UKC

Who cuts off or removes their waist belts on backpacks? Still not sure what the hell they are for, but I do find the chest strap quite useful when actually climbing or running.

In reply to zimpara:

No.

If there's any sort of load, it makes it distribute properly, and if not, it stops the sack moving sideways when scrambling.

In reply to zimpara:

I clip mine back round the base of the sack. It occasionally gets used when scrambling.

In reply to Toerag:
Me too,I wrap it backwards and buckle it tighten it just enough so it does not slip down and dangle , and get caught in boot lids etc (in fact I do that with most of my sacks when I get back to the car , and forget about it, until the days I need it)

In reply to zimpara:

They're to help stabilise the load and to take it off your shoulders and onto your hips I think. I always use mine for anything longer than a 5-10 min hike.

In reply to zimpara:

Definitely useful, especially if you're climbing/scrambling with it on, which the other respondents have pointed out. I also find that if part of your pack, the elasticated toggles for instance, was to get caught on something whilst you're climbing, say you're moving up a fairly tight gulley, you'll notice the tug sooner if the waist belt is in use, which can help minimise the chances of you being pulled off balance.

In reply to zimpara:
Another 'don't cut it off' post. They can help to take the load of the shoulders too, or you can let your back dry/cool off a bit by tightening the waist belt and loosening the shoulder straps - while just plodding along.

In reply to zimpara:
I use mine occasionally when the bag is full, more to keep it in place than take the weight.

The chest strap is useful too, but in the wrong place on me, not designed for anyone with boobs.

In reply to zimpara:

Leave it on, walking for an hour with 15kg it´ s better. It´ s also better for climbing with.
Buy a decent make and it´ s removable anyway

In reply to zimpara:


Not me. They're either removable, I clip it round the back like pretty much everyone else or wear it if it's above harness level when climbing.


Distributing some of the weight onto your hips


Fascinating.

In reply to zimpara:

I removed the 25mm webbing waistbelt on my Blue Ice Warthog 26 last year and after using it for 50+days this Winter with loads of between 8-13kg, I certainly don't miss it.

I'm not a fan of the skinny un-padded waistbelts on smaller packs. I don't think they actually achieve much.

In reply to The Ex-Engineer:

Interesting, I just took the same rucksack to the Alps this summer. For UK cragging, I'd never used the waistband but found it very useful to stabilise the (overloaded) rucksack when scrambling & leading. Obviously the real solution would be to fix the overloading But in the meantime I'm another vote for keeping the waistband.

In reply to jimtitt:

Reading between the lines Jim, he's cut it off and is now looking fro the 'right' answer...

In reply to zimpara:

I have on some....then again I tend to just have it on one shoulder for as much as possible when walking. As an example I went round helvellyn last week and apart from striding and swirral edges never had it on both shoulders!

In reply to jon:

The danger of reading Colin Haley's blog (replace with any alpine wad) and copying them, instead if finding out what works for you in practise...

In reply to marsbar:


I have the opposite problem, being a hunchback the chest strap tends to want to be about two inches inside my neck.

Waist belts definitely have their uses though. I usually clip mine just under the lid of the sack and hang spare clothing off it.

In reply to zimpara:

I use the waist belt and the chest strap on my packs - I find that it all helps stabilise the pack so I can run if I want to (and the dog's stretchy harness lead can be looped through a decent rucksack waist belt too).

In reply to zimpara:

I can't see any possible upside in removing a webbing waiste belt. It weighs nothing and is useful for me 90% of the time I use the pack.

In reply to Fraser:
Yea they can help distribute the weight, with big loads but small day sacks have hardly any weight, plus the waist belts are tiny, token effort, unpadded, pointless straps that dig in and offer hardly any help.

On smaller day sacks? Yea get rid. Pointless. Bigger rucksacks with heavier loads for long distance? Leave it on and use it.

Sternum strap, same, some of them are just token effort. I find them a hinderence more than anything else. I tried one smallish daysack and the Sternum strap wouldn't even fit across my chest.

In reply to Bootrock:

In my experience, if you have some things which are heavy the waist belts can help. It seems to help if one 'balances the tension' between the belt and the rucksack straps, in finding a middle ground between going without belt and most of the weight on it, if the belt can dig in through being thin.

In reply to Timmd:

Aye, a decent sized belt on a decent sized rucksack with a good load can help immensely.

Sadly with a lot of things these days, there seems to lots of token effort stuff to fill out a fancy sheet of paper, just so there's more on the list for it to sell.

In reply to zimpara:

It really depends on the pack, for any serious load hauling it puts the weight more on your hips which is good news for your shoulders. However I've found with a couple of packs, my current Deuter AC Lite 22 springing to mind, the waist belt was closer to my nipples than my waist so I had to cut it off as it was just a pain...

In reply to zimpara:

Unlike some people in this thread I really do find waist belts incredibly useful if not essential. When I go cragging (i.e. anything less than an hours walk-in) I am often carrying probably far too much stuff because a) I don't really care b) it doesn't really matter and c) I like stuff So when carrying 15kg+ (at a guess; I have spreadsheets for rack and non-rack but haven't combined them), if I don't use the waist belt I find it _rapidly_ uncomfortable on my shoulders (as in within 5-10 minutes). Basically I like as much of the weight as possible to go on my waist.

I use a Montane Torque where the standard padded waist belt is completely removeable. It also comes with a webbing belt which (again unlike some people) I find really nice when climbing with not very much weight in the backpack (quite easily 5kg+ given the weight of the bag, rather excessive FA kit, warm jackets not currently in use, 1l - 2l of liquid, lunch etc). It doesn't get in the way of the harness and holds the bag steady while climbing. Again I really don't like the weight on my weak, weak shoulders if I can avoid it.

Anything mountainous I carry rather less :P

In reply to andrewmcleod:


So now I know where I've been going wrong all these years.

To the OP: the only time I don't use/remove/tie back the waist belt is when actually climbing.

In reply to andrewmcleod:
I like waist belts too. I dare say it can be a good work out for the shoulders and back in a round about way to not use them, I've read about somebody having spinal issues which he put down to an outdoor 'career' with lots of heavy carrying involved though.

I thought it helped to strengthen my back again to not use a waist belt for a bit, after I'd tweaked it by pulling a heavy builder's sack full of soil. Once it stopped feeling vaguely dodgy when going without a waist belt I felt like it was approaching being back to strength again, in being trouble free for every day life.

Possibly not a recommended method for increasing back strength after a tweak.