How to Choose & Wear Your Backpack ( ‘Cause it’s Back-To-School Time!)
Our paperless society push hasn’t quite trickled down all the way to the world of academia. Although many of us now have smartphones, iPads & laptops, the size and weight of the backpacks that students carry still seem to be increasing! Much of this is attributed to the growing attendance & lack of lockers in many schools; and a shrinkage of time between classes for students to use lockers that may be available.
Fear not, for some valuable advice from the outdoors world can provide added comfort & reinforce healthy posture as students prepare to carry backpacks for the upcoming school year!
Get a pack with a hip belt.
The hip belt pulled tightly around your waist allows your legs and hips to carry the majority of the pack weight. This allows the shoulder harness to help balance the rest. All packs from Patagonia & The North Face come with a hip belt & carry comfortably. The belt doesn’t have to be heavily padded or even articulated to do the job.
Organize to Eliminate Redundancy.
A good backpacker always knows where he keeps certain items in his pack. In a school setting this will help you quickly find that calculator, #2 pencil or ear buds but it will also help prevent you from carrying multiples of some items. Packs such as the Borealis, Heckler, Jester & W Recon all have organize pockets for items like sunglasses, pens & calculators but also places for iPads & laptops. Guess what?! You only need one of each of those to get multiple A’s.
Why a Women’s-Specific Pack?
Guess what?! Outdoor companies learned that men and women are shaped differently. The North Face has begun making specific packs for ladies alongside Patagonia’s growing popularity in the unisex pack world. What’s the difference? Besides some color choices that lean a bit more feminine is the shoulder harness. Ladies get a more contoured harness that adds comfort and load bearing capabilities with some sensitivity to a ladies body shape. It’s not that the men get short-changed. It’s just that men have a different shape.
Big Packs Mean Bigger Weight.
Don’t automatically just buy a large pack. Patagonia has the Chacabuco Pack which is a great 32 Liter pack. It will carry what a student in any level of education will need. They also make a 28 Liter pack called the Refugio. The four liter difference is inconsequential for most but be forewarned. Some students elevate to 35 Liter packs and more for capacity. These usually make you less disciplined in packing leading to heavier weights. A 100 lb. student carrying a 30 lb. pack for long periods of the day is no good. See number 5.
What to Carry?
Wow! This is hard to talk about but it’s been a challenge in the travel and backpacking community forever. Limitations on weight & size dimensions are increasing in our world but how do you tell a student that? It’s time to prioritize. Carry assignments of the day but leave out heavy items that are unneeded. Don’t carry Thursday’s class books on Wednesday. Leave out the Harry Potter book series when you’re attending a science lab. It’s hard but try to plan for only what’s needed.
Congratulations on the upcoming school year! Although education should be a lifetime goal, carrying your books may not be. During these years we want you to remain comfortable, safe & prepared. Consider it good training! After lugging those books around for a couple of weeks, going on a fall hiking trip will be no problem!
Do some quick math:
If you’d like to save some lunch money on your back-to-school pack, click here!
From: Bill Bartee, owner of Jesse Brown’s, Inc. your Charlotte-based outfitter & the host of WBT Radio’s, Carolina Outdoors