UKC

Calling all gear experts, I'm in the market for a 45L day sack. Ideally, it should have the following features:

- floating lid, ie adjustable front and back straps
- a full-length or very long front or side zip (a la Moon Aerial)
- adjustable rope strap at the top
- airflow type back, (a la Osprey Talon) rather than the separate frame type

The main contenders so far are:

- Blue Ice Yeti (seems to tick all the boxes on paper but not seen one in the flesh yet)
- Osprey Talon 44 (bit flimsy possibly, but nice and light. Okay, no long zip but "bottom-accessible".)
- Black Diamond Stone (same comments as Blue Ice above)
- Lowe Alpine Air Zone Pro 35-45 (suspect the curved side zip isn't practical enough for my needs)
- Rab Alpine 45 (nice, but it felt a bit "chunky")
- Moon Aerial (almost there but no rope strap ...or lid!)
- Arcteryx Alpha 45 (beautiful, if only it had a full length zip!)

I'd be very grateful for comments on any of these three packs or any alternatives I might have missed. I have a Decathlon 40L sack which is good, but the back is slightly too long and it doesn't have the rope strap I'm really keen on.

Over to you peeps.

In reply to Fraser:

Lowe Alpine Mountain Attack 45:55? Seems like fits the bill completely with both side and bottom entries.

I have one for sale - it's just too big as a day pack and too small as a travel bag.

In reply to PPP:

Cheers for the suggestion, initially it looked like it might be a bit large but having watched a LA presentation video I could be interested. (think it was for their Alpine Attack but that seems pretty similar) What sort of price were you thinking of?

Still open to other suggestions and comments.

In reply to Fraser:
Add a diy rope strap to a sack with a long zip?

In reply to Fraser:

I was thinking about 50 pounds posted as it is still in a very good nick. There's a slight tear on the back panel (foam) and the waist buckle was replaced by something sturdier. I can send you some pics tomorrow if you wish.

In reply to wbo:

Yeah, I hadn't ruled out that option!


In reply to PPP:

I see you're also based in Glasgow, maybe meet up at GCC or TCA to have a peek at it?

In reply to Fraser: The Yeti is in Rock&Run's sale flyer this week for 55 I think....

b

In reply to Fraser:

Haglofs roc rescue is one of my favorite packs easy access with the front panel zip. good storage inside the pack thats not mentioned in the description anywhere is 2 wand pockets which are perfect for probe and a shovel handle. only noted as 40l but feels larger than any other 40l sack i have owned and can easily get overnight winter kit in it.

In reply to Fraser:

Alpha 45 is eye candy only. Dreadful to use.

In reply to Fraser:

When bored a few days ago I was thinking about if I re-did the "crag packs for trad climbers" review I wrote a few years back what packs I want to include it in that are available now and noticed the BD Stone 45. I thought that their Creek 50 looks really interesting (saw one in a shop recently and its built like the proverbial brick privy) but the Stone looks really interesting too. Looks good if you want that "classic" rucksack design but seems to open up like most crag packs do. Looks usable for winter climbing too, particularly routes where you leave your big pack at the base to come back too.

It's a shame Arcteryx changed their designs because the Miura pack I have from some years back ticks all or most of your wants, but people say the new version isn't nearly as good.

In reply to Fraser:

I have been happy with the Grivel Alpine 45 pack that seems to fit your requirements. Just cut off the features that you don't need.

In reply to ben b:

Cheers for the heads up on R&R site, but sadly it's the 30L Yeti which is on a (very good) deal just now.

Thanks for the other suggestions too, some are quite intriguing. Interesting to hear the Alpha is not to great. I had that hunch but it just looks so nice and minimal.

I'd seen your earlier review Toby, thanks for that. I for one would be very interested in an update! The Miura does look good but it's pretty weighty at over 2kg.

One further question: when a sack is described as being 'alpine', does that just mean it has the facility to carry your ice tools/skis/crampons, and nothing more than that, or is it a recognised 'profile'?