WOW, what a thread; my beloved Virga! I have owned no less than four over about as many years and my wife has a brand new one (same as Ians' exactly but a short torso)...and yes, they do come with a "tacky sort of feeling" liner. This serves to protect the backpack and acts as a sort of h2o resistant coating. It does wear off a bit over time but DON'T SCRUB IT! Doing so my cause it to flake, peal or other- let it alone and it will serve you well.

I found the best way to pack is to simply allow your thermarest or pad to create a roll inside then pack within that. I have also had excellent success folding my thermarest short in fourths then using that flat against my back on the inside of the pack- VERY comfy!

The collar is long for sure, BUT, it sure came in handy with an 8 day resupply! The one I sold Brad had been modified from the original owner then sold to me...it was awesome. His wife was a professional seamstress and did all the mods for him. If memory serves, she shortened it to 4" which in my opinion is great provided you are not going to max the pack out or be faced with a big resupply- hence the reason I sold it. For my JMT thru hikes, four and counting, I find I must allow for at least a six day resupply AND a Sierra approved bear canister which sucks but keeps bears alive.

My vote is to try it, I think you will become a convert. Not to knock any other brands but I have tried a bunch and keep coming back to the Virga's simplicity and amazing shoulder harness/straps--second to none in comfort and carrying ability for a sub 2 pound pack. The web belt is a plus if you scramble at all or hike the Sierra where you are either hiking up or down...a lot! Otherwise, I would axe that and save the weight.

I am going to try an MLD Zip to shave off a few more ounces this next hike 2010 but still have some reservations as I know how well the Virga lasts, carries and holds all my junk (about 13 pounds with 3 day food/fuel and 1 liter of water). Also, you may want to use a pack liner from GossamerGear or BPL which would make that "sticky" sensatiion null.

post again if you want more...

couch

Edited by onthecouchagain on 12/25/2009 22:23:48 MST.

Thanks Dave, I'll give everything a try, and will make sure to do zero scrubbing. :-D

I like the exra extension of the top collar. When you use a bear vault or some sort of bear canister, the collar is perfect to make it all fit in.

The inside of my pack is not sticky.

I can't remember if my Virga is sticky inside or not, but I use a trash compactor bag as a liner and it is decidedly not sticky on the inside. You might give that a try.

My Virga has never been sticky but a few of my packs have had a tacky feel to them. I just figured it was the urethane coating.

I actually like the longer extension collar. It helps when you need a little extra room at the beginning of a longer or cold weather hike.

To add - I do believe that the longer extension collar is the result of the lack of a top pocket - it permits one to roll up a lot of the fabric and prevent leaking from standing water in the rain.

I found that the long collar made finding your gear inside the sack much harder. That, plus the fairly dark fabric color made the sack into a dark cave.

However, when I resupplied with 7 days food, I was very grateful for the long collar as it allowed the supplies to fit in easily.

If I manage to get my base weight and volume down, the long collar might become more of an issue of inconvenience and frustration.

When I did rough calculations of the pack volume, to get the claimed 3800 cu.in. capacity, I had to include the long collar in the calculation.

I don't have enough foam peanuts to do the weighing thing. I am sure that the manufacturer would use all the available interior volume to use in stating the advertised capacity.

I really liked the pack this summer. But for early spring, I may need a capacity of 4500 cubes.