Hi all,
Wondering if folks could suggest options for a not-too-heavy, not-too-fragile, reasonably water resistant day/overnight pack of approximately 20-30L capacity that's suited to alpine/technical climbing eg. can easily carry some combination of skis, poles, snow shoes, ice axes, crampons, ropes, climbing gear etc. as well as all the usual stuff... and with front 500mL bottle pockets and decent hip belt pockets? Basically the love child between a technical alpining pack and a trail running vestpack :-p
At present I rock a Salomon S-Lab Peak 20 vestpack which is great for a basic overnight fastpack fishing trip, but is really limited for carrying extra winter or climbing gear, and the harness system isn't so great when you're taking it on and off all the time.
Essentially what I want is the Salomon X-Alp 23, though I've been informed this is no longer available except from a couple of European outlets that won't sell outside of their markets.
Any ideas? There doesn't seem much on the market that combines all its features... not from any of the major known players anyway.... really only the UD FastPack 25 though that lacks much in the way of back rigging/tie down options and the build is quite delicate. I'm almost thinking it'd be easier to go a Black Diamond Speed/Blitz or Patagonia Ascensionist and replace the harness with something of my own design.
Cheers, Ben.