Initial Ascent Pack for Stout/Husky guys

[gostovp]

Any stout/husky guys that have the Initial Ascent packs and how do they fit? I'm 50 year old dad bod with broader shoulders and chest and corresponding beer/bbq gut and zero butt cheeks. I hike/ruck/kettlebell quite a bit to try to stay in shape. I currently have an EXO K3 4800 and am generally happy with it, but do find that I have to readjust it a bit when rucking with 50 to 60 lb loads...like keep having to tighten the belt and sometimes feels like the pack wants to ride down.

 

[steelheadmike]

Any stout/husky guys that have the Initial Ascent packs and how do they fit? I'm 50 year old dad bod with broader shoulders and chest and corresponding beer/bbq gut and zero butt cheeks. I hike/ruck/kettlebell quite a bit to try to stay in shape. I currently have an EXO K3 4800 and am generally happy with it, but do find that I have to readjust it a bit when rucking with 50 to 60 lb loads...like keep having to tighten the belt and sometimes feels like the pack wants to ride down.

I have a similar body as you and had the same experience with the K3 (a lot of people did). I have no experience with IA packs but the K4 pack seemed to alleviate the slippage issue. The first time I rucked with my K4, I kept wanting to tighten the belt (out of habit) but never needed to.

 

[gostovp]

I have a similar body as you and had the same experience with the K3 (a lot of people did). I have no experience with IA packs but the K4 pack seemed to alleviate the slippage issue. The first time I rucked with my K4, I kept wanting to tighten the belt (out of habit) but never needed to.

You ever try the lumbar foam kit from Exo to try and fix that issue? I personally haven’t tried that

 

[steelheadmike]

You ever try the lumbar foam kit from Exo to try and fix that issue? I personally haven’t tried that

Yes, I did. It seemed to help a bit but I still was constantly tightening. The foam kit helped more with keeping the bottom of the frame from digging into the small of my back. The K4 belt was the biggest fix but I had also lost a few lbs which helped getting the hip pads into the right place.

 

[fisherman983]

No experience with IA but had the same issues with my k3. Bought a k4 and they went away. That being said, being a gear junkie I've been looking at the IA packs as well.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[David Gough]

Wondering the same this myself. Have a similar issue with Kifaru with 40+ pounds.

 

[gostovp]

I bought the pad kit from Exo and it just showed up today so I’m going to take it for a hike and see how it does.

 

[plebe]

I bought the pad kit from Exo and it just showed up today so I’m going to take it for a hike and see how it does.

Exo made a big deal about how the K4 is better in this respect.



I never tried the K3, but the K4 still settles on me with heavier loads, and moves around a bit under lighter loads. K3 is lighter and some prefer those bag arrangements; it’ll be interesting to hear your conclusions.

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I haven’t tried the IA stuff. They never responded to an inquiry of mine. That’s never happened before in this product market.

I’ve the Kifaru DL, K4, Seek Revo, Stone R3. Have used MR and Kuiu too. They all have pros and cons. I’m sure that holds true with IA.

I could be totally wrong, but I think what’s in front of you is far less important to pack fitting than what’s behind, so long as the belt is correctly sized. In other words, I don’t think there’s one best frame for the stout or the skinny.

 

[gostovp]

Update on this, the new foam doesn’t help much. It’s interesting when starting to research this how many people had issues with K3 slip. I tried on a Stone Glacier Sky 5900 with the xCurve and really liked it.

To simulate slip I put the pack on and put my hands on the top of the hip belt above my iliac crests and sorta jumped and when I landed tried to push the belt down… the SG didn’t move and when I did the same with my K3 it would slip a bit…no matter how tight….

 

[Fins_N_Tines]

Update on this, the new foam doesn’t help much. It’s interesting when starting to research this how many people had issues with K3 slip. I tried on a Stone Glacier Sky 5900 with the xCurve and really liked it.

To simulate slip I put the pack on and put my hands on the top of the hip belt above my iliac crests and sorta jumped and when I landed tried to push the belt down… the SG didn’t move and when I did the same with my K3 it would slip a bit…no matter how tight….

Yup I had same issue with k3. Got thr k4 now and that issue is gone.

 

[gostovp]

Ran the experiment again.. 25 lbs in the SG 5900 and 25 lbs in the K3 4800 and did the jump test… I could get the K3 to start slipping down in the lumbar but it was really hard to get the SG to move. I’m on a weight restriction until early this week, but planning to load up the packs with 50 lbs and see how it goes… if the SG wins out again it looks like I’m gonna have a K3 4800 up for sale soon….

 

[gostovp]

Put 55 lbs in each pack… SG 5900 didn’t slip on me compared to the K3…
K3 to the classifieds soon… which is too bad because the bag design is awesome, love the layout, access to meat shelf, fit and finish is awesome…