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One of the things I need to get right for the TGO Challenge in May, is to get my pack right. I especially need to get a comfortable pack to carry my trail weight and not to load up my shoulders. I don’t know the reason for sure, but in recent years I haven’t been able to carry weight on my shoulders like I used to, and if I do, I land up in great discomfort. It’s probably because of my light frame and my penchant for carrying heavy stuff on it over many years. (Schoolbags, cameras, kids, etc) This is something I can bear for a day or so, but is going to be out of the question for 2 weeks.

Since 2006, I have been using an Aarn Natural Balance pack, which has gotten me through some longer trails of upto 8 days or so without causing shoulder discomfort. Apart from the bio-mechanical advantages of the pack, the pack itself basically supports most of the carried weight on the hips. Additionally, the shoulder straps are cross-linked with a balancing strap that runs below the load such that the wearer can raise or lower their shoulders without running into the harness restriction of a normal pack. This has worked quite well for me, and I have attached larger front pockets to accommodate camera gear etc to great advantage. It’s an older model pack and I have become aware that there have been many small improvements to the performance and the weight of the current models from Aarn. In fact, I came across a post on Julian Thomas’ Blog describing a new Aarn pack that looked to be both lighter and better than what I currently use.

That Pack is called the Mountain Magic. It comes in 44 and 55L versions and is due for release in the first few months of 2010. Aarn Tate has taken his successful Marathon Magic pack and increased it’s capacity while retaining the features of the pack. I was lucky to get to use a production prototype for several days recently while ‘tramping’ in New Zealand, and I’m happy to report that the pack lives up to expectations. Features like the shoulder balancing (‘U-Flow’ in Aarn-speak) work so smoothly that my old pack now seems distinctly agricultural… One of the annoyances of my old pack was that the hipbelt tensioning was buried under the front pockets, and was difficult to operate when they were in place – the tensioning straps on this pack are now just forward of the hips and easy to access.

For the tramp in NZ, I loaded the Mountain Magic up with about my expected challenge trail weight and took it on the relatively easy Nydia Track in the Pelorus Sounds area of the south island with my two sons. The weather was warmer than expected, and a lot warmer than it will be in Scotland but I’m happy to report that the pack performed faultlessly. I was able to carry my DSLR and zoom in one of the front pockets (a bit of a squeeze, but I plan to take a smaller/lighter camera on the challenge) and the pack hung on my back like a limpet without introducing restrictions in movement or stress on my shoulders.

As you can see from the photos, the scenery on the Track is gorgeous. Much of the walking is through temperate rainforest, and the climbs are long but not steep. Curiously, we met no other walkers on the trip, and our overnight accomodation at the excellent Te Mahoerangi Eco Lodge in Nydia Bay was otherwise unoccupied. We must have been too early for the tramping season, as I have heard it gets quite busy over summer.

At the end of the walk (Duncan Bay), we were entertained by this inquisitive bird. Someone told us it was probably a ‘Weka’ but we haven’t confirmed that yet. [Update] It’s the Weka all right: Wikipedia Link

I’ve ordered the Mountain Magic 55L version as I think the 44L might be pushing it a bit once I load a few days food. Should be here in March.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Life..., Photography, TGO Challenge, Walking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.