GearFlogger

Jansport Tahoma pack

Jansport has been quietly making some nice little - and not-so-little - backcountry packs for a while now. The Tahoma is an alpine-flavored 75L/4,600ci pack that weighs in at just 4lb 4oz with plenty of features.

Dual ice axe loops with rip-and-stick keepers, dual water bottle pockets, zippered mesh pocket on the hip belt and even a helmet compatible top lid make the Tahoma suitable for moderate alpine routes. A side zippered stash pocket high up on the main bag is great for maps. The top lid floats and doubles as a lumbar pack, and there are compression straps for dialing in the load. The fit is plenty adjustable and various components can be removed to lighten the load further.

The Tahoma carries nicely, and feels sturdy for such a light pack. The profile is narrow enough that it feels maneuverable, and the zipper pulls work well with gloves. The keepers on the straps are a great touch, as anyone who has been brutally whipped in a high wind by flying pack straps will attest. It's hydration compatible with a clip for your hose, and there's a gear loop on the waist belt as well. The Tahoma is a great deal: lightweight, sturdy and feature complete, and while your load might break your back the price won't.

$198.95 (on sale from $280.00) at Sunny Sports

Dakine Project Blue Recon pack

Dakine takes it to a higher level with their Project Blue Recon pack. Project Blue is a surf industry effort to keep our waves rolling, our water blue and our coastlines pristine. Two bucks from each pack go to the Surfrider Foundation.

Dakine doesn't go halfway; the Recon is seriously eco-friendly, 100% PVC-free and made with a lot of material from recycled PET materials from plastic bottles. Maybe they compromised on features? Not! The Recon is very well laid out to go from campus to beach, with a top-mounted fleece-lined sunglass pocket, insulated cooler cubby and seam-sealed wetsuit pocket for your skanky second skin.

The organizer pocket has sleeves for phones and music players so they don't slosh around scratching each other. I've always given extra points for pockets that can be accessed while the pack is being worn, and the recon has two: a small mesh bottle pocket on the wearer's right and a zippered pocket on the left, perfect for a cell phone that you want to secure out of sight but handy. The pack is deceptively tall, providing a more-than-you'd-think 1,900ci inside. There's even a sternum strap. About the only thing missing is a hip belt, but the Recon is made to go short distances so most users won't have a problem with that. Beach rats will love it.

$74.00 at Zappos

Mountain Hardwear Glisse ski pack

The Mountain Hardwear Glisse is the pack formerly known as the Huckster with a few useful updates. It's an odd little pack designed specifically for skiing, with a slim profile and some other nifty features helpful to backcountry Bobs and Betties.

At just over 2,000ci capacity the size medium Glisse weighs in at a respectable 3lb 5oz. Skis are meant to be carried diagonally, tips high and right, on the beefed-up front panel, but you could go a-frame if you chose. The next pocket in holds snow safety gear, skins, shovel, etc. The main compartment has a couple of zippered mesh pockets and a fleece lined compartment for eye pro.

There's an ice axe quick-release toggle so you can remove your axe without taking the pack off, a feature that is insanely useful when you inevitably need it. Hydration pocket, side compression straps, a vertically adjustable sternum strap and two Ice Clipper loops for gear on the right waistbelt round out the features. Overall the pack carries the goods and comfortably so. What more do you need?

$74.98 (on sale from $120) at Mountain Gear

PacSafe TrekSafe 100 backpack

On the one hand, I believe that people think international travel is a lot more dangerous than it actually is. On the other hand, I'm all for an ounce of prevention when the alternative is losing something important when you're a long way from home.

Enter the PacSafe TrekSafe 100 backpack, a tough little number with multiple security features: built-in slashproof wire mesh panels and straps a la their original PacSafe technology, tamperproof zippers and my personal favorite, asnatchproof carabiner-style clip on the right-side shoulder strap. Being able to clip the pack to a chair or other object while you're eating at a sidewalk cafe really does add to your peace of mind.

