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Reviews > Packs > Internal and External Framed Backpacks > Granite Gear Nimbus Latitude Ki > Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd > Long Term Report
The Long Term testing period for the
Granite Gear Ki has included nine days of hiking spread out over four
trips. Most hikes were overnighters, with one three-day trip thrown
in over Labor Day weekend. All of my Long Term testing took place in
the Sierra Nevada during the summer months. This means mild
conditions (of the 'not too hot, not too cold' variety), with occasional
rain but mostly dry air. Overall, my opinion of the pack is quite
positive. My experiences with the Ki on each of these trips are
as follows. July 30-31, Lyell Canyon,
Yosemite This was an enjoyably easy overnight hike in the high
country of Yosemite National Park. Although we had quite a hiking
party - a sendoff for a friend who was hiking the John Muir Trail - I
carried a self-sufficient load with no shared gear. In addition to
my normal summer load I carried some rain gear and bug netting. I
usually don't worry too much about these things in the summer in
California, but this year they were necessary. My typical summer
load filled the Ki nicely - all of the space was used carefully so
that very little extra space remained, but I did have a bit of a
struggle to get all of my gear into that space. The Ki has taught me things about being creative and
smart in packing that I never had to learn when using a top loading
pack. When the Ki is opened fully it is like a dissected frog.
It lays on its back (the harness side) and the front panel can open up so
all of the interior is visible from top to bottom. If I try to shove
in all of my gear in an unorganized fashion it can tumble back out or
leave pockets of unused space. If I am careful and think about
how to distribute the gear within the space I have available I find that I
can fit more than I thought, and as an added bonus it is so much easier to
find things! This was a lesson I learned on this trip. I rather
hastily threw everything into the Ki and for some reason I just couldn't
get it to fit. I couldn't figure out why - it was essentially
the same load I carried on the previous trip, plus a few small odds and
ends. As I sat on my living room floor with my gear spread around me
in a frustration-induced mess, I decided to take the calm and organized
approach. I carefully placed everything - sleeping bag in the
bottom, Tarptent along the side, Jetboil and sleeping pad in the middle,
clothes stuff sack on the other side, bag of small items at the
top, and other miscellaneous small items and water bottles in the exterior
pockets. Everything fit with room to spare. Ever since that packing experience I have packed the Ki in
the same way. If I am organized and careful I can fit everything I
need, and often have extra space (which I use to decompress my down
sleeping bag). If I am hasty and disorganized the pack just doesn't
work - gear tumbles out when I unzip it, I can't find what I need, and I
can't fit everything I want. I've learned to think more critically
about the gear I carry, how I will pack it, and how I will access
it. This, in turn, has made my backpacking experience overall more
enjoyable. It's nice to know exactly where something is when I need
it. Especially since, with the panel access at the top and bottom, I
can get to gear anywhere in the Ki whenver I need it. September 3,4,5 - Emigrant Wilderness Over Labor Day weekend my husband and I did a ~30 mile (48
km) hike in Emigrant Wilderness, a part of the Sierra Nevada just north of
Yosemite. The plan was to hike in to Gem Lake on day one and
set up camp. On day two we did a big dayhike loop around
the basin of lakes in the area, returning to camp at the end of the day,
and on day three we hiked out via a different route than the one we came
in on. Since I did not want to carry the weight of an extra daypack
for our day two loop, I just carried the Ki with an empty load - a bit of
food, a jacket, my camera, and a water bottle. Again, I carried a self-sufficient load on this
hike. My husband and I often share gear, but our respective testing
activities required that we each have our own shelters and I provide the
cook gear. This time, I was armed with the knowledge of how to pack
the Ki efficiently and I was well rewarded. On our stops I knew
exactly where to go to get my camera, sunglasses, snack, or jacket,
without digging through a dark cavern of unorganized gear. It was on
this hike that I truely learned to love my newfound organized packing
capabilities - both on a personal skill level and a Ki design level.
