Core pack quick review for climbing
I love it, but there are a couple irksome misses so obvious that they almost seem like production errors. The problem isn’t that it’s not perfect, but that it easily could have been.
GOOD—
[] ergonomic shape; way better than the HMG summit pack
[] fantastic body-hugging design
[] sublime minimalist construction
[] shockcord carries crampons or foam pad well
[] tapered daisy chains keep stuff from sliding out
[] carries light skis OK diagonally
BAD—
[] ice axe loops too small to fit around the 5 different axes I tried
[] snow sticks to mesh shoulder straps. The MLD website shows smooth fabric straps, making this an unwelcome surprise
[] shoulder straps are unduly bulky for this size pack
[] tiny haul loop accomodates only 3 of my fingers at once
UGLY—
[] The included sternum strap was too short to cross my chest— and I wear slim-fit medium / large shirts.
[] Unlike all dry bags, the HMG packs, and every rolltop pack I’ve ever encountered, the rolltop has two female buckles, so you can’t quickly buckle it closed to itself. It has to be rolled down and individually clipped to each male buckle at the top of the daisy chains. It takes two steps to close the HMG rolltops— roll and buckle. This pack takes five: snap one little snap button, snap one more little snap button, roll, buckle one side, and buckle the other.
The unnecessary fiddling around this entails is less bothersome than the fact that it could all be avoided by putting mated buckles on there, like similar packs have already.
Despite these flaws, it’s certainly lightyears ahead of the alternatives. My hope in sharing these thoughts is that future versions of this pack will get even better.
