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Written by Jessica Eyre
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Tuesday, 27 May 2008 |
No matter how nice and expensive your backpack is, and no matter how well you packed it (click here to see how to pack a backpack), if your pack doesn’t fit you properly, you will be miserable on the trail.
Keith Hillman, owner of Out-N-Back, says it’s easy to fit your pack and it makes a huge difference out on the trail.
The main areas carrying the weight are the hips and the shoulders.
An internal-frame pack has a hip strap that should be sitting directly over the hip bones. If you put your thumbs on your hip bones, that should be the center of the strap. The shoulder harness should wrap right onto the shoulders.
To do that, you need to know the length of your torso. Start at the seventh vertebrae, or the pointy part of your back: that’s the starting point. Now put your thumbs on your hip bones and reach around with your trigger finger — that’s the base. Measure between those two points and that’s the length to which your straps should be adjusted.
If it is fitted properly, the hip belt is centered on the hip bones and the should straps have a nice J-curve — there are no gaps coming off the shoulders.
Some secondary adjustments are the compression straps on the side of the pack, those adjust weight into your body; and the sternum strap. This can be loose or tight, and can adjust up and down. There is no set place for this strap.
“My goal is to get you out and enjoying the outdoors,” Hillman said. For any other questions or for help fitting your backpack, visit Out-N-Back at 1797 S. State St. in Orem. |
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