Daypacks For the Business Person

Often, daypacks designed for outdoor or school uses don't have the professional look a business person wants. Sure, they have daisy chains, mesh pockets, and bungee compression, but, oddly enough, you don't see those features desired in the workplace. Weird, I know.

The business person is looking for a durable, streamlined, classically understated bag to carry a computer, some papers, and few other odds and ends. Well, we've got a couple for you to take a look at.

The Arcteryx Blade pack is designed as a briefcase with backpack straps. The zippers are on the side instead of the top, and it features a side handle for carrying a la briefcase. It features Arcteryx's typical simple and clean design and used to be available in only one color: black. Black is classic workplace and never goes out of style (the Blade now comes in two other colors: mineral and raisin, but we have so far held true to black).

What makes the Arcteryx Blade particularly nice is a removable framesheet that provides comfort, suspended laptop sleeve to protect your computer, and a bright yellow interior to help you easily see what's inside.

The Patagonia Lightwire Brief is a messenger bag, which has certainly become accepted in the business world. The messenger bag style achieves a similar briefcase feel, and it, too, is available in solid conservative colors (again, we're currently only carrying black).

Excellent organization and durable materials are what make the Lightwire Brief stand apart. Plenty of room for your laptop, pens and pencils, and whatever briefs you need to get your job done.

Spending your time between adventures in an office doesn't mean you can't leverage the high quality and design of the best outdoor brands to help you succeed indoors as well as outdoors.

The Daypack Alternative

Messenger bags have their roots in bike messenger subculture*, where the single strap design made it easy to take things in and out of the bag without taking it off. These days, messenger bags have become extremely popular both in the business and academic worlds.

Messenger bags are very simple bags: one should strap typically worn across the body, usually closed with a flap held down by a buckle or velcro, and sometimes a secondary strap to help secure the bag to your body when cruising through your favorite metropolitan traffic jams on your bike.

While the design is simple, a lot of companies have tried to put their own spin on the bags. Osprey Packs' Transit and Torque bags feature a molded foam structure to keep their form even when empty. This helps to protect the contents a bit better than a soft bag, but always takes up the same amount of space. Arcteryx's Mistral closes with a roll top instead of a flap. The roll top is a quick and easy way to secure the opening. Patagonia's Critical and Half Mass bags are iconic. These are just well made classic messenger bags.

If you want a good day bag but want something a little different than the daypack, check out some messenger bags. They're a great way to work and learn (or deliver small packages) in style.

*Don't know what bike messengers are? Here's the wikipedia article on them, and here's a good video that shows the lifestyle. You can find plenty more videos of their urban bicycling prowess and waste a good week being impressed.

Kayaking Kempenfelt Bay

My girlfriend, Tammy, and I took a trip to Barrie, Ontario, Canada a few weeks ago to visit some family. Luckily, we had enough time to do some kayaking in Kempenfelt Bay which is the body of water that her family’s town, Barrie, is on. It was a great paddle. The city sits right on the bay as well as some very nice homes, one of which had it’s own helicopter. We did have to battle the wind a bit and getting the hang of some boats we were not used to took some time, but all in all it was a great trip and best of all Tammy wants to get some kayaks now.

Mountain Hardwear's Enterprise Pack

It's that time of year again: back to school. Every year at this time students are out looking for a new backpack for the year, often having to replace theirs every year. Why not go ahead and get a pack that will last, one that will stand up to the rigors of student life?

I want to highlight the Mountain Hardwear Enterprise pack in light of this. Sure, there are other high quality daypacks available, but lets take a closer look at this one.

The Mountain Hardwear Enterprise pack is definitely a school/work backpack that crosses over to the trail, not from the trail to the classroom. That in mind, it features Mountain Hardwear's same great workmanship.

The pack is 1900 cubic inches (31 Liters) in volume, only a meager 50 cubic inches bigger than your average school backpack, but every little bit helps. It's plenty big for a few school books and notebooks, but don't try and carry your locker around with you; you can't do that with most school packs anyways. It weighs in at 2.5 lbs (1.14 kg) and is constructed from durable Cordura nylon.

The quality is truly in the details. The first thing you'll notice about this pack is the well-padded backpanel and shoulder straps. These are often skimped areas on school packs, but not so here. The Cordura nylon is beefy and should last a long time under normal use. What really shows the attention to detail is the fleece underside to the grab handle on the back of the pack. I grab it and everything just feels right.

In addition to the above mentioned features of quality, the pack also boasts a fleece lined electronics pocket, sunglass pocket, and organization pockets. The organization pockets feature one for phone and a padded one for an mp3 player. The Enterprise also gives you a spot for a laptop with its suspended laptop sleeve. Suspended laptop sleeves are designed to keep the computer from hitting the ground when set the pack down. If you can't picture, stop by the shop and we'll show you.

