Didn't quite make it...

[rae zamarippa]

Hi Russ,
I'm headed on the camino next year in May.  What was the brand of the last
backpack you bought in Spain?  I want to get an idea as to what to get.  Do
you know what place they were talking about in Texas?  I'm from Houston!
Thanks,
Rae


>From: Russ Irwin <rirwinaUSAOR.NET>
>Reply-To: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage <GOCAMINOapete.uri.edu>
>To: GOCAMINOapete.uri.edu
>Subject: Re: Didn't quite make it...
>Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 23:28:25 -0400
>
>Hi Delphia,
>
> >Hi Russ.... I'm wondering what sort of backpack you had.  I have ordered
>on
> >from the mail.. a place in Texas... this is a New Zeland made backpack
>and
> >weights only 1.5 pounds.   That is great, but there is not a lot of
>'frame'
> >stiffnes in the back...and I am wondering about that.
> >
> >Do you think it was just the weight of the backpack, or was it the type..
> >any thoughts on that.  thanks.   Hope I loose 10+ pounds..  My husband
>tells
> >me to do it now, so I don't have to carry THAT along.  :-)
>
>First of all I agree with everything Pieter just wrote in a different
>thread. I'll add my own
>"experience" to it. This was my first backpacking experience so I started
>out knowing just about
>nothing. I had a "Khamsin 38" made by Arcteryx. I had bought it mainly for
>it's lightweight (2lbs
>7oz) and the fact that it "seemed" to have what I would need. Wrongo!
>
>Let's start with the hip belt. Instead of a sturdy, thick, padded belt, it
>had what I would call a
>thin "web" belt. It just wasn't good enough to hold the backpack on my
>hips. Even though I learned
>how to put it on so it kept the weight on my hips, after I started walking
>it would just slide down
>no matter how tightly I buckled it. Of course that would transfer the
>weight back to my shoulders no
>matter how I adjusted the load lifters on it.
>
>Now the suspension. The Khamsin has what they call a "Y" frame suspension
>which is bacsically a Y
>shaped piece of fiberboard. What this resulted in was that the backpack
>would constantly rub against
>the top and bottom (base of spine) of my back. Combine this with the fact
>that too much of the
>weight was on my shoulders, add in a couple of weeks of constant
>aggravation like this, and  the
>result ended up in the problems that I developed (they didn't happen
>overnight).
>
>Now let me add something that I didn't bring up before. I didn't
>"completely" quit in Belorado. I
>wanted to give it one long shot last chance since I knew that my backpack
>was the cause of my
>problems. I took the bus to Burgos the next morning planning on spending
>two days there to rest up
>and find a sporting goods store to buy another backpack. I did find a
>backpack that did what I now
>knew had to be done. It had a good internal suspension and, more
>importantly for me now, it had
>padding that had an open space down the middle to keep any pressure *away*
>from my spine. It was a
>much better backpack and only cost about a third of what I had paid for my
>origional in the U.S.
>
>I spent the two nights in Burgos and then set out the next morning happy to
>be back on the road
>again. Too late though.  After about 7 Km the pain in the top of my back
>began to flare up again
>with a fury. The damage to my back had already been done and even the best
>fitting backpack wasn't
>going to help it now :-(   I do feel that if I had had the backpack I
>bought in Burgos from the
>start that I'd just be completing my walk this week as planned. [sigh]
>Maybe next year though :-)
>
>My conclusion: Go with a backpack that FITS right, even it it's a little
>heavier. It's more
>enjoyable to walk without pain than it is to walk with it.
>
>Russ

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