I first laid eyes on the Remedy 7 suspension/ frame prototype at the Blacks Creek Shop. I knew the design of this pack had been in the works for some time and I have been anxious to get my hands on it and take it for a spin. At the shop Marcus loaded another pack on to the frame and secured it using the meat shelf and horizontal and vertical compression straps. Lifting it up and placing it on my back I made a guess at the total weight of 10 to 15 lbs max. I was surprised when I took off the pack and weighed it. It was 27 lbs total with the suspension and frame only being 4.5 lbs of it. I could tell the suspension had been well thought out by the beefed up padding in the critical areas like the shoulder straps, waste belt, lower and upper back.
My first impression of the prototype at the shop was definitely a good one but there is no way you can truly test a pack walking around in a shop, so to the mountains I went. In the dark I loaded up my Blacks Creek G11 with two plate weights, some food and necessities for the day, guessing the total weight to be 25 – 30 lbs once strapped onto the Remedy 7 prototype. I put the Remedy 7 to a grueling 8 hour, 2400 ft elevation climb and descent test run. At the end of my trek through the snow, warm south slopes and frozen north’s slopes I have to admit I was glad to see my pickup.
When I got back home I threw the pack set up on the scale and it weighed in at a whopping 55 lbs. In the dark I had unknowingly put two twenty pound plates in instead of 10 lb plates. Needless to say I was pretty impressed with how that suspension system carried that significant load all day without any major discomfort except for on my legs and that was caused by the mountain. Once the load lifter straps were cinched down the back padding performed excellent and remained comfortable all day. Another thing that I was really impressed with was the breath ability of the pack. I have worn about every pack out there and back sweat has always been a problem, not with the Remedy 7 however, my back stayed comfortable all day.
Air Flow
Like any prototype there is always some fine tuning and it is my job as a pro staffer to put my honest input in to the design and improvement of products. So here are my minimal after test suggestions, which I know Remedy 7 will take into consideration.
- Denser foam for lumbar pad.
- Middle stay in the frame.
- Add bat wing to the frame system.
