Backpack Basics

Backpack Basics

When you like to go out hiking you should try going walking with a backpack for a few days. Those of you who have already done this realise that it is useful to discover a few things before you go outdoors with a backpack. Here are a few basics, which can make your trip with a backpack a lot more pleasant.

Choosing the right size

Backpacks, or trekking backpacks, are adjustable and have different sizes. Logical, if you consider that you have to carry them on your particular back.  Your back has a certain length and you have to adjust the backpack accordingly. Your back length is roughly the distance from the hip (where you place your hands when you put your hands on your hips) and the top of your shoulders. With backpacks you can set the back length to adapt it to your back length. However, the back lengths are not infinitely adjustable. A person who is one meter sixty needs a different size of back length than someone who is two meters five. There is such difference between these two individual heights that there is no backpack which can be perfectly tailored for both.

Placing a backback on your back

A very important moment: putting on your backpack for the first time (which is already set to the correct back length by one of our colleagues). Before putting on the backpack, give the shoulder straps and the load-lifters (the straps on the top of the shoulder straps that are attached to the top of the pack) a little slack. When you have the backpack on your back, you work from bottom to top for the right fit. First, you close the hip belt around your hips and add tension to the belt. This belt should fit tightly and should rest on the top half of your hip bones. Then pull the shoulder straps to the correct amount of tension. These straps should tug tightly to your shoulders, but not so tight that they pull your hip belt off your hips. Finally, you tug the top straps, the loadlifters, with which the top of the backpack comes closer to your back. When you pull the loadlifters you should immediately feel the weight of the backpack shifting towards your back. This is the one aspect which makes fitting a backpack a very personal matter. With a properly adjusted backpack, the loadlifters often make an angle of around 45 degrees. When you pull the loadlifters very tightly, the shoulder straps should stay in touch with your shoulders and you should feel the weight of the backpack largely shift from your hips to your shoulders. Giving the loadlifters some slack should make you feel the weight shift from your shoulders to your hips. A perfectly fitted backpack should give you the option of adjusting this weight distribution between your hips and shoulders throughout the day.

How to you pack your backpack

Where do you place different items in your backpack? If you are going to carry things on your back, it matters what is in your backpack and where you place this. Very heavy items at the bottom or top of the backpack, do not carry pleasantly. If you put a lot of weight in the bottom of your backpack, it feels like the backpack is pulling you down. Too much weight at the top and the backpack pulls backward from your back. You best carry the heaviest items in the middle of your backpack, as close to your back as possible.

You can often put your sleeping bag in the bottom compartment of your backpack. This then forms a stable base on which you can stack heavier layers, such as a sleeping mat, tent, burner or compactly folded clothing. These are items you do not need at close hand during the day so they can be packed in the middle of the main compartment. If you take the poles out of the tent bag, you can often position the tent better in your backpack. In the top of the main compartment  you place items which you may need to grab quickly, such as a waterproof jacket and pants.

Backpack management

Packing your backpack efficiently is quite a lot of work on a daily basis during a multi day trek. A little backpack management helps. For example, put socks, underwear and other extra clothing together in a bag. There are separate gear bags for this, but a plastic bag can make a world of difference too. Also divide food into logical packages. This way you create a number of handy building blocks that you can quickly take out of your backpack and that you can also pack again with a kind of fixed order and place.

Take the time to try on a backpack in our store. The padding feels different with every backpack, as does the hip belt. It's a bit like buying a new mattress, not everyone likes a super soft or hard mattress. The shape of the internal frame also does a lot for the fit. The shape of the backs of backpacks differ, so do our own backs. It goes without saying that a backpack should foremost be comfortable!