Prototype bear canister backpack

Outdoor Retailer: Packs from Sierra Designs, Granite Gear
by Tom Mangan
posted Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 7:13 am

The dozens of packs I saw at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market last week are mostly a blur this week. I do recall a nifty Granite Gear model built to wrap around a bear canister (see below), but today it's obvious I missed the most interesting pack news at OR: Sierra Designs' "Fulcrum Suspension" for its new line of day and overnight packs.

Even if I'd seen these packs, I could've easily glossed over their significance amid a thousand competing claims for innovative designs. Check out these images and see what you think: The picture at right is the new Fulcrum frame -- a single aluminum stay attached to a plastic shoulder piece at the top and a hip piece at the bottom (with a little swivel for more mobility). The middle picture shows thick pads that create a gap presumably big enough to ventilate the middle of the back.


... Granite Gear Nimbus Core pack
At Winter OR 2010, Granite Gear unveiled its line of Bear Hugs stuff sacks, designed to help backpackers elegantly cram stuff around their bear canisters, which are inherently unwieldy. Next spring GG will take that idea to its logical extreme: a pack that wraps around a bear canister.

The Nimbus Core looks a bit like it has a missile silo in the middle, where the bear canister goes. Lateral compartments can be pulled snug against the can, and another cinch strap closes the top area.

The Granite Gear Nimbus Core weighs 3 pounds, 12 ounces and will retail for $259.95. It will come in regular and short-torso sizes. As Granite Gear's publicity materials note, this pack's core need not be reserved only for a bear canister. Anything big and bulky you might want to carry along (whether it's a wet tent or watermelon) could be stowed in there.

The Nimbus Core uses a new Granite Gear new suspension system combining the "Advection" back panel and the "Topoflex" frame sheet (pictured at right). Topoflex employs a single pivot at the shoulder and hip belt attachment points, while Advection is essentially a foam grille designed to enhance air flow between the back and the frame sheet.


http://www.trailspace.com/blog/2010/08/12/outdoor-retailer-packs-from-sierra-designs-granite-gear.html

Reminds me of an old, and favorite, backpack I had; the North Face "Back Magic." That was the most comfortable pack I ever had. The pack attached to the hip belt with an hourglass shaped piece of flexible plastic. It allowed your hips to move without the whole pack having to move.

I don't need a backpack anymore though.... two bear canisters plus some other gear fit just nicely on each side of the llama packs.

I've had the GG Nimbus Meridian for a couple of years now...
I use it when I need to take the larger Garcia bearcan on trips > 4 days.
A bearcan fits in the bottom of this pack already.
I know the vault can fit in it too but not as nicely.

This pack seems gimmicky to me.

I agree.

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Old Dude