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I've decided to order a CCW Chaos. I know you can customize parts of it, but I'm not sure what exactly is available, so I'm reaching out to the SP sages: which customization options would you recommend? My use would be strictly alpine; no skiing or backcountry hiking trips.

- Do people like the crampon pocket? I'm used to just strapping crampons to the outside and have never had a problem with that, so I wonder if the pocket is necessary/useful?

- From what I've read, Randy makes the shoulder strap adjustment "inverted", i.e. you have to pull up to tighten. I think I'd prefer the traditional pull down but if anyone has opinions supporting the inverted way, please share.

- Anything else I should know about or consider?

Thanks.

Keep the crampon pocket.

I like the inverted shoulder strap adjustment.

Get rid of the ski slots

Get rid of the big, side daisy chains, keep the ones on the back

See if he can rig a plastic frame sheet with a vertical metal stay so it can carry a decent amount of weight on the approach

ExcitableBoy wrote:See if he can rig a plastic frame sheet with a vertical metal stay so it can carry a decent amount of weight on the approach

I've been impressed with the load carrying capacity and comfort of the CiloGear framesheet: http://www.cilogear.com/framesheet.html

DukeJH wrote:I've been impressed with the load carrying capacity and comfort of the CiloGear framesheet: http://www.cilogear.com/framesheet.html

So, there you go.

- Get the frame sheet from CiloGear

- Leave the shoulder straps as is (or invert them, no difference really)

- Get rid of the ski slots

- Get rid of the big, side daisy chains, keep the ones on the back

- Keep the crampon pocket or swap it out for straps like on the Chernobyl

- Consider having the pack built from Dynema grid fabric http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/01 ... sacks.html

Thanks, guys.

I have a frame sheet from another pack that I will try and if it doesn't work, I'll consider ordering the Cilogear one.