Durston Wapta 30

The total volume is (M/L) 46/48 litres with the external volume for comparison, since some other brands count those in the total. So it might be bigger than the 30L sounds.

My video provides a lot of detail for the pack including a lot of info on the new ALUULA fabric (a lot more than on our product page):

The fabric is really neat. It was just released today at the ISPO show in Europe and lots of companies are interested in it. Alpacka and Arcteryx and showing off prototypes at the show.

When I’ve used dynema, after a year the waterproof layer delaminated

Do you think ALUULA will be different?

Excellent design and the material sounds awesome.

The graflyte is woven uhmwpe heat bonded to polyethelene sheet (?).  There must be a very narrow temperature range combined with high pressure to do that without damaging the fibres.

In the production process, I assume there is also a very narrow temperature range to weld/bond without compromising strength?

ahhh…

I think the dyneema I had that delaminated was mylar

Maybe the polyethylene is better

All the attachment points look great, as do the front and bottom pockets, plus the cinch cord on the (same size, nice!) side pockets. I like it all except the shoulder pockets but that’s because they don’t work well with the soft flask bottles I use. Are the shoulder pockets the same size as on the Kakwa or has it become less tapered at the bottom? Tough to tell in the pics.

That makes sense, I see the difference in this edges of the shoulder straps now…. and so we just need to add the weight of the Kakwa frames plus a couple ounces for the extra material and that’s what we can expect the next line of the Kakwa 40/55 to weigh?  :)

Nice pack! I’m exited about the design direction this pack and the new material are leading the industry into. Kudos to Dan for once again being such a force of innovation.

I love all the attachment points and it’s great to finally see a bottom pocket out of durable/non stretch material (I’ve been surprised nobody has done this until now, it really seems like a no brainer). Also the single pull top  strap seems like  such an elegant and user friendly solution that in retrospect it makes one wonder how this has not been done more.

Dan your shoulder straps look great but personally I’d love to see an option for running vest style straps on something like this pack , you could even add some more attachment points so the straps could be swapped out giving people the option and  if you had multiple tiered attachments you could have some adjustability in the torso length.

Like others have said it’s going to be awesome to see this  material and these design elements hybridized with the kakwa , also I think a minimalist frame design with say a 35 liter version could be interesting.

-cheers

“However my total pack weight is routinely in the 24-26 lb range and I think I really need a frame to make that all-day/multi-day comfortable.”

Durston lives in the PNW where bear canisters are less required–or were, when I lived and hiked there. I like to use a Bearikade Scout, on 4-5 day trips, in part because it fits so easily horizontally at the bottom of a pack. But most canisters are larger than this. Partly because of the need for a canister, on a six day trip, my starting weight is also about 25 pounds. The geometry and hard sides of canisters require large-ish pack volume to comfortably carry. (I can’t stand trying to carry a bear canister up top, even when empty.)

All UL frameless packs don’t address this issue, IME. I wonder if packs have to be designed around the fact of having to carry a bear canister in order to start to answer the issues they bring up. They aren’t soft; they don’t compress; they don’t adjust to load–just the opposite. Load has to adjust to them. And to be fully and easily functional, a full 5-7 day or more load of food has to be inside of them. Even with a Bearikade, you have to add a couple of pounds to your base weight when using one, or more with other canisters.

For me, this required a frame pack in order to keep the load on my hips and the canister off my spine or back.

geeze, thread drift here, sorry! Dan’s pack looks awesome. I use a Schnozzle as a dry sack, and so don’t worry about wetting out my pack contents. But of course rain adds weight to absorbent pack fabrics, so a durable waterproof layer would be a good advance.

“can you share width/depth numbers for the body of the pack please?”
At the bottom the pack is 29″ circumference. The width/depth can vary since neither is defined by a frame but typically it’s about 10″ wide and 7″ deep. You can put a 12″ long tent in the bottom and then the depth is more like 6″. The hipbelt connects to a 6″ wide sleeve, so the fit isn’t really affected as the shape of the main compartment morphs.

Up top the circumference is 35″ which tends to be about 13″ wide and 9-10″ deep but those also can trade against each other, although not as much because the shoulder straps hold the width at close to 13″.

“personally I’d love to see an option for running vest style straps”
Yeah that would be cool. It’s not in the works but would be nice to do eventually.

“I’m curious what the cost of Aluula is by the yard over Ultra or DCF”
It’s early days so the cost may change over time (e.g. improve). I’m not able to disclose pricing specifics but it’s definitely a premium material. By the pricing of our packs you can probably guess it costs more than Ultra or DCF.

Abrasion on UltraX is excellent so it can be a bit of a moot point but ALUULA Graflyte V-98 that we are using is about 50% higher yet for ASTM wear cycles.