Climbing pack for a small woman

My wife needs a new pack and we're having a hard time finding something that does a nice job and fits her.

We do mostly medium to long moderates (think solar slab, nutcracker, etc...) up to 5.9-ish and she wants to be able to carry her approach shoes (if possible, otherwise those dangle from the harness), 2L of water (camelbak style), our snacks and gels, some emergency supplies (emergency blanket, etc...) and maybe a very light puffy.

Her issue isn't the torso length (she's 19.5", so pretty standard despite being only 5'5"), but rather that the shoulder straps are too wide and thus tend to cut in to her neck (exacerbated by raising her arms over her head).

Until now, she's been climbing in a camelbak aventura (20l 2.2lbs) which was a great fit and very comfortable, but on the heavy side. She tried the new summitrocklet 30 (half the weight of her old pack) and the shoulder straps were too wide. Additionally, she'd probably prefer something just a tad less bulky...something in the 20l range?

So is there anything that splits the difference? Preferably made for women or at least having some of the comfort of the camelbak women's lines, but without quite so much weight and durable for climbing (though probably not outright hauling)? What are the shoulder straps on the petzl bug like?

Get A Cilo gear 20 liter worksack, ask Graham to sew the shoulder straps closer together. You could even give him the width that you are looking for. for that matter I bet there are any number of custom pack makers that would sew up a pack with a narrow shoulder profile. I know Graham does things like this on a regular basis for people. He is very easy to work with and makes it easy to buy from him. Cilo Gear packs are amazing pieces of kit.
Dallen

Sunny-D wrote:Get A Cilo gear 20 liter worksack, ask Graham to sew the shoulder straps closer together. You could even give him the width that you are looking for. for that matter I bet there are any number of custom pack makers that would sew up a pack with a narrow shoulder profile. I know Graham does things like this on a regular basis for people. He is very easy to work with and makes it easy to buy from him. Cilo Gear packs are amazing pieces of kit. Dallen

This is a common problem for small women. I have a 14.5 inch torso, and there is literally nothing out there that fits, that is a light climbing pack. Every pack that is supposed to be small (even the cilogear) doesn't fit. All of these packs are made for men and I don't think the straps are made to fit the contours of women very well. For example, I have a BD BeeBee and the sternum strap does not slide up the pack straps high enough, so it fastens across my lower ribs.

Since your wife is not short, the Golite Jam pack might work well. I tried out my mom's Jam pack in the Tetons and I liked it alot (but alas it was a tad too long for me). The straps are small and fit me well. However, they just came out with new versions of the Jam pack in multiple volumes and they no longer have a "women's" version, so I don't know if the straps will still fit a woman well. The pack has no suspension and minimal padding on the shoulder/hips. It also has a neat feature that lets you collapse the bottom of it. This is an awesome pack for long climbs because you can load it up for the approach, and then collapse it down for the climb. If only Golite made it for short people, it would be perfect.

I had the same problem looking for a small climbing pack. In the smaller capacities, it seems most brands dispense with their torso sizing and go with "one size fits all", which of course it doesn't. I am 5'4" and have a pretty small torso and narrow shoulders even for my height, and I went with Osprey because they had a small torso size option and it was the only small pack I tried on that fit well. I have the Talon 5.5, and it is very light and comfortable even on hot days, I barely notice it when I'm climbing, and it is just big enough for what I'd want to bring up a climb for a day. I use a 2 liter camelbak bladder with it and have room for food, headlamp, extra layer. My approach shoes still go on my harness but I prefer it that way, but they do make an 11 liter I think which might work for you also. Really she just needs to try a bunch on because comfort and fit is probably the most important factor for something you'll be climbing with.

multi-pitch day routes...BD Bullet or equiv. My wife loves hers and she is beautifully small : )

gearwhore wrote:multi-pitch day routes...BD Bullet or equiv. My wife loves hers and she is beautifully small : )

I am 5'6" (similar torso length as your wife) and use a BD Hollowpoint for anything other than multi-day traverses where weight is a major consideration. It's held up well with grovelly chimneys routes and it's a good value.

Adding:
I'm hard on packs and sold my CiloGear when it ripped after just one climb.

You should be able to fit her inside of a Metolius Quarter Dome haul bag. Nice cinch on top to keep the "load" enclosed.

The best small pack I've used for multi-pitching is the petzl bug. They ride high enough that you can rack gear on the harness and use a chalk bag on a belt without the least bit of interference.

one of the various bullet style packs ... anywhere from 15-20L

one girl whose like 5 foot uses an onsight bullet style pack just fine ...

be sure to try the pack on first

CCW Ozone. You can call Randy, explain the shoulder strap problem and see if he can modify the straps for you. The packs are hand made in NH, and he's great to work with. He modified my Valdez by putting in a water bladder sleeve and it has worked out great.

As a follow up, my wife ended up with both a BD bullet (loves the fit, not so much the features) and a Mammut Lithia Z 20 Pack. The latter is her perfect climbing day pack. She loves both the fit and the features and it is the pack she would recommend for long multipitch days.

This Metolius works well!

I'm 5'5" with a short torso and the BD Bullet works well for me.