Well, there you have it. An overview for one of the nicest backpacks for the classroom or office. Give it a look yourself, I'm sure you'll like it.

Back to School Sale

The Back to School Sale is going on now.

We have Spring and Summer seasonal clothing at 20% off and we're giving away a Nalgene bottle with daypack purchases.

Pick up some great deals on packs and clothes that will last, and save some money while you do it!

Shop the Back to School Sale now

Daypack Buying Guide

"What do you want to do with it?"

That's the first question you need to ask yourself when you're looking to buy a daypack (or anything for that matter). What do you want to do with it. These days, packs included, there are no general purpose items, everything is about specificity. So take a moment and think about what you plan to use a new pack for, or what you want a new pack to do most often.

Once you have the purpose figured out, it relates directly with the next point: size. Volume, in particular. Using the pack for school? It needs to be big enough for your books. Climbing? It has to hold your gear. Day hiking? Jacket and a lunch. For trail running, you may just need some space for a water bladder and some energy bars. Whatever it is your doing, try not to oversize it. The erroneous thought process usually goes something like this:

"This pack looks perfect. But wait, this one's a little bigger, and has those compression straps so I can just cinch it down when I don't need the space. The extra volume will really make this pack more versatile."

This takes you down a bad road. You end up doing one of two things: taking extra junk you don't need and weighs you down, or not using it for its original purpose because it's just a touch too big. Stick with your original size needs. If it helps, you can think of it as a being a touch too big for a small pack you'll want later. But it's perfect for what you want to do now.

After use and size, start looking at features. Here are a few key ones:

Framesheet: Most daypacks won't come with a framesheet, but some do, and others may provide some kind of structure features. Framesheets, stiff padding, and other features that provide structure help to keep odd shaped items in the pack from interfering with the packs interface with your back. They also help with load transfer: that lovely aspect of packs that takes the pressure off your shoulders and onto your hips. Like I said, most daypacks won't have much in this area, as the loads are usually too small or light to make a substantial difference. But take a look anyways. If you want the lightest weight pack possible, avoid these features. If you want a more comfortable carry, framesheets and padding are a definite plus.

Laptop Sleeve: These are a must if you're carrying a laptop. Make sure it's big enough for your particular computer (bring it with you when shopping for your pack), and keep an eye out for suspended laptop sleeves. These keep the computer from hitting the ground when the pack does. Arcteryx's Blade packs are featuring these kinds of laptop sleeves, as well as some Mountain Hardwear daypacks.

Bladder Compatibility: More for trail than school, bladder sleeves and clips give you a place to hang your hydration bladder, usually protected from other objects in the pack. If you haven't started using a hydration bladder, try it today.

Compression Straps: These keep the pack compact, allowing it to stay with your body. The more the you and your pack are "one," the more stable you will be. Be conscientious of excessive straps, as they can get in the way of function: snagging, whipping you in the face when windy, hindering access to zippers, etc. You can always cut them down to size, just keep it in the back of your mind.

External Pockets: More pockets = more organization. Know where everything is in nicely segmented areas. Just remember that separated pockets take away from the overall useable space. When packs list their volume as 1850 cubic inches, that includes these external pockets. In some applications, one larger storage pocket and a streamlined exterior are preferable. Keep in mind your original intentions and whether external pockets will help or hinder your intended use for any given pack.

Hipbelt: Like framesheets, most daypacks do not have substantial hipbelts. Often the weight being carried doesn't necessitate the load transfer larger packs need, and daypacks usually don't have a frame system that does it effectively anyways. However, there is one nice feature I love to see in daypack hipbelts: pockets. Put a camera or energy bar in extreme accessibility with zippered pockets right on the hipbelt.

Now that you've thought out what you want from a pack, and you've got a heads up on the features to keep an eye out for, browse through some packs (technical day packs or less-technical)! Still have some questions? That's why we employ real live experts that use this stuff, a lot. Stop by the store or give us a call for more advice.

After you get your perfect pack for your particular endeavors? Get out there and have an adventure!

Twitter Deal Thursdays

We're starting a new way to save at High Country: Twitter Deal Thursdays. Every Thursday (starting 8/6/2009 and ending whenever we feel like it) we're going to send a "tweet" ending in #highcountry. All you have to do is "Retweet" this message in its entirety (we'll keep it short enough to allow the RT @HighCountryATL). That's it! We'll contact you via Twitter's Direct Message to let you know that you've won, and what to do next.

There are some Terms and Conditions to keep things fair, but it's pretty straight forward.

If you aren't following us already, go ahead and start! Following us on Twitter, becoming a fan on Facebook, and signing up for our e-News email list are the best ways to keep up with what's going on. We're really awesome and don't rent/sell/abuse your email address or personal information. Actually, we just hired a guy to speak soft words of encouragement to all of our customers' email addresses (this last sentence is a total lie).

Get ready, the first Twitter Deal Thursday Tweet goes out this Thursday!