Gossamer Gear G4 users.

I have used my old G4 only for winter trips because it became uncomfortable when loaded above 20 pounds.

However, I loaded it wrong recently and now think I can carry up to 35 pounds with a minimum of suffering.

The wrong way that increases the comfortable load limit is to put the heavy food in the bottom of the pack close to your body. I used bladders with 6 quarts of water to simulate 6 nights of food. I then rolled the RidgeRest and loaded all my gear inside, then put 2 quarts of water in each side pocket.

It was semi-comfortable with just the gear and simulated food. It was still tolerable with the 4 quarts added to the side pockets.

How do other G4 users load their packs?

Dick, I too roll my Ridgerest around the outside, bag goes in the bottom, jackets and soft stuff goes around the bag to fill out the bottom of the pack. My water goes on the outside side net pockets. Food and other stuff goes on top of the bag. I've only packed mine to 25 lbs. but pack socks and such in the straps instead of using foam padding.

Pretty much the same as Dryer with a few exceptions.
1- I fold my big ol' honking Thermarest into thirds, shove it inside the pack and flat against my back, kinda like a flexible, padded framesheet
2- Heavier items are in the mid to upper portion of the pack (placing them there works better for me than placing them low).
3- I leave my shoulder straps empty. I tried putting my socks in there but I sweat too much and they get soaked.
4- I don't use the hipbelt, it makes my lower back and hips ache

I frequently pack mine in the 30 - 35 lb category and do not find that uncomfortable. When I go that heavy my shoulders get a little sore after 4 - 5 hours but nothing serious.

I love my G4. The light weight of the pack allows me to carry more creature comforts, camera gear, and other assorted odds and ends that I would otherwise leave home because it would make too heavy of a load.

I bend my pack stays to a curve that leaves a minimum 4" gap between the stays and a flat surface. The curve of my back has always been a barrier to my effective use of frameless packs.

You both use the recommended loading technique.

It works for me to put the weight right behind the belt so that it is more like wearing a heavy lumbar pack. The pack leans back and leverages against the shoulder straps when I use the standard technique.

The G4 is a great design. I am excited that I may be able to retire my beast-hauler for desert hiking.

You piqued my curiosity. The G4 doesn’t come with stays. What did you build yours out of and how/where in/on the pack did you mount them?

I have stays in McHale Zero-SARC and Six Moon Designs StarLite. The G4 does NOT have stays. For me the issue is that a straight pack frame will not work at higher weights.

I find my G4 to be comfy only into the low 20s lbs. I use my thermarest chair sling nested inside my prolite 3s to create a bit of a frame. Soon I want to sew a silnylon chair sling with customized stays to shed some more weight and maybe increase the comfortable limit of the pack.

So I just got one, my first frameless pack, and well......haha, am trying to figure out how to use it.

I first packed it like Dryer said (I think), putting the tightly rolled up ccf pad in, loosening up the pad to have a hole in the center of the pad, and putting everything inside the now expanded, but still rolled up pad. Put in the tarptent first, then packed everything around it. Sleeping bag/clothes on bottom, food bag on top; odds and ends in outside mesh. There was loose space on both sides of the bottom of the pack between the pack and pad, so I took some small clothing out of the middle, and placed it outside of the pad on the bottom of the pack to fill up the empty voids, thinking the pack would ride better. Just walking around the house, however, the sleeping bag and clothing began to fall out of the bottom of the pad; actually the pad was riding up and not wanting to contain the interior contents anymore.

Have y'all had this happen? I wasn't using a trash compactor at the time, but am planning to....will this help? Should I place the food bag more deliberately on the edges of the rolled up pad to weigh it down (rather than just in the center of the rolled up pad); but the food would almost assuredly shift while moving.


So then I thought to fold my 3/4 length, ccf pad in half lengthwise and putting it in (looks like a sort of "U" shape looking at it from profile view); having a padded frame for the back, and keeping the pad low in the pack because you place everything in the bend of the U shape of the pad. Placed the tarptent on one open side of the U towards the side of the pack, and loading everything else on the other side of the pack, sleeping bag first, then clothes, and food on top.

DownsD, I too thought to do it your way (as is suggesting on the manufacturers' site), fold it in thirds and put it flat against the back. Do you put it inside the pack or outside in the sleeve?

Just looking for ideas on how to better use my pad as a frame with the pack....

Or do I just need to learn that a pad really doesn't give too much support in the way of carrying a load with this pack?

Is this with a G4? the G4 has a "fat" bottom bit to allow for putting a sleeping bag in there, but because of that it may not work as well with the "roll the ccf pad in a tube and put everything inside it". I've tried that method with a number of frameless packs and the "roll it up in a tube" method definately works best with frameless packs that are just basically a plain old bag on straps, no shape to it to speak of. Now, I'm not a g4 user, but I know the g4 suggests using the pad folded up as a
back sheet rather than a tube.

Yes, this is a G4. Well, actually, a GV4 as Tango described it, who I just bought it from on the Buy/Sell forum (which he said he bought it used from someone on here too). Looking at pics of the actual G4, my pack looks like the precursor to the G4; the only noticeable different is the strip of webbing in the center of the pack (side opposite to shoulder straps) starting just above the mesh and used to close the top.

Anyway, I was loading it with my summer bag inside the rolled pad with nothing underneath. If I were to load it with my large (volume) winter bag, I'm thinking it'll work really well to put that on the bottom, then use the rolled pad frame on top of my bag. I guess I could try it too with my summer bag and use clothes to beef up the volume I'm putting down there, to then put the rolled pad on top of. Only thing then, there isn't a whole lot else to pack inside the rolled pad frame if I'm stuffing the bottom of my pack with bag/clothes. So perhaps that is my answer, stuff the bottom with bag/clothes, and use the pad as a folded back sheet (as is suggested) rather than a rolled pad frame.

My big 'ol honking Therma Rest is too big to fit in the outside sleeve as recommended by Glenn. After I fold it to the desired width, I stuff it inside my pack, flat, like a big frame sheet.