My main issue with modern packs is that there are very few (if any in 2024) panel load packs. A top load keeps things nice and secure, but you're emptying the pack every time you need something unless you are a diligent and methodical packer. The panel loader I own (Gregory Targhee 45) is nice, but the pack bag gets narrower towards the waist. It works ok for a 4x5 outing but fails at 8x10.
The next morning he was sleeping in late. There was a little snowbank nearby. I covered his whole face except his nose with snow, then backed off and started yelling, Avalanche!
Real Kelty, full-sized at least, was expensive. I recall prices around $250 in the 70's, which was quite a bit back then. North Face entered the game later with the first really high quality internal frame pack which sold for around $600. Jansport and Lowe weren't cheap either.
That list was for earlier, less featured packs than the 70's - 80's variety, which were sold complete under different model names. I have a few of those earlier ones laying around too, just for free parts; quite a bit of difference - mostly canvas rather than nylon. I don't remember what my old ash handle ice axe cost; but half of it is still broken off up the ice. I'm not familiar with Galibier boots. My first decent boots were true double-walled Raichle Swiss boots bought around 1966, heavy as heck; but I could posthole in deep snow all day long. My pack back then was homemade; I couldn't afford a real Kelty, or really, anything decent except the boots themselves. My sleeping bag was darn near worthless; sometimes I didn't even bother bringing it along. It was only around 1980 when I took up LF photography that I purchased a Kelty - so perhaps that's where my memory of its price lies.
I don't remember Royal being in business that early. I didn't know he ever lived in Modesto. His first actual store I'm aware of was in Berkeley five minutes from where I worked. All kinds of outdoor manufacturing and sales ventures were there at that time. But I never actually walked in his little place. Store-bought boots were torture to me due to deformed feet, so I eventually went to custom ones along with prescription carbon fiber orthotics, and that made all the difference. I'd probably be a person non grata in Royal's digs if they learned my nephew was the one who re-bolted the Dawn Wall after Royal chopped the bolts - obviously many years later, but still .... And that 3rd climb redo confirmed Harding's claim that he first did the route on only a pint of water a day (there were still dozens of bottles of wine stashed in a big crack).
Oh, and another reason Kelty packs jumped so much in price is that they stopped direct sales and went to retailers, so a big markup there. But that was still well before the sale of the company and the packs being outsourced, and the terrible quality drop due to that. When I needed some new shoulder straps after many years,
one of them snapped the first trip, right when I was edging along about a 3 inch wide ledge! Yikes!
Now I use the Cosyspeed Photohiker 44.
blee; I think that's the sensible approach. I feel like I have a few years left in me of ignoring what's sensible. I would like to at least summit Mt Rainier one of these years but I will definitely not be making 8x10 summit portraits.
The Copyspeed did look promising, but it still means wrestling with an insert. I'm not sure the pack I ordered solves that problem, but if I use an insert, it will be easy to get in/out of the pack.
@GregY I just spent an enjoyable detour running through the threads in your link. Good stuff. Any idea if the Jim Fitzgerald in the thread is the same Jim Fitzgerald carbon printer?
@GregY I just spent an enjoyable detour running through the threads in your link. Good stuff. Any idea if the Jim Fitzgerald in the thread is the same Jim Fitzgerald carbon printer?
Yeah, the Althlete's shoulder straps are attached to the bag and the belt is attached where the zippers originate for the camera door start so is much stronger. It bloats out quite well as there is expandable space outside of the camera compartment.That Atlas looks like a nice day hike rig, but too small for serious backpack trips with LF gear, when you need to also carry lots of food, a tent, sleeping bag etc, etc. The more problematic issue is with all the weight being dependent upon that perimeter zipper. Zippers are often one of the first things to go bad, and here you've got even the shoulder straps themselves dependent upon the reliability of a long zipper itself.
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