Hello all. My wife and I are planning for an AT thru hike next year. She is 5"3 and around 110lbs. We are both in our early 50s. She doesn't have much hiking experience so we are really trying to get as much info as possible about packs. Her planned base weight is about 9 lbs so we are looking at a TPW of no more than 20. OK so enough of the numbers. We are looking at something like the Zpacks Arc Scout or maybe a LiteAF or MLD frameless pack. We are worried that having her first experience with long distance being frameless with no load lifters might be challenging. Any women out there go straight for frameless and can share experiences? Do you recommend a framed pack/load lifters even for light pack weights?

Thanks much in advance for any and all advice.