Pack straps dig into my collarbones after two hours whatever I adjust Gear Question
Frameless 40L, about 9kg loaded. Whatever I do with the load lifters and hip belt, by hour two all the pressure is on a narrow line across my collarbones and I'm shrugging constantly. Torso length is measured and matches the pack's size. Is this a packing problem or the wrong pack for me?
@onebag_ozzy · 4w ago · 3 replies
Packing, most likely, and specifically the shape of the load. A frameless pack transfers weight through its contents, so if the load is soft and slumps there's no column to transfer through and everything lands on your shoulders.
Two changes. Build a virtual frame: foam pad folded flat against the back panel, or your mat rolled into a cylinder around the inside wall, then everything else packed inside that. It sounds fussy and it completely changes how the pack carries.
Then get the dense stuff high and against your back. Food bag and water in the top third, close to your spine, not at the bottom. Frameless packs want a high centre of gravity, which is the opposite of the advice for framed packs, and it's the thing most people get wrong when they switch.
Also, load lifters on a frameless pack do very little. Don't spend time on them.
Reply
Report
@negativesplitz · 4w ago
Mat as a frame plus food at the top made a genuinely enormous difference. Three hours yesterday with no shrugging.
Reply
Report
@dart_doctor · 4w ago
This is why frameless packs get a bad reputation. People load them like a framed pack and conclude the design is bad.
Reply
Report