Packs for women

[BigShane54]

Im looking to upgrade my wife's pack, looking for something in the 2500-3500ci range. She is fairly short (5'1). Anybody have any suggestions for a good pack that's good for ladies?

 

[RCA Dog]

I will go ahead and recommend a Stone Glacier frame, and whatever bag you want to put on it. I am 6', 170 lbs, and my wife is 4'11, 110 lbs (I think ). It took all of 5 minutes to adjust my frame to fit her, then just for fun we put about 50 lbs of gear in the pack and she walked around some. She said it was the most comfortable pack she had ever worn. If I get one for her, the only thing I would change is the hip belt size, as mine is a medium, and it was maxed out for her. A small size hip belt would be perfect.

 

[MuleyFever]

I got my wife the KUIU Icon Pro 3500 with the small frame belt and it is working great for her.

 

[BigShane54]

thanks guys. Ill look into those!

 

[jdmaxwell]

I got my wife the KUIU Icon Pro 3500 with the small frame belt and it is working great for her.

X2... Got my wife same.. She loves it and she had eberlestock and badlands packs before.
Big upgrade

 

[oldgoat]

I bought my wife the new 22" UL frame and a Cargo Panel, pockets etc from Kifaru! Works really well for her. There are a number of packs that are perfect for that frame. Huge upgrade from the Badlands Day Pack she had before. She's 5'8" but has the torso of a little person. My wife and me are in our fifties and she has some arthritis developing and the pack was comfortable under load probably forty pounds are so for her. That's a big testament in my eyes on the comfort of that pack.

 

[Becca]

As a woman, my biggest priorities in a pack are that it is lightweight to start with (because my max capacity is going to be less than a mans due to my smaller stature) and that it adjusts to fit my body so that I can get some of the weight off of my shoulders and onto my hips. Pack fit is tremendously personal, but I have found that Kifaru packs do this the very best for me. I have never found anything about pack fit that is gender specific, so I don't see the need for something "women's specific". At least for Kifaru the small waist belt adjusts small enough for me at 5'3 and about 130lbs, and I know it could go even smaller than what I need it to. I currently run the ultralight duplex frame with an EMR2 as a packbag...while it's typically more space than I need, it's a minimal weight penalty and the best way I have found to carry awkward meat loads.


Hauling blacktail deer in the EMR2, on the ultralight hunting duplex frame



Packing out a Dall Sheep cape, horns and some of the meat in my Kifaru KU5200



Packing a load of caribou and misc gear, Bikini frame with the Rondevous bag





I used an Arcteryx Bora for several seasons, but it never fit me well enough to get the weight transferred to my waist, which made it uncomfortable at heavier loads. They are quality packs, and usually pretty reasonably priced. Just didn't fit me well, especially at weights above 40lbs.




I used a Mystery Ranch NICE frame with 6500 bag and really liked how it fit and carried weight, but it was like 10lbs empty. Since my max load is around 80lbs, and I prefer to carry more like 50-60lbs if it's for any longer distance, having the weight of the pack be 10lbs empty reduced the amount of weight I could put in it.

Packing a packraft and misc gear in my Mystery Ranch



I used a Kuiu Ultra 6000 for some summer backpacking trips, and felt it was a pretty decent pack. It carried loads up to around 60lbs well, and was lightweight to start with. Ultimately it was just a bit less comfortable for me with heavy loads than my Kifaru packs, but I still think it might be worth looking into, especially if your gf won't be carrying loads above 60ish lbs.

Hauling a packraft and my half of our gear in the Kuiu Ultra for a weeklong summer trip


Lots of pack options available, and don't feel like you need to limit yourself to a women's specific pack. Kifaru has been what works the very best for my body size and type, as well as the weight I need to pack, with the Kuiu Ultra with Pro suspension probably being my next choice. I am told Stone Glacier's small waist belt will accomodate someone of my stature, but have not personally used a SG pack.

