The Gearguy

It was bound to happen. After my comments in the last issue about how durable my Leki trekking poles have been in comparison to some others, it just had to happen. Yes, about two weeks after you were reading how long I’ve used the same pair of Leki Ultralight poles, I finally broke one. It was on my November Club trip up the west ridge of Atlantic Peak when I slipped and one pole wedged between two rocks and snapped off about five inches from the tip. I really can’t complain, however. They lasted through at least five years of regular use and abuse.

Speaking of abuse, Mrs. Gear Guy has been doing her best to give the Kahtoola Traction System (KTS) “shortie” crampons (reviewed in a previous issue) a real torture and endurance test. Recovering from a rotator cuff repair, she’s been very anxious both to return to hiking and to make sure she doesn’t slip and fall on the repaired shoulder. To this end, she’s been wearing the KTS crampons everywhere in the mountains where there’s any snow on the ground. This includes when there’s mostly rock, so these aluminum crampons are being exposed to use and abuse that I doubt the designers had in mind. The report? To paraphrase: “KTS, not just for spring trail running anymore.” I’m told that she could have sold several pair over the course of her Chasm Lake trip in late November when the East Long’s Peak Trail was a bobsled run.

But enough of the endurance testing reports:

Alpine climbing places perhaps the widest demands on a backpack that can be imagined. An alpine pack has to comfortably carry many pounds of technical climbing gear plus, often, at least minimal camping or bivy gear. After the approach hike or pre-climb camp/bivy, it must compress down (after pulling out the technical climbing gear, ropes, helmets, etc.) so as to move with the climber and not be a bulky hindrance.

It must do all this while keeping weight to a minimum.

Some climbers address this problem by strapping a minimalist summit pack to the outside of their regular, backpacking pack, but even the smallest summit pack still weighs a pound or two and the lightest high-volume internal frame backpacks start at around 5­6 pounds, which is the extreme upper limit of reasonable weight for an alpine climbing pack.

The best alpine packs sport features that make the climber’s life easier—features such as tool tubes, daisy chains, haul loops and gear loops on the hip-belt. As it turns out, many of these features are useful for non-climbers, too. Hip-belt gear loops work great for clipping a water bottle or accessory pouch. Haul loops are handy for hanging your pack to keep it away from the marmots. Daisy chains come in handy for clipping sandals and other assorted gear to the outside of your pack, and tool tubes are great for carrying avalanche probes, chair-conversion kits for your Therma-rest, trekking poles, or a standard alpine ice axe. Plus as it turns out, there is a close correspondence between the size of a good alpine pack and a weekend or minimalist multi-day backpack. Therefore, I feel justified in discussing alpine climbing packs as an item of general interest.

Over the last several years, I’ve tried a large number of alpine climbing packs, and here’s what I’ve discovered:

Andinista by Wild Things! (www.wildthingsgear.com)

To quote their website: “The Wild Things Andinista has been the premier alpine mountaineering pack for over 20 years. The combination of lightweight materials and intelligent design has made the Andinista one of the most sought-after packs on the planet.”

I’m not one much for marketing hype, except this time it happens to be true. The Andinista takes a unique approach to solving the problem of needing a big pack for the approach and a small, compact pack for the climb. On each side of the pack are two zippers (normally hidden and protected by hook-and-loop flaps) and expansion panels that can be opened or closed together or alone to change the pack from a svelte 29 liters (1,800 cubic inches) to a voluminous ninety liters (5,500 cubic inches). With only one zipper zipped, the pack will swallow 49 liters (3,000 cubic inches of gear). Originally, I expected this one-zipper-only configuration to skew the weight distribution and shape of the pack, but it doesn’t; magic is all I can figure. The reason that the zippers are better than regular compression straps it that they actually reduce the volume of the pack rather than just squishing it down as do compression straps. Squeezing down a big pack doesn’t really reduce the bulk or awkwardness much and makes fishing out your next clothing layer a real hassle.

