Owner Review – Macpac Glissade Backpack

Name:  Rowdy Webb, male, age 32
Height: 6' 4" (193 cm)

Weight: 190-200 lb (86-91 kg)
Email address: rowdy at hp dot com
City, State, Country: Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.
Date: May 9, 2005

Backpacking Background: 

I’ve backpacked for most of my years, though recently it’s become a significant part of my life.  My summer pack weighs ~25 lb (11 kg) (without food or water), but still holds such luxuries as a tent, wonderful home-dried meals, a canister stove, a camp chair, and a Frisbee.  I hike between zero and 20 miles in a day.  Trips tend to be in the mountains between the months of June and September, but there are many exceptions.  Recent highlights include two month-long trips with my wife Melissa along the PCT through the nearby Oregon and Washington Cascades.

Product Information:

Manufacturer: Macpac

Purchased new in 1996

www.macpac.co.nz

Measured Weight, 1996 version: 5.5 lb (2.5 kg)

Listed Volume: unknown, about 4300 cu in (70 l)

MSRP, 2005 version: NZ$499, ~US$360

A note on the manufacturer:  Macpac, a company based in New Zealand, is just now offering its products through a few independent retailers in the US.  Macpac products have been very popular in their home country for decades, as well as being available in many other counties.  In the last few years—ie, after my pack was built—Macpac has begun manufacturing overseas.

The Glissade model is a medium to large size backpack.  It can be used on and off trail, an assessment I make based on its rugged construction and its slim and body-hugging design.  It has one large main compartment which can be divided via a light-weight zip-in panel.  A removable “butt-pack” lid snaps down over the main volume’s draw-string closure (as in many top-loading packs).  The main volume is also accessible via a beefy zipper that wraps around the pack 1/3 up from the base.  The lid has a main inner compartment accessible by another large zipper, as well as an almost-hidden zippered pocket for smaller items.  (I think it took me a year to find this one…!)  The hip belt and shoulder straps are modular and very adjustable.  The main material used is a very sturdy and waterproof canvas, though heavy.  Compression straps along the sides offer some flexibility in volume, as well as lash points for tent poles, wet gear, and the like.

I have worn this pack on 95% of my backpacking in the last nine years, which accounts for about four months total use, plus several weeks of non-backpacking travel.  (In fact, the most visible wear on the pack is the result of an extended fight with a conveyor belt!)  It has been through 1300 on-trail miles (2080 km) in the Cascades in Oregon and Washington, additional mountain miles in New Mexico, California and New Zealand, as well as beach hiking in Washington and Hawai’i.  Perhaps two weeks of the walking has been on rainy days, a number of which included downpours ranging from ten minutes to several hours in length.  Only a handful of days have been in the snow. The maximum weight I’ve hiked with is close to 60 lb (27 kg)—a weight the pack seemed comfortable with—though my average trailhead weight now is around 35 lb (16 kg).

My experience with the pack has been very positive.  It has become a trusted and respected backpacking partner.  I have had opportunities in the last few years to downsize to a slightly smaller pack of significantly less weight, but have always hesitated.

Of primary importance is comfort.  I have appreciated how the hip belt can rotate with respect to the load, allowing the hips to swing freely while still bearing the load well.  Also, the foam material in the straps is firm but comfortable, and has proven quite durable.  And, in general, the various adjustments have all proven useful (though those adjustments began slipping a couple years ago—a result of the buckles or the straps wearing, or both).

When well packed, and well adjusted, the pack has felt glued to my hips and back but hasn’t restricted my movement.  This is remarkable, and is perhaps common place with today’s advanced packs, but it does a solid job nonetheless of keeping with my center-of-gravity in unsteady terrain.

My experience has been that while the pack is not water-proof, the fabric has been waterproof, resulting in some dampness in items only near zippers and (worn?) seams, but bone-dry everywhere else.  I have never—and this is a source of pride and stubbornness—packed a pack cover or created an impromptu one. 

The tough materials work well on overgrown trails.  On the Na Pali Coast in Hawai’i, with encroaching brush threatening to cast me down the steep cliffs, I was not afraid to lean the pack into the stubborn brush.  Something did manage to carve a small hole in the fabric a few years back—perhaps a varmint or a very sharp rock.

The pack has been repaired three times over its life.  This speaks to how much I abuse my equipment and how much I have appreciated this pack.  All repairs have been fixing up the one hole and replacing stitching which has worked loose due to my incessant strap wrenching.  (While it is difficult/costly to return the pack to Macpac for repair, local repair folks have enjoyed the challenge of fixing gear they haven’t seen before.)  It is clear, however, that if Macpac wanted to increase the overall durability of the pack a notch or two, it would only need to concentrate on the stitching, and perhaps some of the lesser nylon material used inside the pack.  (This may have already happened.)

Now that many of the main straps are showing significant wear, I seriously consider replacing the pack.  It will be a difficult parting.

Conclusion:

The Glissade offers a secure and generally water-tight place for my stuff on the trail.  It is heavy but bomber.

Top Likes:

·         Aztec material durability

·         Waterproof materials/water-resistant pack

·         Simplicity and flexibility of design

Top Dislikes:

·         Few pockets on the outside (something added in later versions, though at the expense of added weight)

·         Some stitching and the nylon material used at the top of the main pack section don’t come close to matching the Aztec durability (so they break down well before most of the pack)