Climbing Pack Reviews

Whether you need a crag pack or an expedition-style backpack, Climbing magazine's reviews will help you choose the right one. Bullet packs, crag bags, ice packs—you'll find them all in Climbing's comprehensive reviews.
  • First-Ascent-Bacon

    Eddie Bauer First Ascent Bacon

    Many “summit packs” are little more than stuff sacks with shoulder straps, but the Bacon is as hearty as its namesake. Ultralight (23 oz.) but tough, the 28-liter Bacon has a lightly padded back and internal webbing “skeleton” that kept loads centered squarely on the back and made it comfortable to carry modest loads up to 15 lbs.

  • Millet-Cliff-Org-32

    Millet Cliff Org 32

    This is a pack that makes you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?!” The outside is cleanly designed: The top has a recessed area and buckle to nestle a rope with two side compression straps to keep it in place. Two grab handles (one on top and one in the middle on the outside) make it easy to throw around from car to crag.

  • North-Face-Casimir-Pack

    The North Face Casimir

    The light weight (about two pounds), adjustability, versatility, and pocketfocused design of The North Face Casimir pack ($129; thenorthface.com) made it one of the best medium-sized bags we tested. We carried it on daily gym outings one week and to Chamonix, France, for some ice climbing the next week and found it fitting for both uses.

  • Gregory-Alpinisto-35-158

    Pack Mules

    Finding a pack that is perfect for everything from trad cragging to backcountry pursuits can make you feel like a whiney Goldilocks. It should be comfortable and stable enough to haul a double rack, food, layers, and water five miles or more into the alpine, but light and trim enough to stay out of the way when leading a crux pitch 500 feet off the deck.

  • Get Organized

    Perhaps the worst part about trad climbing is tripping over that $1,500 glorified weight belt slung over your shoulder. We tested the Hummingbird Hover gear sling/pack system ($59.95; hummingbirdmountaingear.com) on trad routes throughout Colorado and found it was a superb alternative to a traditional over-the-shoulder gear sling.

  • Wild-Things-Guide-Pack-158

    Just Enough

    How much space do you really need in a pack? The 26-liter capacity of the Wild Things Guide Pack ($175, wildthingsgear.com) definitely raised my eyebrows. It’s minimalist for sure—no external pockets; the waistbelt is nothing but two-inch webbing; and there’s no framesheet, just a removable pad. But it proved to be just enough for all my multi-pitch days, especially as an “up and over” pack for climbs where we didn’t return to the base of the route.

  • No Tip Necessary

    No Tip Necessary

    The Edelrid Caddy's ($44.95; edelridna.com) shoulder strap orients the broad, low-profile bag sveltely under your arm for easy carrying. The generous tarp features innovative grab loops on each corner that allow you to transport the rope easily between nearby climbs without folding everything up completely—no more dropping one corner and having the climbing rope spill out into the dirt.

  • Stoic Welded Haul Duffel

    2012 Gear Guide: Packs

    9 new packs tested and reviewed, from rope bags for sport climbing to alpine sacks for lightweight ascents.

  • Bag tester Drew Thayer postholes his way into Kolob Canyon in Zion National Park in March. Photo by Noah Gostout

    U-Haul Crag Bags

    Seven user-friendly crag bags for short approaches - Picture this: You’re in Rifle, Colorado, land of the car-belay, and you need to get your rope, draws, shoes, cell phone, post-send libations, and some sustenance all of 20 yards away. You left your big pack at home because, after all, it’s Rifle, and you don’t need backpacking-style suspension. Plus, going elbow-deep into a top-loading pack to find a brush or lost draw is beyond annoying.

  • GG-Vaude-UL-Comfort_31453.jpg

    2011 Gear Guide: Packs

    How should you carry your gear for a long rock climb with a big approach? Do you choose the behemoth backpack that swallows everything, and then leave it at the base? Or do you go with a teeny leader pack for climbing, and be forced to hike in and out with your harness on and gear jangling around the outside of the thing? Fortunately, a third option exists: the stuffable pack. These designs have been around in various forms for a while, but in recent years, more pack manufacturers seem to have gotten serious about them.

  • EC-Singing-Rock-Crux_31219.jpg

    2011 Gear Guide Editors’ Choice

    After months of testing on hundreds of routes, we offer up our picks for the most innovative, useful, and just damn good gear of the year. The Singing Rock Crux, Mammut Smart Alpine, Black Diamond Gridlock Screwgate, Petzl Grigri 2, Five Ten Arrowhead, Arc'Teryx Squamish Hoody, Beal Joker 9.1, North Face Verto, and Salewa Rapace GTX all won our high praises and took home the Editors' Choice Award.

  • From Monsters to Bastards - No. 246

    From Monsters to Bastards – No. 246

    A year and a half ago, I noted in our leashless tool review that the designs then available were only a precursor of shapes to come.

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