The TrekSafe is fairly capacious for a daypack. The roomy main compartment has a nice rectangular cross-section that will take a couple packing cubes and a rolled up jacket. The underside of the top lid will store a small toiletry bag and there are two padded veclroed camera/MP3 player sized pouches (and a headphone port) inside a larger zippered compartment inside. A shovel style pocket on the back will take slimmer items like books, magazines or a folded jacket, and each side has a half-mesh pocket on top of a tall, narrow zippered pocket that could hold a travel umbrella, rolled up clothing, etc. The fit is comfy with adjustable shoulder straps and padded shoulder/waist areas. Bottom line: a fully functional and well-thought out travel pack with added anti-theft features at a reasonable price. What's not to like?

$84.95 at eBags

McHale Custom Super SARC pack

Three pieces of gear determine most of your happiness on big mountains: boots, pack and sleeping system. Boot preferences are very individual, and sleeping bags are fairly straightforward, but packs... packs are what keep serious GearFloggers up at night. And what many serious GearFloggers are packing is a McHale.

Packs have to hold and organize gear, take abuse, never fail and carry comfortably. Seattle-based master craftsman Dan McHale can make sure you have it all. I'm too lazy to list all the reasons a custom pack is worth the money, but just add up what you've spent on packs in the last ten years. If it's more than $800 and you're still not happy, you need to page Doctor Dan.

Give yourself some time to make sense of McHale's somewhat chaotic web site. I wanted a Denali-class load hauler and I finally settled on a Super SARC P&G tricked out to my exact specs. The material is 210HT nylon with a small Dyneema (Spectra) grid pattern running through it. The bottom of the pack is all-Dyneema, as are the shoulder straps, which slide like buttah. The main pack (4lb) is cavernous and makes a great weekender by itself. The top lid (10oz) has it's own waist belt for lumbar pack use, and mine is divided into two compartments with a map sleeve. A rear utility pocket (8oz) works as a summit sack and also creates a shovel pocket. The two red belt pouches (2oz each) are quite large and pivot forward on a bungee cord for easier access. Finally the bottle pockets (2oz each) also have a wand sleeve and can be mounted at a forward cant for easier access. Total weight: 5lb 10oz.

I had every piece of webbing that moved (zipper pulls, velcro tool loops) made yellow, daisy chains red and pack fit adjustment webbing gray. Yes, I am just that assal-retentive. The final tab was over $800 but after switching packs so often for so many years, for me it was worth it. The pack carries like a dream; the double-buckle waist belt actually makes the load feel lighter. You can adjust the shoulder straps without screwing up the geometry. And I know why every feature is the way it is: because that's how I configured it. I'm McLovin' it.

Visit McHale Packs for Pricing

Gregory Z30 pack

The Z30 sounds like a secret weapon from outer space, but it's actually a sweet little pack from Gregory, the guys who do only packs. The Z30 is available in small 1,650ci, medium 1,800ci and large 1,920ci models weighing in at a very nice 2lb 10oz, 2lb 12oz and 2lb 14oz respectively.

The Z30 is literally cool, with a burly curved frame and mesh back panel that allows airflow across the back. Gregory claims the Z30's frame will increase support as you add weight. In what must be a first in the marketing world, this seemingly impossible claim proved out. The catalog lists the comfort rating at 30lb while the tag indicates 25lb, but we're here to tell you you can stuff this thing like a Christmas turkey. Our testing showed 40lb+ were not a problem with careful packing.

The design is a bit unconventional: there's the usual hydration sleeve, dual mesh side pockets and handy dual zippered belt pockets. Then you have four storage areas including the main compartment. The lid zippers waaaay open, gaping like high school students watching Porky's for the first time. This is nice because you can get to a lot more than you can with a normal top loader. On the back of the lid there's a medium-sized top pouch, and below this is an open bucket pocket - great for stuffing jackets - with a smaller vertically zippered pouch on its front. The bottom line is a lot of organization options, each sized appropriately to its location on the pack.

The shoulder and waist suspension is comfy and up to the demands of kitchen sink rated loads. A note on sizing: the Z30 seems to run a tad small for its rated size, so try it on if you can. On the flip side this is a great men's pack that is SheFlogger approved, so don't let She Who Must Be Obeyed try it on or you may never see it again.

