I've only carried it filled above the straps once and that was when I was, interestingly enough, portering a students gear on the ULBC trip.

It carried fine, in my opinion, but I'd still like to see more padded straps, belt, and beefier stays.

One thing I plan to do in the future is compress the sides before packing so the load is slimmer and taller. I noticed the pack carried better when I was portering due to the height of the load, even though it was heavier.

This is a photo of me on the ULBC trip without the pack being near full (photo copyright Ryan Jordan):

Edited by simplespirit on 10/20/2011 10:47:14 MDT.

"I consider my gearlist to be fairly low volume and dialed down, and I can fit it inside a ULA Ohm along with up to 15 days of food (done this twice)."

+1

I haven't packed 15 days' worth yet, but I've packed 11 days' of food in my OHM with room for at least a couple more days of food, without using the extension collar. This is for 3 season Sierra packing with a base weight hovering between 9.3 and 10#, depending on clothing carried. I would agree with Dan that maybe a good hard look at your gear might yield the room you need to go with a much lighter base weight and, therefore, a lighter pack. Careful selection and packing of food can also cut down on both volume and weight of food, one area where Mike C and I are on the same page. ;)

I really like the framed GoLite packs. Here are actual weights of two samples.

GoLite Quest M green 1406g
GoLite Odyssey M gray/black 1615g

Tom,
Do you have any further critiques for the gear list that I posted? How about what kinds of foods you're packing to save space?

"Tom,
Do you have any further critiques for the gear list that I posted? How about what kinds of foods you're packing to save space"

Art,

I missed your gear list post. My bad. Some thoughts: Pad-maybe a Neoair, which is much less bulky and lighter, paired with a GG thinlite, or a Montbell 36" inflatable(less bulky and lighter)also paired with a GG Thinlite; sleeping bag-possibly a WM Summerlite or Marmot Hydrogen, to name a couple. You can order the Summerlite with overfill to take it down a few degrees, IIRC. Either of these, augmented by your clothing, would provide a lighter, less bulky sleep system; down jacket-possibly a Montbell Alpine Light Parka or UL Down Parka would be lighter and less bulky than a Fugu, which is overkill for 3 season use, IMO; a pair of 1 liter soda bottles would be lighter than a Camelback, and would fit nicely in the side pockets of your Circuit. If you eliminate the Ridgerest and stow the inflatable sleeping pad inside your pack, you could easily carry your Duomid on top of your pack, freeing up the side pockets for your water bottles. The fly rod could be carried inside the rolled up Duomid on top of your pack if it is not too long, or lashed on the front using the ice ax loop and retainer with a little ingenuity, or even still be carried in the side pocket behind a water bottle.

Food is long discussion that breaks down along the following lines: 1) Cooked or cold food. 2) Type of food that is palatable to you. 3) How much food is sufficient. 4) How the food is packed.

Personally, I no longer cook my food, but do bring a stove when packing with others to satisfy that almost universal craving for hot coffee in the morning. If I'm going solo, I just take a bottle of water to bed and settle for a warm cup in the morning.

I find a broad range of ingredients to be palatable, if not gourmet, and end up taking granola, Nido, coconut, coconut oil, chocolate, various chips, crackers, sesame sticks, nuts, Hammer Perpetuem, and Starbucks Via. I combine these ingredients into breakfast, lunch, and dinner ziplock baggies, and crush all ingredients in order to reduce the volume as much as possible. They can be eaten out of a baggie with a spoon. Crushing the food is very important if you want to get as much food as possible into a relatively small pack.
I aim for ~135 calories/oz and carry just over 19 oz/day for a total of ~2600 calories of carried food. This is supplemented by 3-4# of body fat to provide the ~4200-4400 calories I burn per day on a typical 8 day trip in the Southern Sierra.

I based my earlier post to you on my experience with kit and food as described above, all of which fits in an OHM with room to spare for trips up to 11 days. Based on this I am pretty certain you should be able to fit everything for a 7 day trip in a Circuit with some adjustments to your gear and food. You might consider experimenting with the food first because that alone might do the trick and save you the cost of buying new gear.

Edited by ouzel on 10/20/2011 21:21:22 MDT.

Up until now, I've basically carried energy bars, dehydrated meals, bagels, foil-packed tuna, and dry fruit for my food, and everything has its own packaging that displaces air and doesn't always pack down so well. Changing my food habits to basically bringing bags of ingredients like you do could be a game changer for me. I need to try it. Thanks for posting that info. BTW- what do you do with the hammer perpetuem, nido and starbucks? Do you have a separate bottle for it, or do you just throw it into your normal water bottle? Do you keep the bottle out of your tent at night in case it smells too much like food for bears?

Edited by artsandt on 10/20/2011 21:50:51 MDT.

FWIW, here's what I typically do for food:

Breakfast:
Granola w powdered milk already added in a ziplock + Starbucks VIA
or....
Oats (not instant) with dried fruit, brown sugar, nuts etc (boil for 2 min) + Starbucks VIA

Lunch
I tend to more snack through the day that have a big lunch. So I usually have an energy bar mid morning and mid-afternoon (Larabar's are the best, very few ingrediants, compact, very high calories. They're usually just like dates, cocoa and nuts). Lunch is then maybe hummas (buy it powdered and just add water) on crackers, maybe nutella or almond butter on a whole wheat tortilla. I mostly add a bunch of snacks like pepperoni, chocolate, dried edamame (very good, healthy and high calories) for me to eat as I feel the need.

