Giant-ass expedition backpack (>100L) recommendations?

Stileswrote:

Its obvious this youth is arrogant, ignorant, and inexperienced.

You may be right about arrogant/ignorant/inexperienced -- but sadly, not a youth

You probably approach a multi-pitch trad climb with minimal gear, not carrying anything you don't need. I'd love to be able to do that but it wouldn't be safe for me. I need tighter protection, and more options to unstick myself if I get shut down, physically.

If you want to understand more about physical disabilities and how it affects what we do outdoors, I'd be willing to talk with you more in private. But I don't feel comfortable posting a lot of details publicly -- hope you can understand that.

I am still curious to hear a specific objective for a pack over 100L.

It's not about specific objectives -- it's about flexibility.

I don't always know if I'm going to be able to handle something, so I try not to get too fixated on climbing one specific peak, route, etc. I try to show up with as many options as possible, which means carrying a lot of gear and taking a lot of time.

I also don't know how much time I have left to do any of this -- so I tend to think in terms of big, long trips where I can try to make something work, regardless of what my plans are, and not just end up feeling like a failure.

At any rate, here's a couple of ideas I had, this past year:

• Spend 4-5 days in the Coxcomb Mountains (Joshua Tree) mostly around Dyadic Peak. I climbed it several times by the standard route, but I'd like to explore alternate approaches that mostly aren't documented. No idea how hard they are, or what gear they'll take, or whether I'll succeed at anything -- but it's probably going to be a lot of weight.
• Spend 2+ weeks on the Kaweah Plateau in Winter, climbing as many routes as I can manage, documented and not.
• Complete the Sierra High Route in Winter, as a continuous trip. Realistically, this might take me 2-3 months, with supplies & gear cached ahead of time.

Most of my other ideas are variations on these -- very long trips to a very remote places, with loose plans and enough gear and supplies to make the most of it, once I get there.

Like I said, feel free to PM me if you want to know more about my disability.

I apologize for having offended you on the Internet, Climber.  Fortunately, your name portrays nothing about your physicality.  My comment refers to your responses, not your person.  Your words showcase these traits---IMHO, as Internet forum users would say.  OLH asked you not to yell at her--why would she preemptively protect herself so?  My choice of words can make me sound like an ass, perhaps. A risk taken when opening one's mouth.  I'm just poking the bear.  I learn lessons to be more thoughtful quite regularly (:

If your language portrays you as arrogant/inexperienced, one thing no one can say is that you're weak of body or spirit!  Or afraid to hoist a crushing load.  We are all ignorant, which can be a heavy burden.  

We aught to take our work seriously, but not ourselves seriously.  

'Why We Sleep' and 'Breath' are two very interesting books that may benefit us all.  Also, 'The Vegetarian Myth'.  Check em out.  Knowledge is power.  Opinions are like arseholes.  A space in a pack will have something jammed into it.  Sarcasm hurts feelings.  I wonder why no climber willing to speak up has much experience with a pack that enormous?

I solo almost exclusively (sans face paint).  Bigwall soloing requires immense loads, especially alpine walls--150+lbs.  Alpine free soloing requires food, water, rap line--20lbs.  Big mountain soloing--200+lbs.  Been there, done that.  Biggest pack l got is 85L, and its very comfy.  I dont use it much :/ cause its f-in heavy.

Go haul heavy shit around, have adventures, learn thy Self and for your self.  Self rescue.  Lend aid.  Gear doesnt matter much compared to gumption.  

Train insane or stay the same.  

- Stiles

Light is Right!!!  ;)

Ryan Lynchwrote:

You may be right about arrogant/ignorant/inexperienced -- but sadly, not a youth

You probably approach a multi-pitch trad climb with minimal gear, not carrying anything you don't need. I'd love to be able to do that but it wouldn't be safe for me. I need tighter protection, and more options to unstick myself if I get shut down, physically.

If you want to understand more about physical disabilities and how it affects what we do outdoors, I'd be willing to talk with you more in private. But I don't feel comfortable posting a lot of details publicly -- hope you can understand that.

It's not about specific objectives -- it's about flexibility.

