This little beauty arrived just before I left for Scotland. I’ve been looking for a small waist pack for ages to supplement my Lightwave Ultrahike as it has no hip belt pockets and the split hip belt makes it impossible to fit any. While I can get by without hip belt pockets, it’s nice to have something to store some snacks, a compass or phone (not together, unless you want to wreck your compass!) and other odds and ends. I’ve tried some running waist packs but they are often too large and don’t feel comfortable. Many waist packs are not suitable because of the buckle position, which is best if it’s at the side, so it doesn’t dig into your back when it’s reversed.
Anyway, I spotted on the trek-lite forum that (at)slovhike (Velimir) was making some neat waist packs and asked him to make one for me. A week later it arrived. I specified VX21 material as it’s waterproof and stiff enough to provide some structure. Other options were available. It’s a very simple design with a water resistant zip on the top and a key clip inside. The webbing belt was longer than I wanted, so I trimmed it. I also added a zip pull. Dimensions are approximately 20cm x 10cm x 6cm and it weighs 34g.
The workmanship is first class, on a par with Paul of tread lite gear, which is praise indeed. It’s slightly larger than the average hip belt pocket, large enough to get a decent amount of stuff in, but small enough that you are not tempted to overload it. Sometimes simplicity is best. I found it perfect for what I wanted. Not only was it great when out on the trail, but it was really useful for travelling too.
Velimir is in the early stages of turning this into a business. He’s posted some of his designs on trek-lite and Instagram. While I wanted X-Pac in black, he’s made them in other materials and colours, many of which look really smart. He’s playing about with design variations too, experimenting with a mesh pocket on the front and looking at adding an internal organisation sleeve.
Velimir is working on getting a web page up and running. If you are interested he can be contacted at alpineliteworks(at)gmail(dot)com or through the trek-lite forum, (at)slovhike. You can see more of his work on Instagram (at)alpineliteworks.
Disclosure: I bought this waist pack with my own money. I have no business or financial relationship with Alpineliteworks.
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Thanks for posting, I’ve been looking for something like this. Enjoy Scotland!
Hi Robin – I use an Aiguille Alpine Equipment hip belt pouch on my Lightwave Ultrahike and Fastpack – have added some longer webbing to fit over the split hip belt at the rear and use the existing webbing loop for the front, both secured by mini-krabs. This works well and I also use the pouch on other sacs where the hip-belt pockets are too small.