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Wild Edge - free ideas for you!

kyler1945

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
6,877
Location
Willis, TX
So I got to thinking about how loud the wild edge bag is. Also, i like the idea of the ropes hanging out the bottom when climbing, but they're a pain to deal with packing. This last one is ME specific, but I needed a way to attach them to my alps pathfinder pack.

I haven't sewed in a while so mine sucks, and I didn't lay everything out or measure. But I think I'm better off than when I started.

I sewed two pieces of webbing with buckles to attach to the top of the shoulder straps on the alps pack.

IMG_0359.JPG

Then I sewed a pipe for shock cord in bottom of fleece panel, then sewed it up and around the bag. I left it about 2' longer than the bottom of the bag. Waiting on more shock cord to come in, but i'll slap a barrel on there and that will keep the ropes put up until i'm climbing. Note I left the top of the fleece between the two orange straps unsewn. This way I can slide a piece of close cell foam in there for padding later when I make a pair of shoulder straps JUST for the stepps. this step isn't necessary if you're just sewing fleece on to be quiet and for rope storage at the bottom.

IMG_0360.JPG IMG_0362.JPG
Here's a picture of it attached to the shoulder straps. I did this to get the stepps off my side, and out of the pack. Now everything fits a little better. The top of the pack can deploy out behind the stepps, which keeps the weight of the stepps in close to my back. Once I get it all finished up, i'll post some more pictures with everything all packed up
IMG_0363.JPG

A fleece or mesh bag from Wild edge would be awesome. Same patterns, same effort to make, just a different fabric. Drawstring at the bottom would take a little extra effort but I think folks would pay a few bucks extra.

Looking forward to building the shoulder straps to pack the stepps alone too.
 
IMG_0368 (2).JPG
Kestrel, stepps, camera arm/camera, binoculars, range finder, water bladder, only thing missing is a few layers strapped in. This works pretty nicely. Still had plenty of room in accessory pouches and some in the pack. If I needed a bunch of clothes, I would just wear the kestrel and toss em in the top of the pack in it's place.
 
I got the shock cord installed. This is way better than the closed bottom bag, or the bag with the bottom cut out. - Wild edge - Do it! Fleece, or some other form of quieter material would be a huge plus too. I'd buy another bag from you guys if you implemented the changes. Hell, if you did a couple molle loops at the top of the bag people could add their own shoulder straps.

IMG_0410.JPG
 
So I got to thinking about how loud the wild edge bag is. Also, i like the idea of the ropes hanging out the bottom when climbing, but they're a pain to deal with packing. This last one is ME specific, but I needed a way to attach them to my alps pathfinder pack.

I haven't sewed in a while so mine sucks, and I didn't lay everything out or measure. But I think I'm better off than when I started.

I sewed two pieces of webbing with buckles to attach to the top of the shoulder straps on the alps pack.

View attachment 5310

Then I sewed a pipe for shock cord in bottom of fleece panel, then sewed it up and around the bag. I left it about 2' longer than the bottom of the bag. Waiting on more shock cord to come in, but i'll slap a barrel on there and that will keep the ropes put up until i'm climbing. Note I left the top of the fleece between the two orange straps unsewn. This way I can slide a piece of close cell foam in there for padding later when I make a pair of shoulder straps JUST for the stepps. this step isn't necessary if you're just sewing fleece on to be quiet and for rope storage at the bottom.

View attachment 5311 View attachment 5312
Here's a picture of it attached to the shoulder straps. I did this to get the stepps off my side, and out of the pack. Now everything fits a little better. The top of the pack can deploy out behind the stepps, which keeps the weight of the stepps in close to my back. Once I get it all finished up, i'll post some more pictures with everything all packed up
View attachment 5313

A fleece or mesh bag from Wild edge would be awesome. Same patterns, same effort to make, just a different fabric. Drawstring at the bottom would take a little extra effort but I think folks would pay a few bucks extra.

Looking forward to building the shoulder straps to pack the stepps alone too.
what is that main shoulder strap system called?
 
Wow that's some serious mods Kyler. I have a padded strap from a golf bag I'm in the process of putting on. Will post pics when done. So no problem cutting bottom of the bag I see.

Thanks for all the input guys?
 
So I added an old golf bag carry strap and sewed a strap across the front to prevent any steps from falling out. I couldn't bring myself to cut the bag. I've tried to add pics bit it says the file is too large,its just a jpeg.
 
This is great. I had the idea to do the EXACT SAME THING to my WE bag. I was going to use Amerisuede in Strata Pattern instead of fleece, but it was essentially the same thing. Cool project. Thanks for sharing.
 
update on this after a weekend of hunting - it's the bees knees. I put 6 stepps in the bag, with the hole opened all the way up. I zip up the bag. Then I take the 6 ropes and wrap around my left hand. Then I grab that bundle and shove in the fleece, cinch down shock cord, good to go. Got to my tree, loosen shock cord, ropes fall out, I climb tree with giant smile on face. Coming down takes an extra 3-5 seconds per step fishing the rope through the hole in the bottom of the bag. If you're impatient, drop the stepps on the ground and pack up down there.

Note - I made the fleece end about 4" lower than the bottom of the bag. I did this because I wanted the ropes bundled up below the stepps. Why might you ask? Because when you shove this whole contraption in a pack, that bundle of rope pads the sharp end of the stack of stepps from jacking stuff up. If you wanted the space back, you could shove your ropes back up inside the stepps, but seems to not work for my purposes.

I'm trying to line up a seamstress to offer either the modification for the bags, or to just build the bag this way with an additional pocket on the front for storage. It would likely be out of a cordura/fleece panel. Will let you guys know if this proves economical. I'd love to offer to sew em up for you guys but can't commit the time. Something tells me the folks at WE aren't too keen on making changes and I don't blame them. Their setup works for 95% of the folks buying their stepps.

If anyone is interested here, like all of our ideas, numbers bring costs down. Let me know if you want to try to put something together.
 
I literally had all the same thoughts and put it to paper yesterday. Got on here and searched a little bit and boom you're a step ahead of me! Awesome setup you have there!

Another thought I had was using a larger quantity stepp bag with an adjustable buckle on the top to roll it down and close it during transport. This way you would have the ability to carry up to as many stepps as the chosen bag will fit or use it for extra gear storage space if using less stepps than the bag was intended for. It would also allow you to take however many stepps needed for different scenarios you may get into. Not even sure if that'll make sense, but it did in my head.
 
I have a 10 stepp bag and carry between 4-7 depending on the situation.

The modifications really made the whole thing work well. There's also easy ways to attach them directly to the saddle if you don't want to carry a bag for the climb - in a different thread
 
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