Opinions on Granite Gear Virga

Any personal experience with the Granite Gear Virga. Let me know good and bad.

Thanks.

Great ultralight pack, especially in its current incarnation, with the lightly padded (and supportive) hipbelt. Emphasis on "ultralight" - to use it successfully, you need to keep your load under 20 pounds, in my experience. You might be able to stretch that to 25,if you use a stiff back pad (stiffly inflated Neoair or Prolite, for example). Over 25, the back pad is irrelevant - the weight will begin to collapse the hipbelt, doubling it over.

I experimented with the original Virga, when it first came out (in the 90s?) and as long as you followed the above advice, it was a nice little pad; the hipbelt was just a narrow piece of webbing and not supportive at all, but you could make the pack work.

I also experimented last summer with the updated version, which had a padded hipbelt; it made the pack a real joy with a 20-pound load. In the end, though, I came to the conclusion that the pack was not suitable for me: my summer weekend load is about 17 pounds (including the weight of the pack) carrying only one liter of water and two days of food. So, if I needed to add more water (to handle a dry camp), or food for a couple extra days, or clothing for colder weather, I blew past 20 pounds quickly - and the hipbelt started collapsing.

If your style allows you to resolve that problem, this is a great pack for you. If you can't, then look for something else. (If you can keep you load below 30 pounds, take a hard look at the Granite Gear Crown VC 60; it's the next step up from the Virga.

I purchased the original virga with a front pocket added on by bearpawdesigns. My 4 season baseweight is under ten pounds so it sounds like it should meet my needs. Thanks for your input.

I'd forgotten that the original didn't have a shove-it pocket. The Virga 2 (better hipbelt) does, and it's a very nice additional feature. The only other improvement I could think of would be a pad sleeve (either inside or outside) to make it easier to keep the pad in place.

I hope you enjoy the pack - sounds like your base weight is in the right range.