Why nobody talks about switching from a framed pack to a frameless one on the AT

I carried a 65 liter Osprey for my first 300 miles on the Appalachian Trail and my hips were bruised for weeks. Finally swapped to a 40 liter frameless pack near Harper's Ferry after a guy at a shelter showed me how to pack it right. Now I'm only carrying about 18 pounds total and my shoulders feel way better. Has anyone else made that switch and just can't go back to a frame?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam41414d ago

Did your hips feel better right away or did it take some time to adjust?

wesley63914d ago

Wait, did your buddy's hips bruise too or was it just the shoulder thing?

lee58214d ago

Actually yeah, I heard Andrew Skurka talk about how frameless packs force you to think about every single item you carry because there's no frame to compensate for bad packing. That was a game changer for me. Once I got my base weight down under 10 pounds, the frameless pack felt way better on my hips almost right away, but it took me about a week to really dial in how to pack things so nothing poked me in the back. My old Osprey is just gathering dust now.