I'll never play the "shove it all in until it fits" game again! Using the Ki as a daypack is not the most comfortable or
efficient use for it, but it still works. The pack is small enough
that there isn't a ridiculous amount of extra bulk, and the compression
straps are great at shrinking the body size down so that it's not flopping
around on my back. I have used other packs of similar volume that
would not do this, and the Ki is much easier to use in such a
situation. I would not choose to use the Ki this way on a regular
basis, but in a pinch it performed better than I
expected. There is one thing I really don't like about the Ki, and
that is that it does not breathe well. What was supposed to be a
cool rainy weekend in Yosemite ended up being a hot and exposed hike along
the Hetch Hetchy reservoir (thanks, National Weather Service). I
broke quite a sweat on this ~20 mile (32 km) round trip hike, especially
on day two as the sun poured down and reflected off the water and
granite. At one point I removed the Ki and realized my back was a
dripping fountain of sweat. I was actually able to wring a
stream of water out of the synthetic top I was wearing. The back
panel of the Ki was also soaked to the touch. When I'm moving with the
pack on I don't notice the buildup of moisture, but when I take the Ki off
it is very obvious. At one point I stepped on a slanted piece of
glacier-smoothed granite and took a forward tumble. I skinned my
knee and scratched up my hand (and squished the bag of dried cherries
I was eating at the time), but I was happy about the Ki. Since the
Ki carries the weight of its load low, there was no top-heaviness to
propel me forward when I fell. If anything, it held me back a bit so
that I could control my fall a bit more than expected.
I also started to pay attention to the Ki's durability on
this hike. Our campsite was in a pine forest and there was sap
everywhere. I got sap all over the bottom of the Ki and at first
glance I thought it was a rip! Fortunately it was just sap. In
the morning the cold temperatures allowed me to pick the sap off
easily. There are still some places on the bottom of the pack where
the sap has crystallized a bit, but this doesn't affect the Ki's
performance. After the brief heart attack thinking the sap stain was a
tear, I inspected the pack carefully to see if I should have any concerns
about it. I couldn't find a single bit of damage. Considering
how I treat the pack and regularly drag it across rock and wood, the
bottom is remarkably free of markings or signs of use. The interior
pocket that I discussed in detail in my Field Report shows the most signs
of use, since I usually drag that around camp with me for various
reasons. There are a few scuff-like marks along the front stretchy
panel, but no signs of actual damage to the material. The waterproof
zippers that I was concerned about are still going strong, even after a
few trips where the Ki was stuffed to its maximum capacity. October 22-23, Penner Lake, Tahoe National
Forest This was the first trip with the Ki where I wasn't carrying all the
gear I needed. I was sharing a shelter with my husband and he
carried it, which freed up quite a bit of space in the Ki. With all
the extra space I was able to loosely pack my sleeping bag and bulkier
clothing like a fleece jacket, so the interior space was still mostly used
to capacity. Since the Ki doesn't have 'expandable' space like an
extension collar, this showed me that there is a bit of versatility in
what can be packed inside. The internal compression system works
extremely well to make the 'extra space' just disappear, even though it
doesn't look any different from the outside. I also had another first with the Ki on this trip - I used it as a
sleeping pad! Our shelter was pitched on a slight incline. My head
was on the higher end, and to keep myself from sliding 'downhill'
overnight, I put the Ki, flattened out with the back panel facing up,
under my feet. This propped up the end of my sleeping pad a bit so
that I was on a flatter surface. Overnight my feet rested on
the back panel of the Ki (which has a nice amount of padding to
it), and they stayed warm even though they weren't on my
pad. I also woke up in the same place - the pack kept me
from sliding downhill overnight. The flat padded back
panel didn't introduce any weird lumpiness to my sleep system, so I
didn't even notice it was there. Conclusions Testing the Granite Gear Ki was not only fun, it was educational!
I learned how to pack in an organized and efficient way, something I was
not very good at before. The unique Granite Gear design with the
front panel took a bit of getting used to, but now I am spoiled with
the versatility of it; I don't see myself being happy with top loading
packs anymore. Other than the breathability problems the Ki was very
comfortable and carried my gear quite well. I like the balance of
the pack when I am hiking - there is no awkward top-heaviness to it, and
it is out of the way so I can look around and enjoy the views. The
Ki and I seem to be a good match - it fits my style and body well,
and I look forward to many more hikes with it. Read more reviews of Granite Gear gear Read more gear reviews by Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd Reviews > Packs > Internal and External Framed Backpacks > Granite Gear Nimbus Latitude Ki > Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd > Long Term Report | |||||||||||||
October 15-16,
Tiltill Valley, Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite National Park