Dinner
Dinner is tough to do well...easy to do in a mediocre fashion (ie. many of those backpacker pre-packed meals). One dinner I like is some whole wheat penne pasta with dry pesto (ie. basal, dried parmasan cheese etc) and then you add olive oil to that to make it like normal pesto. Add a bit of tuna to that if you want to go luxury. Other dinners I like are homemade chili dehydrated, Idahoan instant mashed potatoes (every though they are terrible for you), fresh fish from a nearby lake stuffed with wild blueberries (did this last month) etc.

Art -

I would agree with others that have suggested that you re-evaluate how you pack your food. I repackage all of my food to reduce air/packaging volume.

Like Tom, I aim for about 2600 cal/day and run a small calorie deficit during a week long trip. I average about 24 oz/day (I don't like the high cal supplements). This works well for me and I never go hungry.

I have taken my MLD Burn (35 litres) on several 6-8 day trips and I'm usually carrying about a 12 pound base (so even easier for you if you have a lighter base weight).

What has helped me save space for food is off-loading my shelter (fly creek ul 1) to the outside compression straps of my pack for the first couple of days. This frees up a lot of pack space. After the food load goes down a little, my tent goes back in the pack. As Tom mentioned, swap out the Ridgerest for a NeoAir to reduce volume and you can offload something else to the compression straps.

Also, don't be afraid to compress your gear.

Here's a couple of pictures that I posted elsewhere on this site that shows an eight day food supply before and after it goes into my Burn (the Fly Creek UL 1 is the orange bag on the right of the picture... not part of the food supply).

Edited by skopeo on 10/21/2011 01:08:09 MDT.

@OP

I'll throw this out there knowing that I might get flack as it's not as light as some other options. But since you already like ULA packs, perhaps consider the ULA Epic. Volume dependent on the dry bag you use. I have used mine with a 35L and up to an 80L (usually using the 65L it came with).

@ Chris

The information you provided on this and one other thread are of interest to me as I am looking seriously at the Porter Pack for longer trips. In a conversation I had with HMG they made mention of their efforts to secure a burlier stay for the pack.

In your opinion is the heavier stay system a necessity or a nice to have feature on a pack designed to carry heavier and higher volume loads?

Does the compression system used produce a comfortable carry when the pack load drops below 15 lbs? For example , the last three days of an extended trip.
Thsnks Gary

I think the beefier stays will be necessary to carry the heavier weights the pack is, at least in part, designed for. I'd say the typical 20-25 lb max loads most BPLers carry are probably ok with the current stays, assuming the pack is properly filled. I found it to carry far better with the load filling the pack to at least the top of the stays.

On the recent ULBC trek, I had a base of about 9 lbs and carried little water. On day 2, Josh Leavitt (of Ruta Locura and formerly of Titanium Goat) and I walked another student out and carried him back to town. We had to break camp, walked 8-9 miles to the TH, drive the student 2 hours to Billings, drive 2 hours back to the TH, and make it at least the same 8-9 miles back in so we could catch up to the rest of the group on day 3. Knowing the task ahead, we hung all of our food except a day's worth of snacks and anything else we wouldn't need in an emergency. I probably had 7-8 pounds in my pack and it carried fine. I also found it to carry fine the last few days with minimal food.

In hindsight though, I'd compress it down some before loading it so that the load is carried closer to the back with a taller but slimmer profile. I feel like this will get the load up near the top of the stays resulting in better transfer to the hip belt. Granted, with < 10 lbs transfer to the hips is not necessary for most men.

Does that help any?

Thanks Chris. Sounds like the pack will suit my needs.

"what do you do with the hammer perpetuem, nido and starbucks? Do you have a separate bottle for it, or do you just throw it into your normal water bottle?"

I use an old 12 oz wide mouth Nalgene bottle for my Via and granola at breakfast, Then for Pereptuem during the day. After I finish my second serving of Perpetuem, typically mid afternoon, I rinse the bottle VERY thoroughly and let it air dry while I am still hiking. That gets it pretty much odor free, as Perpetuem is not very fragrant to begin with. At night, I fill it with water and take it to bed with me. By morning I have a bottle of water at near body temperature for coffee if I am solo, or to reduce fuel usage if I am with someone and we are heating water. The bottle serves as bowl and bottle, thereby eliminating a separate bowl for cereal, for a total weight of 2.6 oz. I consider it pretty much weight neutral, and a space saver.

The Nido is added to the granola baggie, along with shredded coconut and a little whey protein. Just add water, screw the cap tight, shake, and you're ready to eat.

"Do you keep the bottle out of your tent at night in case it smells too much like food for bears?"

I don't worry much about bears smelling the bottle, but if I were in serious bear country, I would probably hang it and do with cold coffee in the morning if solo.

I almost always have to take a bear canister here in the Sierras and I love my Catalyst. When my hiking partner couldn't hack the first few days of a seven day trip I ended up carrying both Garcia bear cans (and carried them the whole trip, as it turned out). Both cans were sideways at the top of my gear, starting with six-plus days worth of food in each (for the two of us).

My Catalyst carried just find, very comfortable. And I only have the one central aluminum stay, which was standard when I bought mine. Now they have two stays. A great pack at three pounds.