Stone Glacier Terminus review

[putm2sleep]

What boots do you use to hold up to those hunts and loads? or does your use of trecking poles help on 4 hour pack outs?

 

[Goldtip]

Great write up on the SG Lawnboy, and great sheep by the way as well. So far I have been very happy with my SG approach, but have yet to get it loaded with meat, but Sept. is coming.

 

[Oak]

Oak this was my first time using a gunbearer and it worked well. It was so last minute with getting to borrow the pack that I didn't have a chance to round up anymore of the SG accessories. My gun took a beating in the gunbearer though. The problem is that anytime you want to rest which is mostly sitting on rocks up there the gun stock sits lower and you bang it up. To avoid this meant you had to take it off each time.

Thanks, Bart. I have used the gunbearer for 7 years, so I'm fairly familiar with it. It looks like I have my rifle riding higher in mine than you do, but I usually take it off when sitting down anyway. Leaving it in is a good way to rip the top strap off of the attachment strap.

 

[elk_hunter]

Way to go, Lawnboy! Great ram and good times! Thanks for the pack review...but post more pics!!!

 

[sreekers]

Thanks for the SG "review" ! My buddy and I both bought the SG Solo for our first backpacking elk hunt in a month. We are hoping to get all of our gear for a 7 day hunt in them since we will be sharing a few items. Gonna be tight, I can tell already, but it will force us to minimize. We are planning to put our food in a bag on the load shelf for the trip in, and hopefully have meat on it on the way out. Looking forward to reading about your sheep hunt! Congrats on the ram!

I can pretty confidently say that you can put a week's worth of gear in the solo. However, it will be tight and you will need an ultralight shelter.

The first pictures visually shows what I took for an overnighter, and for the early season scouting and hunting I am for sure a minimalist. The second picture shows the solo filled with all of the gear. My spotting scope and dromedary bag also went on the outside to create a little more space on the inside. Also, on summer pack ins when it is really warm I wear athletic shorts and t-shirt in with all of my clothing inside, that is why it looked stuffed to the gills.

So all of that to say, it is possible to do 7 days in the solo, but it will be tight and carrying something inside of the load shelf is a good idea.

 

[sreekers]

Here is the second picture, I couldn't get it to upload in the first post.

 

[TheTone]

I looked over one the other day in Bozeman and came away very impressed. I'd love to test drive one for a couple hunts before taking the plunge. I've got enough money tied up in MR packs that adding another one just because is a little tough to do.

 

[npaden]

Sure is tempting to pull the trigger on one of these. I think I could get $350ish out of my current inventory of packs so it would be about a $200 upgrade for me. Both of my current packs are functional and both have lots of pockets and zippers and I'm sure that adds a lot to the weight for both of them.

If I switched to the Stone Glacier Solo, I could legitimately have less than 10lbs tied up in my pack, tent, bag and pad vs. both of my packs right now are right around the 7lb mark by themselves. (Eberlestock J34 and Outdoorsman Optics Pack).

 

[1_pointer]

Hope this isn't stepping on any toes, but there's another pack on the market that is quite similar. It's gotten some discussion time on another site. They are just now getting some out for reviews, but thought I'd throw it out there for folks to consider.

http://paradoxpacks.com/lightweight-backpacks/

 

[sreekers]

I have one of the tester Paradox packs right now. I will have to check with Randy first before I post a thread up on it though.

 

[npaden]

Well, looks like my mind got made up for me. Looks like all the Stone Glacier packs are now sold out.

 

[bjtc_brian]

Since I don't own a MR. I was actually in Bozeman this weekend hoping to try one on, but they were in Pony, MT for a long distance race. What is the difference in how the load shelf works between the two as that was something you seemed to be impressed with that maybe you weren't with the MR.

 

[Lawnboy]

The thing that is hard to find in a large pack is a load shelf. In fact I haven't seen one that allows you to carry meat separate from the main bag. The crew cab isn't a pack that I for one would use on this type of hunt and second there are no load lifters which when you reach a 2 or more hour pack out are needed IMO. The MR 6500 does have a pocket on the inside of the main bag that I assume you could load with meat but they are still in the main bag. As you can see from the pictures the Terminus when cinched down properly will hold that meat vertical along your back. This is my first time trying a pack like this and I felt it carried real well for what I was doing. I wish my brother would of taken the 6500 I had brought along as well. It would of been a good experiment. I'm sure more companies are going to begin copying this concept/design of the load shelf.

 

[bjtc_brian]

Okay, another questions. I have issues with belt's cutting into my hips, one of the things I like about badlands. The MR looks like it has better padding over the hips, did you notice a difference between the MR and SG?