Stone Glacier Sky 5900 and Sky Guide 7900 Live Review

[thinhorn_AK]

Had an old Camp Trails external frame growing up. It's a classic but needs to stay just that.

Ran a Barney's external frame with their Pinnacle Bag for several seasons. Great frame for hauling moose quarters but it never really rode right on my hips. On longer sheep/goat trips I would get awfully saddle sore.

From Barney's I went to a Kifaru Hunter with a borrowed EMRII bag. Loved the bag and the hip belt compared to what I was used to. Returned the bag to its owner and bought a Fulcrum which was supposed to be essentially an upgraded EMRII. The Fulcrum fell apart on me hauling a bison out when I grabbed ahold of one of the lifting handles and nearly ripped it off of the bag. Kifaru CS told me I was hauling too much weight but still warrantied the bag thankfully.

I sold the replacement Fulcrum bag when it arrived and switched to an Argali (discontinued) bag on my Hunter frame. I love the simple setup of the Argali but it wasn't really big enough. I looked like a hobo with stuff strapped all over the outside. With the Argali I never had bag issues but the Hunter frame started to fall apart. I went through three shoulder straps, several metal clips and two waist belts over the next few seasons. Again Kifaru warrantied the items, no complaints there.

After having issues with the aluminum stays bending when hauling heavy, I switched to a Tactical frame and used that last season. The thicker frame sheet seemed to help with the stays bending.

This is my first season with the SG setup and while the frame took some getting used to, I like it better than my Kifaru for most tasks. The Sky 5900 is the most versatile bag I've ever used. In the next few weeks I'll be hammering the 7900 and have much more input on that bag.

So far the SG is holding up strong without any failures. As a whole, I think people need to get away from the mindset of a pack being a lifetime purchase. If you're truly using the pack, it will wear out in a similar interval to a pair of boots which for me is 2-3 seasons.

I have fairly similar pack experience as you do. When I first moved to AK I had a camp trails pack/frame. I still have it but it’s just a beater-loaner now for moose hunting. I did grab a Barney’s frame but as of yet, I’ve only run it as a frame, never got a bag for it yet.

The kifaru hunter frame seemed to barrel a lot for me so I went to the tactical frame and really liked it, I still have it. Back in 2017 I got my Sg x curve and I’ve liked it ever since.

I can’t say I’ve destroyed a bag but I have torn parts off and blown stitching and gone the warranty route with some high end packs.

 

[longjoshr]

Exactly what I was looking for. I actually was in Denver for work a month or two ago, and visited Kifaru and 1 Shot Gear, which sells SG. I know a lot of folks believe Kifaru is the Cadillac, and both are great packs, but I was probably more impressed with the SG stuff all around.

 

[SLDMTN]

Four days worth of gear in the Sky 5900 for Aubrey and I fit perfect and carried great.

We didn’t seal the deal on a youth ram this season. Nothing in the age class we were looking for.

Huge thanks to @B_Reynolds_AK for coming along and taking some great pics. It was a huge asset having him along. I’d hate to be a white sheep trying to hide from his eyes.

 

[Eyetothewest]

Great review

 

[SLDMTN]

This behemoth made 14 days with ease. On to the Sky Guide for the rest of the season

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[SLDMTN]

Just shy of a whole sheep and my day gear inside the 7900. Handled it beautifully.

 

[sick_lids]

Between this review and one lower I just orderd a SG7900, moving up from an osprey. The osprey is a nice bag, but for the way i want to hunt this year will not cut it...Now I'll have to justify why i did not buy the SG first.....great review.

 

[SLDMTN]

Between this review and one lower I just orderd a SG7900, moving up from an osprey. The osprey is a nice bag, but for the way i want to hunt this year will not cut it...Now I'll have to justify why i did not buy the SG first.....great review.

Right on, I think you’ll like it! Good luck this season

 

[SLDMTN]

Another ram in the 7900 along with the client’s tent, our food and all my gear.

For the moose our packer Bobby used my frame since his pack wasn’t up to the task. It handled moose quarters beautifully.

He went 65” on the button.

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[mbv3]

Awesome! Ordered mine today, can’t wait for it to get here.

Also means I’ll have an outdoorsmans optics pack for sale soon, my entry into mountain hunting that served me well


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[SLDMTN]

I was asked for a comparison of the 5900 and 7900 fully compressed. It’s virtually identical between the two bags, they’re both incredible.

The 5900 w/ lid.

The 7900 w/o lid. The lid is identical so it’s a not that important for this comparison.

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[SLDMTN]

Another hunt in the books. The more I use it, the more I like it. It hauls quarters like a champ.

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[Burtz]

Last fall Stone Glacier was generous enough to sponsor the Rokslide Sheep Photo Contest with their Xcurve Frame and Sky 5900 bag as the grand prize. Aubrey's limited entry ram from last year took top honors as voted by the membership.

When the box arrived, the first thing that caught me by surprise was how small it was.

The compressibility of the bag and frame is very impressive for a 5900ci combo.

Getting the pack in January meant that it would be used primarily as a ski pack until spring bear season kicked off.

When spring finally hit my youngest decided it was time to fire up the bait stand again. The load shelf on the Xcurve is absolutely perfect for hauling bags of dog food and the Sky 5900 compresses down so small it hardly takes up any space in the stand.

As much as I have grown to love the Sky 5900 as a 1-3 day and extended solo pack, it wasn't quite up to the task of my 7-10 hunts with family in tow. Insert the Sky Guide 7900, this pack is humongous!

This year is going to be another monster for us with everything from youth sheep season in early August to guiding in late September. Follow along as I'l be reviewing the frame in conjunction with the Sky 5900 and Sky Guide 7900.

Lastly, thank you to Stone Glacier for supplying the packs, great customer service and having killer shipping speeds!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts

 

[ja2mak]

Another hunt in the books. The more I use it, the more I like it. It hauls quarters like a champ.

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I’ve had the same experience, the load sling is awesome!

 

[Holycross07]

Great review! Thanks for the information.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

I'm curious how you feel about the 5900 with food traveling in the load shelf. Could you make it work for 14 days if you did something like that? I'm interested in a smaller bag because my high country gear load is pretty compact. Food usually takes half my pack space on big trips.

 

[SLDMTN]

I'm curious how you feel about the 5900 with food traveling in the load shelf. Could you make it work for 14 days if you did something like that? I'm interested in a smaller bag because my high country gear load is pretty compact. Food usually takes half my pack space on big trips.

Depending on how you run your hunts I think it would work really well. The only downside I could see with that is if you tagged out on day 2-3.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Depending on how you run your hunts I think it would work really well. The only downside I could see with that is if you tagged out on day 2-3.

Yeah, I make all my own backpacking food, so it would hurt a little less to leave food behind. But most of my hunting is in places I am assuming I'll be making two trips if I kill something. Solo hunting pretty much calls for it if I'm in backpack mode. All this is idle musing at the moment though. Nothing about my Kifaru Reckoning needs fixing yet... shiny gear syndrome is at work right now.

 

[Looney]

I'm curious how you feel about the 5900 with food traveling in the load shelf. Could you make it work for 14 days if you did something like that? I'm interested in a smaller bag because my high country gear load is pretty compact. Food usually takes half my pack space on big trips.

You can make almost any sized pack work if you're willing to get creative. I repackaged all of my dehydrated meals into two, segmented vac seal bags that were the height of my k3 frame. I put them both on the load shelf and was able to do 12 days in the wrangells out my exo 3500 bag.

 

[Fluxblister]

Anybody here have the Sky Talus 6900? Absolutely love mine. Best big pack I’ve ever had.