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Hey, I am Christine Hostener and I want to show you a couple of things about sizing and buying the perfect backpack. Now, if you have not seen the short video clip that we did on measuring your torso, go check that out because that is a key of information that you just have to know when you are walking going outdoor shopping to get fitted or shop for backpacks. So let me tell you a couple of things, couple of steps, things to do here. First of all, whenever you are trying a backpack, don’t even bother trying it on unless you have loaded some weight into it, because any backpack is going to feel good on your back when it is empty, right? so what we have here is about 20 pounds loaded into this pack. In an outdoor shop, they often have sandbags which you can load in. If they don’t have sandbags, try big tents, climbing ropes or anything like that to just give you – I would take 15 to 20 pounds just so that the pack settles correctly on your back and you get good sense of the fit. So we have got the weight loaded in here. Before you try and pack make sure all the straps are loosen, the shoulder straps here, load straps, and the belt, make sure they are nice and loose then you are just going to get in to the pack, you know, lean forward a little bit. The first thing you always want to attach when you are putting on a backpack is hip belt. That way, when you are leaning forward, you can kind of position the hip belt properly on your hips. Tighten it up and then when you stand up properly it should be resting, right nicely right around your hips where the weight should be. The next thing you want to do is crank down on the shoulder straps, like that. You are looking for straps that wrap nicely around the shoulders and you are also looking for shoulder straps that are narrow enough or wide enough for your shoulders. If they are too wide, you are going to get pinched on either sides of your shoulder. If they are too narrow for you, if you are broad chested and they are too narrow for you, you are just going to feel kind of like they are ripping into your shoulders. You want to disperse that weight over the width of the shoulder strap. So get your shoulder straps in position, then you can go for your load lift just back here and generally speaking, load lift should be at about 45 degree angle from the crest of your shoulders up there. And what they do is they just give you another way to adjust and shift the weight. So I know this pack fits me really well. I just cut back from a week long trip. I wore this pack and loved it. It felt great, carrying weight over the course of the trip, about 40 pounds. Here is another strap which is kind of optional especially for women. It is called the sternum strap and a lot of times you can adjust that up and down with the length of the shoulder strap as well if you like it higher or lower. But the key thing to remember when you find the pack that fits is don’t be afraid to play around with these adjustments. You have got the shoulder straps, if you loosen them up, you feel the weight settle back from your lumbar area into your hips and if your shoulders get sore that is a great way to kind of give them a little bit of a rest rate. Then your hips may start to get sore after a while so crank down on your shoulder straps and that pulls the weight back up into your upper back area. Fine tuning is really something that you have to do throughout the course of the day because if you are carrying a heavy pack, it is never going to feel perfect all the time. You just need to really learn how to play with the straps and get it to work comfortably for you.
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