Thanks to Chris Townsend for pointing out some welcome new news. Brian Frankle, the founder of ULA packs, has joined Six Moon Designs as Director of Pack Designs.
Brian is one of that generation of lightweight manufacturers who was inspired to create his designs as a result of his own thru-hiking. I think you can always tell when a pack has designed by somebody who really does backpack. Following a motorbike accident Brian sold ULA and then seemed to go off travelling around the world before converting a van into a home and travelling back around the US.
Last May Ron Moak (Six Moons) told me that he had enticed Brian out to one of the legendary lightweight manufacturers backcountry trips. And now it appears he has encouraged Brian to harness his creative powers to our benefit once again.
I still have three of Brian’s ULA packs. My Conduit which was my UK pack for years was only retired last year but my small Relay pack is still used virtually every day of the week. The Relay has the odd hole in it now but the ballistic thread running through the fabric keeps everything together.
The note on Six Moon’s site says:
Brian Frankle and Ron Moak are teaming up to create a new architectural design for the next generation backpacks. We believe our new backpack architecture will pave the way for a wide array of lighter, more durable, more comfortable packs. The new highly flexible design will allow this generation of packs to meet both existing challenges and any unforeseen ones coming over the horizon.
This will be a partnership to watch I think. More news on the new packs will be presented through the Six Moon Facebook Page.
Welcome back Brian. I’m fascinated to see what you come up with next.
Only last week I had my finger one click away from buying a SMD swift pack, not sure what stopped me. This will be a very interesting move forward in the American cottage industry. I wonder how ULA have taken the news.
I imagine that, as part of the sale, Brian would have made an undertaking not to work in the industry with a competitor for a specified amount of time. I know that he worked with the new owners for a while to help them get established. ULA themselves seem to be doing very well and you can see a lot of comments around from happy customers, yet somehow I feel the direction of the company is not one that interests me that much.
I was taken with Ron when we met him in Scotland. I was particularly interested in the way he differed in his approach to business than people like Ron Bell at Mountain Laurel. Afterwards I went back and and had a look at a number of his products and some of them I have on my list of future purchases.
Brian was very innovative in design although he did sometimes have production problems probably as a result of being too small. My load bearing Catalyst for example is a great pack in many ways using aluminium stay embedded in bendable foam to match the shape of your back. I’ve tried other fancy systems but this was as good if not better than most of them. But that same pack (mine was a very early edition) had problems with the shoulder straps which detracted from its performance a little. The carbon hoop innovation that he bought into a couple of his packs was very interesting and those who have those packs tell me they are very comfortable. It might be in the area of load carrying that these new packs may make the greatest impact.
I find if I am carrying a week or so of food I really want something that is comfortable but still as light as possible. This is particularly useful in European Mountain ranges were you are likely to to climbing up tighter and steeper slopes than you would be on the long USA trails.
It is good to see Brian back. And as Brian is a confirmed and experienced wilderness walker (the Heyduke trail and so on) he may bring with him a certain degree of extra ‘trail cred’ which won’t do Six Moon any harm at all!