Thanks for all the replies. This will definitely give me food for thought as I begin to acquire all of my gear! (I just picked up my bag (Montbell Spiral Down Hugger #1 for $263 with the 20% discount at backcountry! I was tempted to quickly buy a pack since the 20% ends on the 28th, but figured it would be better to wait till i do a little more research into the packs suggested. The 20% off code is 56L-1-C3JBA if anyone is interested).