Publish Date: Updated
How to Fit an Internal Frame Backpack
Almost nothing on this page has needed changing, which tells you something. Packs got lighter and the buckles got better, but a hipbone is still a hipbone.
- Find your torso size. You will need a friend to help. Have them find the knob at the base of your neck, the seventh vertebra, the one that sticks out when you drop your chin. Then draw an imaginary line between the tops of your hips. Measure between the two, following the contour of your spine with a soft tape. That measurement, not your height, is what pack size means.
- Adjust the pack to your torso size. Most packs have an adjustable harness; see the instructions for yours.
- Loosen all the straps. They have to be tightened in a specific order for a good fit, and you cannot get there from half-tight.
- Put a reasonable amount of weight in it, ten to thirty pounds. Packs feel completely different loaded. Fitting an empty one teaches you nothing.
- Put it on your back. You should be able to lift it up there yourself. If you need help getting it on, take weight out. That is not a fitting problem, that is a packing problem.
- Position the belt centred and resting on your hipbone. On the bone, not on your waist. This is the step everyone gets wrong, and it is the one that decides whether your shoulders hurt at the end of the day.
- Tighten the belt as much as is comfortable. It holds the pack in position while you do everything else.
- Tighten the shoulder straps. They should sit snugly over your shoulders and down your back with no gaps.
- Tighten the load lifters. Ideally they form about a 45 degree angle between your shoulders and the top of the stays. Adjust these on and off through the day to shift weight between hips and shoulders; that is what they are for.
- Clip the sternum strap across your chest. It stops the shoulder straps sliding outwards. Snug, not tight enough to affect your breathing.
The one modern note worth adding: most of the weight should be sitting on your hips, not hanging off your shoulders. If your shoulders are sore after an hour, the belt is too high or too loose. Go back to step six.
And try it in a shop with weight in it before you buy. A pack that fits badly is the single most miserable thing you can carry for four months.
Posted 06 April 2004 by LiveNomadic in Eurail Planning, Packing