[pct-l] Fw: Gossamer Gear packs anyone?

[Marcia]

Subject: [pct-l] Gossamer Gear packs anyone?


Popping seams has never happened to us. Torn mesh has but that falls into the category of user error. We are careful with our packs but a bushwhack (as opposed to a cross country hike) always seems to tear something (jacket, bandana, skin or pack). We try to put everything inside the pack to have a slimmer profile when bushwhacking. 

We both hiked the CDT and the AT with the green GVPs. For the ADT we each used two blue Mariposasfor 5000 miles. We do not tend to max out a pack and did not have a seam splitting problem, but on one of the packs Ken's hipbelt started pulling out, a problem that was quickly taken care of by Glen. A lightweight pack that lasts 2500 miles seems like fair value to me.

I think the sun causes the most deterioration to a pack, fading the top and front which then fray. All gear at the end of a thru is dirty, smelly, worn, frayed and sun damaged just like the hiker that carried it. 

I read about, but did not get to see, the Mann's modified 8-oz Mariposas. I would like to know how those packs fared!

YMMV
Marcia

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Eric Payne 
To: pct-l at backcountry.net 
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 9:29 AM
Subject: [pct-l] Gossamer Gear packs anyone?


Does anyone have any experience using a Gossamer Gear pack on a long-distance hike?  Nearly all of the reviews I've read are by people who take them out for the occassional weekend.  I have read a few accounts by people taking them on long hikes, and saying that eventually the seams give out when you max out the pack, and the mesh has a tendancy to tear.  This is frustrating because the Miniposa seems like the perfect pack for me, but I hesitate to buy the pack knowing that it will probably give out on me when carrying heavy water loads or 10 day resupplies through the Sierra's.  Perhaps someone has experience to the contrary?  



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