Mountain Hardwear  Alpine Light Roll-Top 30 L Pack

I was a product tester for this pack and used it extensively across the globe for more than a year before production. At first touch you can feel the quality. The fabric is certainly waterproof which is the main staple of this pack. It has some nice convenient pockets on each side with waterproof zippers. Great for snacks and such. Removable straps help synch the pack tight and hold a pair of crampons on the outside. It also works great with those straps removed for folks looking for a stripped down style. The bag is extremely light. Highly abrasion resistant. Unlikely to puncture or tear. And it keeps out everything from water to dust. If you manage to make it come apart then respect to you because I couldn’t!! I used this bag ice climbing in Alaska, climbing in the Cascades, climbing in the Himalaya, and it’s become my go-to pack for travel where you will do an array of things from airplanes to jeeps to dusty trail. It’s just a really great bag that you will be super happy with. 10/10. IMO this is THE pack.

Excellent quality, a few gripes. The side pockets are difficult to access when it is stuffed full, and with no belt pockets it turns every water/food break into a packs off thing. I plan to replace the belt with one with pockets to get some snack access. Additionally, mine did not come with a horizontal strap around the top 3rd like pictured (it does not even have the attachment loops for that strap on the back side of the pack… without that horizontal strap carrying rope is messy. The straps for crampons on the front worked fine for hiking in/out but during our summit push I found them too finicky and would just drop them into the bag to save time. I still rate it highly because it feels like with some mods I can make it work and it will work for quite a while. Really feels like the perfect size for the cascades.

Love this backpack. It is lightweight and holds all my gear.

This pack is certainly high quality. It feels great and wears nice. I used it last weekend on Mt.Shucksan in Washington state and it was just enough room for gear for one night. I'm not used to a minimalist pack and expect that I can resolve many of my gripes with some more experience and changing my systems a little bit. For one, I struggled with the lack of accessible pockets without taking the pack off. Additionally the side pockets are hard to access while it is fully loaded making eating/drinking a pack off stop every time. The tool attachments work fine for axes, but left my picket hanging low enough to scrape and smack into rocks on the scramble down the Fischer chimneys. The loops to secure the axe handles also seems to loosen over time. The front straps for crampon attachment did fine enough on the approach, but I found them too finicky to mess with during transitions.... they are just long enough to get around the crampons... but it is a tight fit....so ended up just tossing my crampons into the bag during the actual climb to save time. One thing that seems to be missing even on an ultralight pack are side straps to secure a rope. There is room to drape one on top of the bag, and the center strap over the top is big enough to secure over a rope... but without the side straps it got a little messy. Overall I am impressed with the quality, fit, style, and potential of the bag enough to recommend it... I expect I will get some slide on pouches for the waist belt though and maybe try to add straps to secure a rope.