oz friend has become my default carrier for many wilderness trips. The total weight of my setup for a 3 day outing as shown, including solo BearVault canister with Nikon Coolpix camera, food and  c 1.5L water is approx 18 pounds. I find that the belt pockets are not the easiest to open while hiking, and are smaller in capacity than I like- my clear preference is those on my Golite Jam 70- but this is a completely different category of pack.

It has 2 real, aluminum stays which are removable, but weighs about the same as the Jam 70 making it a great choice for using a bear canister—> wonderful for destinations such as the Sierra Nevada, CA where these are often mandatory. The canister can go inside or atop the pack, I really like the Y- yoke at the top which gives good stability. I find that this system is the most comfortable way I have ever seen, so far, for transporting my gear in the backcountry. The side pockets allow replacement of the Smartwater bottle without removing the pack. There is provision for both a mesh hydration reservoir holder and a covered hose port on one side.

Use of cuben fiber makes the pack very usable without a rain cover in many scenarios, especially if using good stuff sacks for internal down items.The price I paid at Nomad Ventures, Temecula, CA was $265. That’s nothing compared to a dialysis machine….

This entry was posted on October 27, 2014 at 7:59 pm and is filed under Photography, Reviews, Travel, Video with tags ARtBus, backpacking, cameras, camping, Sierra Nevada, ultralight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.