Backpackin'

I wanna know who invented load lifters, those straps at the tops of modern backpacks. I wanna know because whoever they are I wanna thank them.

These probably just seem like marvels to old people like me. That's because when I started backpacking, and for many years thereafter, carrying a pack was a misery you adjusted to if you wanted to hike and camp. The only ways to keep your shoulders from aching were to either lighten your load until it became almost dangerous to be out there (ALL gear was heavy then) or add a tumpline that ran from the pack to your  forehead. 

I started in the Boy Scouts in the 1960s. My first pack was a scout Haversak, a tiny canvas thing with one front pocket. No sternum straps, no waist belts, no padded shoulder straps, no padded anything. Really way too small for even an overnight and only marginally improved with a homemade, wooden frame.

Next came a pack whose name I cannot recall. Also canvas, also no padding, waist belt or sternum strap. But it was bigger, had a big front pocket and a pocket high up each side. It came with a tubular aluminum frame that formed a shelf under the bag, making it stand up while being packed. I loved that pack, carried it on a 10 day trip in the scout ranch at Philmont, New Mexico. Way, way too heavy, but I loved it.

It was olive drab, which may partially explain my like of old military ALICE packs, which I bought after a long time without backpacking. Basically, I had a short time to outfit two people and little money. Went to an Army surplus store and bought everything there, two medium ALICE packs, frames, waist belts, pistol belts, canteens, canteen cups, butt packs, artic sleeping bags, cook pots, knives, compass, Timberland boots, ponchos, wind/rain jackets and pants, wool sweaters, wool pants, wool glove liners, wool socks, leather over gloves, flashlights, first aid kit and a Eureka tent. A medium ALICE only sports 2100 cubic inches and I still can't believe that with all that heavy and bulky stuff we packed enough for a week in them.

But our shoulders, of course, suffered. You waited until they got numb and then enjoyed the walk.

When I once again ended a sort of forced hiking hiatus, and again had no time or money, it was back to the ALICE gear. And the aching shoulders. But as I began to explore backpacking sites on the net, I began to learn about do it yourself stuff, and I learned about load lifters. I heavily modified our ALICE packs, changed the shoulder straps, added sternum straps, repositioned the shoulder strap attachment points to the pack and made them adjustable, cut their weight and added load lifters.

Didn't work on my large ALICE. Frame's too short for my torso.

But it worked magic for my wife, Mudpie. In the left picture below is my pack and one of its load lifters. The strap is flat and the weight is all on my shoulders.

 In the right picture the strap rises to the pack at an angle and you can see it pulling Mudpie's shoulder strap up and away. With that and all the weight-cutting mods, Mudpie loves her medium Alice. She even preferred its feel to a medium Granite Gear Nimbus Meridian she tried. 
 

So I need to find the inventor of load lifters to thank them. I asked on several hiking forums and people on White Blaze were most  helpful, with suggestions going all the way back to the 70's. But no one could identify my hero.