Hipbelt at a glance
- Target load share
- Roughly 70 to 80%
- Position
- Centered on the iliac crest
- Adjust
- First, before shoulder straps
Why hips carry better than shoulders
Shoulders are bad at carrying weight and hips are good at it. Everything a backpacking pack does structurally is an attempt to get the load from the first place to the second, and the hipbelt is the end of that chain. Wrapped correctly around the iliac crest, it turns a pack you're hanging from into a pack you're standing under.
Why a belt needs a frame behind it
A belt only works if there's a frame behind it. A soft daypack with a thin webbing strap at the waist has a stabiliser, not a hipbelt, and calling it one has sold a lot of uncomfortable packs. The strap keeps the bag from swinging, which is worth having, but the weight stays on your shoulders.
How to tighten it in the right order
Tighten it before anything else. Load the pack, lean forward slightly so the weight settles onto the belt, pull it snug, then stand up and adjust the shoulder straps to follow. Doing it in the other order sets the shoulder straps against a load they were never meant to hold.
What this means when you're choosing
- Padding wide enough to wrap the flare of your pelvis rather than sit on top of it
- A belt that's sized separately from the pack's torso length, or swappable
- Whether it's anchored to a frame or just sewn to fabric
The common mistake
Tightening the shoulder straps first
Load the pack, lean forward so the weight settles onto your hips, close and tighten the belt, then stand up and take the slack out of the shoulder straps. Doing it the other way hangs the pack off your shoulders and no amount of belt tension afterwards fixes it.
Common questions
How tight should a hipbelt be?
Snug enough that the pack doesn't sag when you loosen the shoulder straps, and loose enough that you can breathe normally and it isn't numbing anything. If it needs to be painfully tight to hold the load, the belt is too big or sitting too low.
Do day packs need a hipbelt?
Under about 15 lb, not really. A webbing strap that stops the pack swinging on uneven ground is enough, and a padded belt on a small pack mostly adds weight and heat.