How to Adjust a Gregory Backpack

Gregory backpacks are widely respected for their excellent design and comfort. However, like any pack, they require adjustment to carry a load properly. When adjusting your Gregory pack, load it down with a normal trek's weight of gear, and tighten its compression system. This will simulate a trail configuration and give you an accurate idea of how your pack fits.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step 1

Slip your arms through the backpack's loose shoulder straps. Tighten the shoulder straps until the straps rest snugly across the middle of your shoulders and down across your chest and latissimus dorsi muscles. You should feel some weight on your shoulders through the straps.

Step 2

Secure the waist belt snugly around your hips. The pack's lowest back pad should sit at the base of your back's lumbar curve just at the top of the pelvis bones. The waistbelt should 'surround' the very top of your hips, 2" above and 2" below the iliac crest.

Step 3

Reach to the back of the hip belt and tighten both load adjustment straps evenly. You should feel the pack's weight moving in toward your hips, and most of the pack's load should now be placed on your hips and legs.

Step 4

Snap the sternum strap together to secure the shoulder straps across your chest. Tighten the strap just enough to give stability, not so much that the straps cut across your neck.

Step 5

Adjust the load straps above your shoulders to bring the pack close across your upper back. The load lifter straps are not designed to bring the pack closer to your body as many people assume; this is usually the case when your pack is too long. When fit correctly, tightening them will lift the weight off of your shoulders, and onto your hips.

Step 6

Take several test hikes with your pack loaded. Make any adjustments needed to make the weight distribution more comfortable and stable.

Tips & Warnings

Comfort is important, but keep in mind support needs for long-term load hauling. Keep the pack's weight low across your hips, and test the pack over several miles as well as on short jaunts.

Resources

Article Written By Greg Johnson

Greg Johnson earned his Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from The Ohio University. He has been a professional writer since 2008, specializing in outdoors content and instruction. Johnson's poetry has appeared in such publications as "Sphere" and "17 1/2 Magazine."

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