Imlay Heaps Pack

To follow up on Renatomic808 pack review (http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...brid-in-Hawaii), I'll give a review of the Imlay Canyon Gear's Heaps canyoning pack. I bought this in September of 2012, and it's been on 90 canyon trips now on Maui and Oahu, plus about 15 or so regular hikes with 40lbs of water (training hikes). Most of our canyons are class C, have lots of jungle to bushwack through (especially on Oahu), and are generally very tough on packs (and people).

The Heaps pack has been great. I love the suspension, love the large outer pockets where I put my helmet and keep my GPS in an otterbox, and love the amount of storage room (42L - though it always seems to fill up every trip, but that's because I bring too much gear). I've stuffed my wetsuit, harness, ascenders, boots inside a dry bag, lunch, camera, sunscreen, GPS, 40' webbing, and 300' of rope with my helmet in the outside pocket for hikes up to the canyon. No problem, it all fits. The only complaint I have about the size is that the pack is bulky which makes bushwacking or maneuvering in small spaces challenging. I suppose the pack could be taller and less wide, but it's a minor complaint.

This is the most rugged pack I've had. I've taken it through plenty of dense, trackless jungle trying to reach new canyons (and sometimes the best way of progressing is to turn around and fall pack-first on the underbrush to flatten it), and there are no rips in the bag. It's been thrown off of plenty of 20 to 50 foot waterfalls (and normally it actually lands in the water), and taken one accidental tumble down a 100' fall. Anyone who goes with me knows I'm not gentle on this pack. Very surprisingly, the mesh lining inside is all still intact too. I'm not careful when I jam all my gear in, and there are always large ascenders that stay in the bag all trip, so it's pretty impressive. The bag does drain well, though with anything much in the bag it blocks up a fair amount of the drainage area. I find the pack floats very well thanks to the foam pad in it (which I've used once to sleep on), which incidentally does a great job of keeping things from jabbing you in the back.

Overall this pack is awesome, and I would definitely recommend it. When I first got it the hip belt buckle kept unlatching, so I emailed Tom. He responded quickly and sent me a new buckle at no cost - so customer service is pretty great too. And as a side note, that Teton pack mentioned in Renatomic808's review had developed a major rip along the bottom of the pack when we took it out last week - so I have definitely seen many other bags come and go while the Heaps just keeps trucking!

Attachment 78662
My Heaps pack on the left, with a new Kolob pack on the right, in Blown Away canyon on Maui. In the background one of our group learns rope management with some Imlay Canyon Fire rope.