Overnight Pack Question

Good question soo...

The answer is - it depends.  I've done both - big pack (80L) with little pack (18L) strapped to it and over filled my turing pack (50L) and just had the one.  The 80 18 combo is more for hut trips where you take the kitchen sink (and stake and wine and whiskey and ...) for three or more days.  The 50L is great for multi day trips more ultra-light backpack style since all the stuff goes in but the pack tightens down for the day tours too.   The avalung is a different story since that's getting into the areas of safety and comfort.  Do you really need it?  Do you feel naked without it?  Are you going to be skiing questionable slopes on questionable days?  My take is that I never want a piece of safety gear when I need it (especially in an avy situation). 

You can always stuff the avalung pack inside you big pack or just distribute the load between the two and strap it on.   Also, day touring with a big pack kind of sucks and I'm not too keen on duck taping/lashing or any other home made methods of getting gear to stay on a smaller pack.  In my experience it just breaks when you get to far from the trail head to turn back.

Also, the pulk option is a good choice (if it fits your trip) and hopefully I'll pick one up today for an upcoming 7 day hut trip starting this Friday - if not it's the 80 18 option.

Enjoy your trip, be safe and post you trip (let us see your set up)

cd

It depends on your overnighters...are you staying out on a long (longer than 4 days) trip or are you doing multiple smaller 2-3 day trips?

This may or may not help - I've used my Jansport Goshawk as a multiday (2-3 days) overnight pack and doubled it as a day pack since leading trips around GNP in 2002. It's a 2450 cu. in. pack that works very well in doubling as an overnight/daypack. It has lots of straps for axes, climbing gear, pockects for skis, and has been my favorite pack. I can carry enough food, gear, gas, and my avalung to last me comfortably for 3-4 days. I also have a 7000 cu. in. NF Omega pack that works well for doing long trips (such as backpacking in Nepal or Thailand), but I find it extremely bulky for overnight touring and burdensome to bring a second, smaller pack with in to the bc, so I try to not do that. I have also used my Osprey 25+5 for a one night overnighter, but it works better like it's designed for - a yo-yoing day pack.

Either way, I would say unless you are planning on staying out for a week or more, look into ways of consolidating into your avalung pack, or look into getting a pack around 3000 cu. in. My roommate has the avalung pack and says that it works best as a day pack. I tried the 2nd pack thing when I was first getting into mountaineering, and find that the one pack method works best (for me). Bringing another small pack is just a pain IMHO...takes up room in the pack that could be used for other things, but just my $.02

Folks,

Thanks for the ideas-- a great combination of experience, ingenuity, and a little madness. I'm also relieved to see I'm not the only one who obsesses about this kind of thing. Think I'll try for the OR stuff sack/pack in the larger pack maybe with the separate Avalung attached.

I'll definitely post a TR from Roger's.

Rubes