2011 Gear Guide: Packs

STUFF THIS PACK
Four super-light climbing 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.

The idea is simple: a pack that stuffs into its own pocket, small enough to clip onto your harness when you don’t need it, yet large enough to swallow the day’s necessities when you do. During the approach, you carry your climbing gear inside. At the base, most everything inside goes on you—shoes, harness, rack—and the pack clips to your harness or straps around your waist. Whoever’s climbing second carries another pack with the water, snacks, jackets, and other essentials. The leader is almost completely unencumbered. Once you’ve topped out, unstow your pack, load all your non-descent gear into it, and off you go—without having the rack dangling around your feet as you downclimb, and without having to return to the base of the climb to retrieve anything.

There are other ways to use these packs, too. They’re so light that you might choose to throw one in your big alpine or backpacking rig for overnight approaches or ascending to a high camp. Then you can pull out the mini-pack for day climbs or summit bids. Or, if you prefer to lead with a pack, some of these climb great but weigh less than half as much as traditional leader packs. If all this sounds like a multiple personality disorder for backpacks, it is. Nonetheless, we found four such compact, multitasking machines.

Best for Climbing
VAUDE ROCK ULTRALIGHT COMFORT 15
$59.95, 14.1 oz.
vaude.com
With its tubular construction, this 15-liter pack bested the others reviewed for wearing while climbing. An external compression system snugs down around smaller loads, and an innovative clip on each side allows the compression cord to be easily strapped around a larger item, such as a picket or shovel handle. An internal slot holds the removable, foldable back pad, which doubles as a separate sit pad—the only pack in the review to have this feature. This pad helps provide structure without excessive weight or bulk; without the pad, the same slot works well as a hydration sleeve, albeit slightly too small for the largest bladders. The Vaude pack has an internal clip for keys or headlamp, and a spacious top pocket added extra stowage. The sewn-on waist belt and S-curve, mesh-backed shoulder straps, along with an air-channeling back-panel design, held the pack close to the back. During durability testing, two small holes appeared on the exterior.

Light and Right
CAMP PHANTOM
$39.95, 9.2 oz.
camp-usa.com
The lightest, cheapest, most compressible pack in the review, the Phantom offers no illusions about its intended purpose: anything where speed, and thus light weight, is of paramount importance. In spite of its gossamer feel, the Phantom’s unexpectedly high durability won it grudging praise from testers. (As with other packs in the review, hauling or chimney climbing are not recommended.) With a wide-mouthed clamshell design, this 15-liter pack features internal hydration bladder straps, a hose-routing system, and well-thought-out external gear-stowing bungees. The pack stuffs into the quick-access top pocket and, when stuffed, includes a waist belt for wearing while climbing. With its Vshaped webbing-and-mesh waist harness, the Phantom carried better than others, making it a good choice for ski mountaineering and alpine speed-climbing as well as toting up rock routes.