With their streamlined designs and durable fabrics, crux rucksacks are renowned for being lightweight and tough. The new AX rucksacks are no exception.
Launched in 2016 (after extensive pre-production field-testing in Patagonia and Alaska), the AX bags complement crux’s benchmark AK range and essentially copy its designs. They differ, however, in employing a sewn construction and a new Dyneema ripstop fabric that has been specially developed for crux. Woven into a high denier Cordura substrate, the small 3 mm ripstop uses twice as much Dyneema (15% overall) than standard, giving the fabric a durability on a par with the Kevlar AK sacks. Effectively, the AX series offers all but the fully waterproof performance of the AK range at a lower weight and price.
The AX range consists of five packs. All are variations of the top-loader design.
AX30 (£99)
The AX30 is the smallest and simplest pack in the AX range. Everything on this pack has been kept to the minimum. Core features include a fixed lid with a single valuables pocket; a huge oversized grab loop; a simple PE frame sheet that adds some support for a minimal weight penalty; a 38 mm plain webbing hipbelt – more than adequate for the sort of loads a bag of this size will take; fully removable ‘z’ side compression straps; ski slots; wand pockets and twin tool toggles that will accommodate anything from a lightweight mountaineering axe to a fully-fledged technical ice tool.
The AX30 is available in stone white, acid green, fire red and smoke grey and comes in a single back length. Most at home on lightweight alpine missions, the AX30 is the perfect companion for a one-day ascent of the Eiger North Wall or as the leader’s pack on Cerro Standhardt’s Exocet.
Weight: 760 g
AX35 (£119) and AX40 (£129)
The AX35 and AX40 are basically the same bag. The AX35 has a fixed lid, while the AX40 has an extendable/removable lid. Everyone has their own preference when it comes to lids, and crux has always given climbers a choice between the simplicity of a fixed design and the versatility of a floating/removable one.
In all other respects, the AX35 and AX40 are identical. In addition to the core features of the AX30, they offer removable 9 mm flat titanium stays for additional support when carrying heavy loads. Instead of a plain webbing belt, a fixed padded hipbelt (the same tried-and-tested design as on the AK47) is fitted as standard. Very light for their category, the AX35 weighs a mere 990 g and the AX40 1050 g. Both bags come in one back length and are available in the colours acid green, fire red and stone grey.
The AX35 is perfect for daily use during the Scottish Winter season, but if multiday alpine routes with long walk-ins are your thing, the AX40 is more suitable.
AX45 (£149) and AX50 (£159)
The AX45 and AX50 are available in the colours fire red and smoke grey in both regular and long back lengths. They are astonishingly light for bags of their size, with the AX45 weighing 1150 g and the AX50 1180 g.
The AX45 is perfect for lugging a huge rack into a hard route in the Cairngorms or up Beinn Eighe, while the AX50 is at home on any multiday alpine climb in the Himalaya.
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