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Bags of Room - part 2 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

by Paul Gallagher Published 01/01/2007

On average this would weigh between 15 and 20kg, depending upon the actual mix and the bag itself adds another 4.7kg. This is OK on the flat but a serious impediment to climbing hills. It is quite a lot more than a child in a backpack (usually up to 20lb, not kilo). The Kata therefore will get a photographer to a remote location with more gear than they might reasonably be expected to use in a day, with a half-decent chance of being able to stand up, and take pictures, on arrival. The adjustable waist strap is vital to both comfort and stability of the set-up as the tripod is side mounted and skews the load quite badly. There is a conundrum to solve here - a tripod on the side twists the bearer sideways, a tripod on the back is placed well out from the spine and twists the carrier backwards. If you look at images of native porters you find that bundles of wood are carried very close to the neck, ie high on the shoulders and close to the spine - they know a thing or two these guys!

In order to put some perspective on the load we did some research on the web. Royal Marines start training on 3-mile runs with 25lb packs and increase their load to 60lb. For ordinary mortals moving about in the back-country the categories for back-packing are as follows

Ultra-light backpacking 4.5kg
Light backpacking 9kg
Traditional backpacking 15 to 30kg

It is truly amazing how the lightweight backpackers get their gear weight trimmed down, titanium sporks (spoon-fork) for example, along with toothbrushes minus their handles and carefully weighed out quantities of toothpaste. The message is clear though, a laden Kata 502 is at the high end of the comfort zone.

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1st Published 01/01/2007
last update 09/12/2022 14:51:27

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