Heavy loads and rain gear

[skaldugwas]

Is there a way to keep your loaded pack on your hips while wearing sopping wet rain gear?
Last season I had a pack out in some lovely rain and snow mix and my pack kept sliding down my hips and riding on my shoulders. I eventually gave up fiddling with it in the interest of getting the hell out of there and just sucked it up with all the weight on my shoulders.
Is this a user error? An adjustment error? Or just a fact of life?
For what its worth I was running a kifaru.


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[bsnedeker]

Is there a way to keep your loaded pack on your hips while wearing sopping wet rain gear?
Last season I had a pack out in some lovely rain and snow mix and my pack kept sliding down my hips and riding on my shoulders. I eventually gave up fiddling with it in the interest of getting the hell out of there and just sucked it up with all the weight on my shoulders.
Is this a user error? An adjustment error? Or just a fact of life?
For what its worth I was running a kifaru.


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I can't really speak to the rain aspect, but what you are describing sounds like the issue I have with every single pack ever made: I have no hips or butt to hold up a pack whatsoever! This means I'm constantly having to stop and move everything back up every once in a while.

The only solution for me is to just crank the HELL out of the hip belt to the point that it damn near cuts off circulation to my lower body! It is not terribly comfortable but you get used to it after a while.

 

[epicaaron]

I spend a bunch of time carrying packs in hard shells and have always fought this, especially in bibs that are super smooth over the waist. The only solutions I have found are:
1) Get a pack that fits you very, very well, and make sure its fit so that the hip belt is in the correct location on your pelvis.
2) Improve the ability of the hip belt to grab onto your pelvis. I had an osprey pack that had a thermomoldable hip belt, after i molded it aggressively the pack slipped down less frequently/more slowly. In the end I still sold that pack for one that fit me better which now slips less. A really tall hip belt might deform around your pelvis better (or it may dig into your ribs and annoy the heck out of you).
3) Improve the comfort of the belt when it is hitched down tight. I like hip belts with slightly softer foam on the inside so at least some deformation is happening on the belt instead of my body.

Even with packs that fit really well I still have to hoist them up from time to time in gortex, but not nearly as much as I used to.

 

[skaldugwas]

Has anyone ever tried running some silicone on the back of their raingear for grip? Kind of like putting it on the floor of your tent to keep from sliding?


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[madkaw284]

Has anyone ever tried running some silicone on the back of their raingear for grip? Kind of like putting it on the floor of your tent to keep from sliding?


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I have a Kuiu icon pro and the lumbar pad is coated with a tacky silicone. It’s a valiant effort, it sticks ok, but through rain and sweat, it’s still slips under heavy loads (75# +). So the silicone idea may or may not work for you. Just like the other guy, I have no hips either and really have to cinch my belt down tight. I also prefer (rough guess) 90 or so percent of the weight on my hips. Almost no weight on my shoulders.


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[Neverenoughhntn]

Just to make sure I understand, the belt is sliding over the rain gear? .... my problem is usually that the belt grips the rain gear fine, but my rain gear shifts around over my normal outer layers... (if that makes sense?)

 

[RockChucker30]

Last season I had a pack out in some lovely rain and snow mix and my pack kept sliding down my hips and riding on my shoulders. I eventually gave up fiddling with it in the interest of getting the hell out of there and just sucked it up with all the weight on my shoulders.

Have you done similar weight with similar distance while not wearing raingear? That'll tell you if it's a pack issue or a raingear issue.

 

[skaldugwas]

Have you done similar weight with similar distance while not wearing raingear? That'll tell you if it's a pack issue or a raingear issue.

I do a lot of training hikes with sand bags don’t experience this issue, but I am usually just wearing a thin tshirt.


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[larryschwartz]

A few things to keep in mind...

First, many people wear their waist belt at the wrong place on their body. They think of their hips as where they wear their pants but that is actually where their legs hit their pelvis, at the bottom of the pelvis. You want your waist belt to rest on the top of your pelvis/hip bone, not the bottom. If you draw a horizontal line through your belly button that should show you where the top of your hip bone is located. Your waist belt buckle should cover or be above your belly button. It looks like it is too high but in reality it isn't. Even if you don't have any butt at all, like I do, this will help keep your pack from riding down over your hip bone.

Second, when wearing your pack in the rain or wet weather you may want to opt for a poncho over you and your pack, instead of a rain jacket. That will let you wear your pack on your regular clothing and also protect the pack from the weather. You can still wear your rain pants if you want to protect your lower legs; actually I would suggest that anyway.