While staying well under the five-pound practical limit for alpine packs, the Andinista sports all the features that make a climber’s, skier’s, or backpacker’s life easier. The aforementioned—and requisite, in my humble opinion—tool tubes, hip-belt gear loops, crampon attachment straps, are all present, as is a separate and centered alpine axe attachment. In addition, there are three removable compression straps on each side that also serve to attach skis (it’s got ski slots too), snowshoes, pickets, sleeping pads, tents, or other miscellaneous gear to the sides of the pack. The (removable) top lid features not only two zippered compartments on the outside but a zippered map pocket on the underside. All this for four pounds, two ounces of heft.

The material of construction is a waterproof ripstop-like nylon fabric, and the main compartment has a tall spindrift collar or “bivy sleeve” so if you’re caught away from camp or the trailhead or benighted on a climb, you can pull out the backpad, unroll the bivy sleeve and use the pack along with your upper-body layers and lightweight tarp (see my last review) as an improvised bivy system.

The really big surprise about the Andinista, however, is how comfortably it carries a big load. For suspension, it has only a closed-cell foam pad (removable for emergency bivies), and the hip belt isn’t of the high-tech molded variety. Nonetheless, tightly packed and compressed, I’ve carried loads over sixty pounds up more than 3,000 feet of seriously steep trail and off-trail tundra and talus in relative comfort (given that sixty pounds loads are never comfortable in the conventional sense of the word).

Well, there has to be a down-side. This pack is also the most expensive in the review at a cost of $325 (recently reduced from $350). For you real ounce-counters out there, Wild Things! is now making, by special order, an all-Spectra® version of the Andinista which tips the scales a pound lighter for a mere $320 premium over the standard pack (a mere $20/ounce). Available at Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder or from Wild Things!

Nozone by Arc’teryz (www.arcteryx.com)

This is my second favorite alpine pack and was my hands-down favorite until I discovered the previous pack. The common complaint about the Nozone in alpine pack tests is its weight. It weighs in at just over the five-pound limit, but is such a nice pack that everyone (including me) fudges the rules to include it in their reviews. The suspension on the Nozone is one reason why. Like all the Arc’teryx pack suspensions, this one pretty much makes any load flat-out disappear on your back. If you’re really concerned about weight, all the suspension components (two aluminum stays, foam pad, padded hip belt) can be removed to shave a couple of pounds from the pack.

The $279 Nozone has the required hip-belt gear loops and a Hypalon back panel that works for attaching crampons or snowshoes. It also features dual daisy-chains, two ice axe loops, and tool holsters on the hip belt. The material for the pack body was recently changed from a Spectra® Hardline™ ripstop nylon to a more durable-looking X-Pac™ and “Ripstorm™” fabrics reminiscent of those used for the Andinista.

The volume of the Nozone is a modest 65 liters (3,970 cubic inches) for the regular size, so fitting camping and climbing gear in can be a bit of a challenge. The Nozone features “ghost” compression straps that are internal to the pack bag, which makes for a very clean package, but also makes attaching things (pickets, pads, etc.) to the outside a bit of a challenge. Arc’teryx includes straps for this purpose, but they attach with side-release buckles that are prone to breaking (though Arc’teryx will replace these at no cost seemingly for the life of the pack).

Unfortunately the accessory that makes the Nozone really shine as an alpine pack, the so-called “alpine patch” is no longer offered by Arc’teryx (are you guys listening up there in B.C., eh?). This replaced the standard hypalon panel with a crampon pouch and two tools tubes.

Despite these drawbacks, I’ve nearly worn one of these out and, indeed, had purchased its replacement before I discovered the Andinista.

Other alpine packs worth your consideration: Granite Gear’s Alpine Light is a good, basic lightweight and inexpensive ($160) alpine pack with lots of features and little weight for the dollar. Black Diamond’s Ice Pack is another full-featured, excellent value ($150) but may not fit those with a long torso like mine. Wookey’s Couloir (c. $200) is a bit on the small side at approximately 2,000 cubic inches, but fine for day-climbs and includes some nice features like tool tubes. P