I would add that if she plans to hunt with you, but won't be carrying meat weight, then plan to get her a larger volume pack than what you think she will need. Reason being, if you are hunting together and you kill something, you will likely load her up with the bulky stuff which tends to be higher volume even if it doesn't weigh much. You can get her into a higher volume pack for minimal increase in weight over a similar pack of smaller volume. It's easy to cinch the extra volume down if she doesn't need it, but you can't make a smaller pack bigger.

 

[River Rat]

Great write up Becca, thanks for sharing.

 

[BigShane54]

Thank you Becca. I've been leaning toward the Kifaru (I love mine) or the Kuiu. I agree about not needing a women specific pack, just need something that is sized right. I appreciate the input

 

[AK Troutbum]

I purchased a Stone Glacier for my 12-year-old son's goat hunt this past fall. It fit him very well with a small 3 piece belt and he had zero complaints about it. He's a pretty small kid, 4'11" and 80 pounds so he wasn't packing a great deal of weight. I think the most he packed off the mountain was about 40-45 pounds.

 

[duchntr]

The seek outside divide pack might be a good option to look at, also not sure if your interested in a heavy hauling hunting pack or crossover backpacking pack. Osprey makes some nice packs and their higher end mountaineering packs can carry a bit of weight.

 

[Fishinsimpson]

Becca thank you so much for your reviews. My wife is just getting into the realm of hunting and your info really gave her confidence that this can work!

Thanks for a great thread everyone.

 

[Becca]

Becca thank you so much for your reviews. My wife is just getting into the realm of hunting and your info really gave her confidence that this can work!

Not only can this work, it can work really well just be prepared to buy twice as much gear!

Glad to offer what little I can, I love seeing and hearing about other women getting out there.

 

[bbrown]

Lots of good info from Becca.
I found a Gregory Baltoro with an XS frame for my wife - fits her great at 5'3" and she really likes it. That said I decided to hold onto my 24" Kifaru bikini frame for her to try out and see it it feels better for her.

 

[camping1601]

Not only can this work, it can work really well just be prepared to buy twice as much gear!

Glad to offer what little I can, I love seeing and hearing about other women getting out there.

I've just about got my wife convinced she can now carry more weight and be comfortable. Might try the small Kuiu for her. Thanks for the write up.

 

[missjordan]

I only used it twice last season but I'm pretty happy with my kuiu pack. It's my first high end backpack and is very comfortable compared to my old pack

 

[Fishinsimpson]

Missjordan and Becca,

Don't want to high jack this thread but would you ladies start a thread hunting clothing for women. I'm looking at reviews and trying to piece together hunting garb for my wife as well and want it to work well the first time.

 

[Becca]

Missjordan and Becca,

Don't want to high jack this thread but would you ladies start a thread hunting clothing for women. I'm looking at reviews and trying to piece together hunting garb for my wife as well and want it to work well the first time.

This topic has come up before, always happy to give my input (likely worth what you pay for it )

Here are a couple of threads to get you started, I would recommend starting your own thread if you have more specific questions/thoughts.

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/show...nd-who-else-makes-actual-women-s-cut-clothing

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/showthread.php?32380-Womens-Gear&highlight=Women+clothing

I also recently reviewed the merino baselayers from First Lite:

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/show...-Lite-s-Women-s-Merino-Review-by-Becca-Moffat

Hope this helps, sorry to the OP for the derail

 

[Darren Best]

I have been also working on getting my wife into backpacking and hunting. Luke Moffat and I had several conversations about what he did to make it work for Becca.

One thing I should point out that Luke told me several times and I just didn't want to hear it. Go bigger on the volume of pack than you think you need, it's easier to cinch down a large pack than to make a small one magically grow. I finally listened to him a year ago and I'm happy I did.

Also women get cold easier and will need more insulation, especially in cold weather. Extra insulation eats up pack volume fast.

One thing Luke pointed and I agree with, if your wife isn't going to hauling loads of meat like Becca does, you don't need a $700 pack for her, the KUIU Ultra with the Pro suspension will work fine.

 

[Ben]

My wife has a north face banshee after going through more than a few packs. Since we got her that I upgrades to a stone glacier, and after the pic above... I'm going to fit my stone glacier to her