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Post by backpackal on Jun 11, 2021 7:10:43 GMT -8
My go to pack is light and 40l. It has a 1" hip belt. On longer trips with more food weight, I notice the weight on my shoulders. No amount of adjusting that little hip belt seems to matter once my shoulders begin to notice weight. My buddy has worked as a lineman for years. I was looking at a pile of his safety equipment and found a belt like this one. I was able to fish it through the hip belt sleeve on my pack. I loaded up the pack but have not hiked yet. I am really digging the buckle. It does not loosen. Guys with no ass will understand why this type of belt works, lol. If this proof of concept works out I may become the newest cottage manufacturer for cinchable hip belts  |
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reuben
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Post by reuben on Jun 11, 2021 8:36:53 GMT -8
I still have one of those from yesteryear. It will weigh at least 5 times as much as your pack.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Jun 11, 2021 12:32:34 GMT -8
In my experience the other factor is when the pack isn’t long enough to actually reach your hips any belt becomes a diaphragm constricting piece of useless decoration, while, yes, all the weight winds up on the shoulders.
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Post by swmtnbackpacker on Jun 11, 2021 13:14:01 GMT -8
On the most ultralight packs, a minuscule belt only keeps the pack from flopping too much, but real quickly bigger packs (even UL) need a thick attached hipbelt to transfer the load to the hips … usually with some sort of mesh and foam as to cinch it down.
That said, always though if designing a backpacking pack, how exactly the load gets transferred at the bottom needs to be looked at. Probably don’t want to be able to put too much heavy stuff at the very bottom (think MLD packs are flared since it’s assumed one will stuff their sleeping quilt at the very bottom.
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rangewalker
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Post by rangewalker on Jun 18, 2021 6:04:18 GMT -8
No amount of adjusting that little hip belt seems to matter once my shoulders begin to notice weight. Way back in the dawn of the 1960s, external frame packs only had waist belts. They were better than just hanging off your shoulders like a rucksack but not much. Fast forward to the 2020s, and frameless UL packs have the same issue. Your lineman's belt is just a heavier version of the same idea. It will keep the load close to your back but do little to take advantage of the power of the human hip. Personally, I can do a day and a half trip in a well-watered area Rocky Mountain region in summer with a 40L runners pack, a Gregory Flash. Other than that I need a good framesheet or internal frame with a better-padded hip belt. It makes the difference between carrying a pack or wearing one. i have a 70-liter pack with frame and fitted hipbelt, good for 5-7 days plus, that barely reaches 4 pounds. And it will swallow a BV 500 canister or Bearikade Expedition. |
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