Talking About Packs
- January 2008
- Uncategorized
Hi Steph,
I am a female alpinist climber from New Zealand and looking to upgrade some of my gear. I was wondering if you can give some advice for a pack? I am looking for an alpine pack which has been designed for women. I am small 158 cm (5’2″), height.
Best,
Shiva
Dear Shiva,
Since you are small, weight is super important. My favorite pack right now is the Mammut Flight 35, because it works great for general rock climbing/crag days, as well as alpine routes. If you are able to pack even more compactly, and want to save 200 grams, I’d recommend going for the Extreme Light instead (it is a little smaller, so you have to be ready to be very fast and light with this one).
Along with these two, I always like to have a GoLite Gust pack. I love this pack because it is the definition of minimalist, and it can carry massive amounts, but has almost no weight in the pack itself. A lot of people don’t like the Gust because it is so minimalist, and it’s pretty unorthodox to use it as an actual climbing pack….but it is all personal preference. The Gust is the pack I used to climb Torre Egger, but it did get thrashed on the route, so it was kind of a one-shot deal, and not the most cost-efficient choice 🙂 The bottom line for me, thought, is “light is right.”
So personally, I like to have one ultra-light giant load-carrying pack (the Gust) and then one ultra-light, tiny climbing pack (the Extreme Light) for alpine use.
Hope this helps, and I hope you have great adventures!
xx Steph
Hi Steph,
Thanks for the advice; I am going to upgrade my gear as light as possible and I will check the Mammut pack as summit bag.
I also have another question about sleeping bags. Any recommendation? I know you are vegan and thought you might know better option rather than down ones.
Thanks a lot,
Shiva
Look into Deuter packs, also. I am a smaller frame woman, but found a perfect fit in a Deuter despite it being not female-specific. I absolutely adore my pack — when climbing partners have complaints about theirs, I am just thankful I found my Deuter!
Hi Sara,
I tried the Deuter one and, I am going to get one Deuter (50 plus 10) and going to get the Mammut Flight 35 which Steph advice as a summit bag.
Shiva
Thanks for the suggestion Sara! I’m glad we could help out, Shiva, and I wanted to give you some thoughts about the sleeping bags too. Synthetic is probably smarter than down anyway, for all around use, since you might find wet conditions on alpine routes and big walls. I like to have a nice, warm bag for base camp and high camp use, and right now I am most liking Ajungilak bags. They are beautifully made, warm and light. The Future is a 3-season synthetic bag, and comes in a shorter length (180 cm) which gives you a little weight savings.
I also like to have a super-light, minimalist setup, for taking on a climb if necessary. The Ajungilak tundra superlight, which is actually called a “trekking bag” weighs only 550 grams, and is a synthetic, very light bag. If you have one of these, along with an Ortovox Gemini Light bivy sack (350 grams), you can be pretty warm on a climb if you have to bivy.
Those Ortovox bivy sacks are amazing. Super minimalist. They are cheap (under $100), super light, and you can put 2 people in them, either lying down or sitting. You can also wear it like a poncho, or rig it like a mini tent or sun tarp (once I had one on a summer big wall, and we were so hot that I rigged it as a tarp so we could hide like lizards for several hours each day–it totally saved us and the ascent). I will caution that is just coated nylon, so it will always condense inside and create a frozen rainforest effect, which is not the most comfortable. But the thing can save you by providing enough warmth and rain/snow protection in an unplanned bivy, and it weighs less than some candy bars. It’s often the one bivy item that gets brought in my pack (when I have decided to leave behind the sleeping bag and stove), and I have been very glad for it.
Thanks for being so concerned for the animals, even in your choice of alpine gear. That is very unusual, and I think you are a hero and really admirable.
Best of luck to you!
xx Steph
Hello again Shiva! I wrote my friend Iris in Switzerland with your question, as she is the head designer of Ajungilak sleeping bags for Mammut. I was curious if they have any sources to provide them with down that is somehow acquired more humanely? I heard back from her today, thanks Iris!!
Dear Steph,
Happy hearing from you, looks like you are busy in connecting…
A synthetic bag is nowadays the best choice if you want to be sure of animals treated in a human way. It is sad to admit but the ways are like a labyrinth back to the first first step where the material is set up.It is very hard to controll the quality of treating the animals.
The Kira or the Kompakt would be the best choice for a light and warm choice (also the size of packaging is not bad compared to the down bag sizes).
As a matter of fact I am right now in China working on the new down collection. I will try to get some more informations about it and keep you updated.
Best,
Iris