The brand new Gregory Jade 53 (2023 mannequin) is a ventilated backpack with an adjustable-length torso designed for ladies for multi-day journeys. It has a girls’s particular hip belt and shoulder harness and has large hip belt pockets and different pockets and options that you’d anticipate from a Gregory pack on this measurement & value vary. I’ve been a fan of the Gregory Jade line of packs for some time and have been backpacking and winter day mountaineering with the earlier era Jade 53 and day mountaineering the remainder of the 12 months with a Jade 33 for a number of years. This model of the Gregory Jade 53 lives as much as expectations by way of common consolation, high quality of supplies and building, and general usability. It’s a strong alternative for a snug multi-day pack that may haul a fairly large load with ease.
Specs at a Look
- Quantity: 53L
- Weight: 4.02 lbs (64.3 oz) / 1823g
- Gender: Ladies
- Sort: Inside body
- Entry: 3 (prime, backside, entrance)
- Adjustable Torso Size: Sure
- Air flow: Tensioned mesh with open area
- Hydration Appropriate: Sure
- Sleeping Bag Compartment: Sure
- Trekking Pole Attachment: Sure
- Rain Cowl: No
- Pockets: 6 + foremost
- Torso Measurement: XS/SM 14”-17”, SM/M 15”-19”
- Hipbelt Sizing: XS/SM 24″-46″, 25-48”
- Max Really useful Load: 50 lbs
Backpack Body and Suspension
The brand new Gregory Jade 53 has a ventilated again panel to maintain your again cooler in scorching climate and assist perspiration dry sooner. The torso size is adjustable and makes use of a easy rip-and-stick mechanism to maneuver the shoulder yoke up or down, as a way to make the torso size longer or shorter. It’s very intuitive, though you could need to ask an skilled pal that will help you match the pack in case you’ve by no means achieved it earlier than in order that the load rests in your hips for essentially the most half and never in your shoulders.
The Jade 53 additionally contains a free-floating hipbelt that follows the actions of your hips whenever you stroll. Gregory leads the trade on this dimension and it actually improves the carry with reasonable to heavy masses as a result of the pack strikes together with your hips as an alternative of your again. Women, I’m positive you perceive what I imply!
This pack additionally has a girls’s particular shoulder harness and waist belt which can be fairly snug. The fabric overlaying the shoulder straps on this new mannequin has been modified to one thing that’s much less abrasive so it’s much less irritating to your pores and skin. The sternum strap additionally has an built-in whistle and hydration clip.
Backpack Storage and Group
The Gregory Jade 53 is a top-loading backpack with a floating prime lid. The principle compartment will also be accessed by way of a zipper on the underside which opens into the sleeping bag compartment and thru a U-shaped zipper on the entrance of the pack beneath the stretch pocket that gives panel entry to the inside. Panel loaders are nice as a result of they allow you to entry gear deep contained in the backpack with out having to take away every part from the highest first.
The floating prime lid has a roomy pocket on prime that has loads of area to retailer snacks and important gear with fast and easy accessibility. There’s additionally a pocket on the underside of the highest lid which has a key clip and is useful for smaller objects that you simply prefer to maintain useful. The highest pocket straps may be prolonged up, so you’ll be able to overload extra gear beneath the lid and scrunch it towards the highest of the primary compartment.
The principle compartment is roomy and the divider for the sleeping bag compartment may be disconnected so that you’ve a single massive compartment. There’s an inside pocket for a hydration system and a hose port within the middle again of the pack.
The entrance stretch pocket is a component mesh and half strong material for improved sturdiness. It nonetheless works for stuff you need a stretch pocket for however ought to maintain up higher over time than much less sturdy mesh pockets.
The aspect water bottle pockets are made with sturdy stretch mesh. They’ll maintain a 1-liter Nalgene bottle upright positioned in from the highest of the pocket. There’s additionally a entrance, holster-style opening.
Nevertheless, regardless that there’s a holster-style opening, it isn’t potential to place a 1-liter Nalgene within the pocket that manner. This opening will solely work with smaller-diameter bottles. This can be a change from the earlier Jade 53 that would accommodate 1-liter Nalgenes holstered.
The 2 massive hip belt pockets simply maintain snacks, an average-sized mobile phone, gloves, and different small objects. The pockets are large enough that the curvature round my hips doesn’t make it troublesome to get the cellphone out of the pocket. These are a lot bigger pockets than the earlier Jade 53 and might maintain various stuff: lastly, hip belt pockets large enough to be helpful.
The Jade 53 is hydration system appropriate. There’s a pocket contained in the pack to your hydration bladder with a clip to maintain the bladder from sinking to the underside of the pocket. There’s a port for the hose on the prime of the pack within the again and a hose clip on the suitable shoulder strap.
Exterior Attachment and Compression
There are two aspect compression straps on either side of the pack. The decrease one may be run contained in the pocket, so it may be used for compression regardless that you might have a bottle within the pocket. If used on the skin of the pocket, you need to use the compression strap to connect gear to the aspect of the pack like a tent or pair of snowshoes.
There’s a set of straps on the again on the backside of the pack for a sleeping pad or different gear you want to retailer externally like a tent or chair.
There’s one set of mountaineering pole/ice axe loops which consists of a bungee on the prime and an adjustable webbing loop on the backside.
Comparable Ladies’s Ventilated Backpacks
Suggestion
Whereas the brand new Gregory Jade 53 is a really good backpack and a pleasure to make use of, it’s price noting that it’s round 8 ounces heavier than the earlier model. I really feel like we’re within the age of anticipating more and more light-weight packs and that Gregory might have missed the mark by going the opposite manner on this one. They have already got a high-end, heavy load hauler within the Deva line of packs and the 60-liter Deva solely weighs 9 ounces greater than the brand new Jade 53. That stated, the Jade 53 is a superb load hauler and an excellent worth if you need one thing a bit lighter. In case you don’t have to haul actually heavy masses (35-50 bs) and need one for carrying 25-35 lbs as an alternative, I’d additionally suggest the ladies’s Gregory Side 55, which shares any of the attributes of the Jade 53, however is meant for light-weight backpacking masses.
SectionHiker is reader-supported. We independently analysis, check, and fee the perfect merchandise. We solely earn cash if you buy a product by way of our affiliate hyperlinks. Assist us proceed to check and write unsponsored and unbiased gear evaluations, newbie FAQs, and free mountaineering guides.
In regards to the creator
Wanda Rice has been backpacking for the reason that late 1980’s. She has climbed the New Hampshire 48, the New Hampshire 48 in winter, the New England 67, the New England Hundred Highest, and the 4-Season 48. Wanda additionally teaches for the Appalachian Mountain Membership’s (AMC) Mountain Management College, the AMC New Hampshire Chapter Spring and Winter Faculties in addition to the AMC NH Winter Mountaineering Collection. She leads day and in a single day journeys for AMC NH year-round and loves mentoring new leaders. She is a gear junkie, a self-proclaimed Queen of Gear Hacks, and loves sharing her suggestions and methods with others. Wanda lives in southern NH and is wanting ahead to shifting nearer to the mountains within the subsequent few years.
