Didn't quite make it...

[Delphia Dirks]

http://www.backcountry-equipment.com/

> From: rae zamarippa <raz69razaHOTMAIL.COM>
> Reply-To: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage <GOCAMINOapete.uri.edu>
> Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 12:26:26 -0000
> To: GOCAMINOapete.uri.edu
> Subject: Re: Didn't quite make it...
>
> 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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