I don't always know if I'm going to be able to handle something, so I try not to get too fixated on climbing one specific peak, route, etc. I try to show up with as many options as possible, which means carrying a lot of gear and taking a lot of time.

I also don't know how much time I have left to do any of this -- so I tend to think in terms of big, long trips where I can try to make something work, regardless of what my plans are, and not just end up feeling like a failure.

At any rate, here's a couple of ideas I had, this past year:

• Spend 4-5 days in the Coxcomb Mountains (Joshua Tree) mostly around Dyadic Peak. I climbed it several times by the standard route, but I'd like to explore alternate approaches that mostly aren't documented. No idea how hard they are, or what gear they'll take, or whether I'll succeed at anything -- but it's probably going to be a lot of weight.
• Spend 2+ weeks on the Kaweah Plateau in Winter, climbing as many routes as I can manage, documented and not.
• Complete the Sierra High Route in Winter, as a continuous trip. Realistically, this might take me 2-3 months, with supplies & gear cached ahead of time.

Most of my other ideas are variations on these -- very long trips to a very remote places, with loose plans and enough gear and supplies to make the most of it, once I get there.

Like I said, feel free to PM me if you want to know more about my disability.

If you have enough lead time, get a McHale. It's the best load carrier I've ever used. I almost didn't want to return it to my buddy. I used Astralplane, Gregory Denali Pro and Arcteryx Bora 105. McHale is way more comfortable. I don't carry that much stuff anymore, but if I have more than 3-4 trips on my bucket list that require that load, I would drop money on McHale, no question.

Stileswrote:... I wonder why no climber willing to speak up has much experience with a pack that enormous? ...

A whole bunch of climbers have spoken up with their experiences with enormous packs. In this thread, I've gotten more than a dozen recommendations for packs over 100L.

I got so many suggestions, I had to make a spreadsheet to keep track of them all.

It is pretty cool that you can fit everything you need into an 85 liter pack. Right now, my two biggest packs are 85L & 92L, but they just don't have enough volume, and they aren't feeling so good with >60lbs on.

So it seems pretty clear that for my own needs, I do need to pursue bigger packs. Maybe we're just carrying different gear -- I'm not doing big walls, and I'm contemplating a lot of snow/ice/ski gear in addition to my aid & MP trad stuff. There's some overlap, but it doesn't sound like it's entirely the same load.

All the same, I appreciate you sharing your expertise.

Old lady Hwrote:

Locking threads is lame and selfish, imo, as there is still other people who may be having conversations, even years later, on a topic, even if the OP never shows their face again after the first post, lol!

This is true, the topics can easily survive the original posts.

That stated, my 75L works well. An old Mountainsmith was about the same size. Carried enough supplies up into the Cascades on trip, for an expedition, according to one of my partners. Had two weeks supply after getting back   

You know…if you improve your skills and fitness and become more competent you can probably cut a fair amount of dead weight out of your pack. Then you won’t need a huge pack.  

@Phinn

You know...if you improve your communication skills and humanity and become more empathetic you can probably stop posting a fair amount of stuff.  Then you won't need such a huge ego.

No ego here. Just making a suggestion to try and lighten the man’s load and increase the enjoyment factor. Nothings fun with a 100L pack…

Phinnwrote:

No ego here. Just making a suggestion to try and lighten the man’s load and increase the enjoyment factor. Nothings fun with a 100L pack…

If you go back and read the thread, the problem with your comment should become apparent.

Your advice is fine -- but it's wrong for this situation. Unhelpful. Might even come off as insulting.

When someone genuinely needs a >100L pack for reasons that are outside of your personal experience, it gets exhausting pretty quick to read the same "LOL carry less weight bruh" response from a bunch of dudes who can't be bothered to read the context before adding their own opinion.

curious,

what did you settle on?

Ryan Lynchwrote:

You may be right about arrogant/ignorant/inexperienced -- but sadly, not a youth

You probably approach a multi-pitch trad climb with minimal gear, not carrying anything you don't need. I'd love to be able to do that but it wouldn't be safe for me. I need tighter protection, and more options to unstick myself if I get shut down, physically.

If you want to understand more about physical disabilities and how it affects what we do outdoors, I'd be willing to talk with you more in private. But I don't feel comfortable posting a lot of details publicly -- hope you can understand that.

