"I could get some aluminium or delrin rods to use these instead of the arrow straight carbon ones as these would actually take the form of my back."

I personally wouldn't bother; I was happy with the CF stays, I don't see how stays that are the "form of my back" would help.


"Was the weight concentrated on your hips with the mariposa plus ? Did you use the foam inserts for the hipbelt or did you just stuff it with some spare clothes ?"

The stays do help some with load transfer, as does having a stiff pad inserted in the pad slot --- I just use the tri-fold torso pad that they (GG) sell. In terms of weight being concentrated on hips --- in any pack, that's a lot to do with the individual and how they wear the pack. I.e., cinch the pack strap up tight enough and more (or all) of the weight is on your shoulders. I tend to leave them somewhat looser to put the majority of weight on my hips. The GG isn't the best pack in the world in this regard, but if you get your overall gear weight down, then also lightening the weight of the pack itself means there is hopefully a lot less weight to be transering to any part of your body!

I did use the foam inserts in the hipbelt, as well as in the shoulder straps. My personal opinion is that trying to put small articles of clothing in would be a PITA, not worth the very minor weight savings. But I'm not an ultra-light backpacker, my base weight is in the 14 - 15 pound range for a typical trip.

One caveat on the 2008 and earlier version of the Mariposa is that the rumors of getting stains on the back of your shirt from the pack are true, or at least have been true for me ... the dye they use on the black mesh that holds the pad in. There might be something that can be done to minimize this (?), or just wear a shirt you don't care about, especially for the first few trips you take with this pack. It stains things a sort of dark purple color, if I recall correctly.