Picking a pack - how will I carry my gear?

My new Osprey Kyte, 33 L
of useful pack.

Goldilocks had it easy. Choosing a bowl of porridge for one meal or a bed for a single night means a bad choice only lasts a short time.

But I'm trying to make a decision about which bags will carry my gear across the Himalayas for months. What I choose will affect how I live, where I can fly, whether I'll keep my gear secure, and whether I'll suffer a bad back in this trip. 

These are the factors that I have to think about. Some airlines we have booked only allow 20kg maximum checked luggage so I've got to get the best value out of cabin luggage. My packing list is getting longer and longer and longer - I've realised I can't carry on my back all the bits and pieces I need for the simple nomads' life we have planned.

I've spent several long nights judging my existing luggage options, sometimes getting the bags out of the closet to stare at while mentally packing them, carrying them up hills, onto buses, through towns. 

What have I got to work with? My 60 L Deuter hiking pack has taken my gear, food, stove, clothes and even souvenirs on many trips: from the Overland Track, to the Thorsborne Trail and many of my favourite NZ tramps. But is it too big?

I'll be enjoying multi-day Himalayan hikes, but I don't need to carry all my worldly goods on my own back in regions that bristle with porters, mules and yaks all queueing up to carry my heavier gear.

My other pack is my 15 L Karrimor day pack which has been my work horse: my office bag when I walked to work every day in the CBD; and the nappy bag for both babies (yes it's that old!). 

But this baby size pack doesn't have a waist strap or much structure, and the side net pockets are woefully small and don't even hold a water bottle securely.

Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear packs. Which
would you have picked?

The obvious answer is to go shopping. Buying new gear always solves the gear dilemmas.

My detailed shopping list for a new pack helped the decision making: big enough and structurally able to carry simple gear for a few days (stoves, food, tents are mentally stowed on an imaginary yak); small enough to be cabin luggage with all my precious electronics; and a light weight pack designed for short women - because being comfortable is the main criterion.

I like Osprey gear and the Osprey website has a useful pack picking tool: type in your needs and wants (how you will use it, what you want it to do, whether you want a built in cover and so on) and you generate a list of Osprey bags that meet your criteria.

And after two shopping trips to try on all the available options in our local hiking gear strip, after talking to my gear gurus (thanks Jenny and Glenn), that's what I bought. My blue 33 L Osprey Kyte in theory will comfortably take me onto planes and hikes. My mummy bear pack.

Obviously it won't fit all my gear - but I've solved that. I retrieved a good size Rip Curl duffel bag on wheels from our apartment block dumpster. By recycling someone else's waste, I feel I've resolved the guilt of buying another new pack. 

Like most of the dilemmas and decision making around this trip, I reckon it will all balance out in the end.