It's not about specific objectives -- it's about flexibility.

I don't always know if I'm going to be able to handle something, so I try not to get too fixated on climbing one specific peak, route, etc. I try to show up with as many options as possible, which means carrying a lot of gear and taking a lot of time.

I also don't know how much time I have left to do any of this -- so I tend to think in terms of big, long trips where I can try to make something work, regardless of what my plans are, and not just end up feeling like a failure.

At any rate, here's a couple of ideas I had, this past year:

• Spend 4-5 days in the Coxcomb Mountains (Joshua Tree) mostly around Dyadic Peak. I climbed it several times by the standard route, but I'd like to explore alternate approaches that mostly aren't documented. No idea how hard they are, or what gear they'll take, or whether I'll succeed at anything -- but it's probably going to be a lot of weight.
• Spend 2+ weeks on the Kaweah Plateau in Winter, climbing as many routes as I can manage, documented and not.
• Complete the Sierra High Route in Winter, as a continuous trip. Realistically, this might take me 2-3 months, with supplies & gear cached ahead of time.

Most of my other ideas are variations on these -- very long trips to a very remote places, with loose plans and enough gear and supplies to make the most of it, once I get there.

Like I said, feel free to PM me if you want to know more about my disability.

There was a guy back in 30's who did a ski traverse of the Sierras,I believe his name was Bartholomew.

Can't remember where I read about him,maybe the Ostrander ski hut in Yosemite,like 20-30 years ago.

Might be a source of inspiration.

The Sierra High Route is a beast,and I've only done a little part of lt

Orland Bartholomew did a ski traverse of the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1928-29. Supposedly his sponsor bailed on him because a 3 month ski expedition wasn't really compatible with the image of orange groves, sunshine and semi-tropical weather that the California tourist industry wanted to project at the time.  https://tahoequarterly.com/features/a-man-among-mountains

The pack in the photo looks to be at least 100 liters.

If you’re gonna go that big with specific objectives in mind, I’d recommend going custom with alpine luddites

divnamitewrote:

If you have enough lead time, get a McHale. It's the best load carrier I've ever used. I almost didn't want to return it to my buddy. I used Astralplane, Gregory Denali Pro and Arcteryx Bora 105. McHale is way more comfortable. I don't carry that much stuff anymore, but if I have more than 3-4 trips on my bucket list that require that load, I would drop money on McHale, no question.

Agree, that you will get what you're looking for from Dan McHale. I have a >100L McHale that carries huge loads exquisitely.

I do not have personal experience with these bags, but I have always heard very good things about packs from Hill People Gear. More oriented towards the hunting/survival kind of market but they seem overbuilt even by hunting standards. The Qui-Ya is 105L and keep in mind you have to buy the hip belt separately.

https://hillpeoplegear.com/Products/CategoryID/3/ProductID/66

Late to the thread, but I have the Mystery Ranch T100 and love it.  I have only used it for two shorter trips so far, but comfortably carried 50-60 lbs on both trips.  I do wish it would come in a few other color options than black.  Extremely well made.  Obviously not a lightweight pack, but when you are carrying that much weight the pack weight penalty is less significant.  

Just an update, on account of I noticed some new posts on this thread... I haven't made a decisions yet, but I'm working on a little spreadsheet of the options everyone has suggested (and a few more I found elsewhere):

• Make/model
• Price shipped
• Internal volume
• Weight limit
• Extra features
• Color options
• Ratings/reviews

It's slow. I'm doing the research in between other stuff, but at some point I hope I have enough to be worth sharing.

Also -- a huge THANK YOU to all the folks who shared their super-heavy pack experience. Y'all gave me SO many options beyond what I'd been able to find on Google and the big retailers. Your help is appreciated, and I'll try to pay it forward.

Ryan Lynchwrote:

 Your help is appreciated, and I'll try to pay it forward.

If you circle back and post that spreadsheet when it's done, I'll nominate you for OP of the Year!

F r i t zwrote:

If you circle back and post that spreadsheet when it's done, I'll nominate you for OP of the Year!

Sure -- and I'll even let that Stiles guy take a look!

One more criterion for your spreadsheet is build time. Custom packs take time to sew.