$119.00 at REI

Mountain Hardwear Splitter pack

Ever on the lookout for a place to keep my stuff, I was intrigued by Mountain Hardwear's Splitter crag pack. Packed full of rock climbing features, the frameless 2,150ci Splitter makes a few odd design choices that are easily overlooked if what you want is a tough, capacious gear slut of a bag that you'll take to a climb but not necessarily up it.

The Splitter is thusly named because you can zip it fully open so it lies flat with all its innards gloriously exposed. There are pouches for harness, shoes, chalk bag and other stuff. Better are the triple gear loops for organizing your rack and the compression pouch that snugs your heavy rope against your back. Best is the generous nylon tarp that flips out to protect your lifeline from the dirt. A single center daisy chain terminating in a gear loop dresses up the workmanlike exterior, as do the oversized metallic zipper pulls that are a blessing for clawhand operation after a day of power crimping.

Externally there are two mesh pockets and a single slash zipper to a pocket running the entire front of the pack, but it's not bellowed so if the main compartment is full the pocket won't hold anything bulky. There's also a zippered hydration pouch accessible from the top. The odd design choices are the ice climbing features: dual ice tool loops instead of haul points on the main bag, and four ice clipper sleeves on the waist belt instead of gear loops. If you're looking for a roomy rope-bag on steroids that carries a lot of gear comfortably and will stand up to some serious abuse, the Splitter will serve you nicely.

$159.95 at Backcountry

Mountain Hardwear Dihedral pack

One word best describes Mountain Hardwear's new Dihedral technical alpine pack: burly. This beefy ruck tips the scales at 4lb out of the box, which although far from obese is still a tad on the heavy side for a 2,450ci/40L pack. Luckily you can strip it down to quickly lose a pound for lighter duty.

Why the weight? One more word: bombproof. The Dihedral and its bigger brother the 3,200ci/52L Direttissima have MH's new "Hardwear Tarp" on the front panel. That's the white part in the photo at left, and it's certified Borg technology. You can drag it over rocks and beat your climbing partner's face with it and it won't get damaged. Crampon points and ice tool teeth? No problem, just strap 'em on.

Features are fully fluffed. MH's cool dual Axe-S toggles slip through the 'biner hole on the head of your tools, and with a bit of practice you can remove the tools without taking off the pack. There are conventional loops as well, plus ski loops/gear slings, center daisy chain, under-lid rope strap, three-point haul loops, tuck-away compression straps, hydration sleeve with dual ports and a nice fixed (instead of floating) buckle design that is easy to operate one-handed and with gloves on. There are even two little sleeves per waist strap that will accept plastic ice screw 'biners, very handy when your hip belt is riding over your harness.

The Dihedral carries like a champ, with great balance and plenty of room to work your chicken wing on Bridalveil. We really liked the fact that you can carry it stripped down and clean for fast and light days, yet still strap every accessory known to man (but not to woman, don't get all crazy) on it for gear days. If you're the type who likes to abuse your gear, or if you're just looking for a backcountry ruck that has a place for all your stuff, the Dihedral is beckoning. And with a nice price too.

$160.00 at REI

Ultimate Direction Strider women's waist pack

After discarding a few other LOTR-themed fantasy names like "Gollum" the folks at Ultimate Direction settled on Strider for their runner's waist pack. This itsy-bitsy women-specific belt pack tips the scales at just over 7oz, so the SheFlogger will no longer be able to blame the man for keepin' her down.

The Strider is stocked with coolness, starting with the bottle: the FDA-approved polyethylene is an easy squeezer, the rigid finger loop gives you full control for pulling it out or sticking it in, and the very clever off-center valve is 100% mouth-operated. Sounds like a Japanese sex robot, but this one is top-rack safe in the dishwasher. Try that with Aibo.

There are three pockets on the pack: a forward-canted mesh bottle pocket, a zippered pouch with key hook for phones/keys/wallets/etc., and a middle open pocket perfect for gel or energy bars. The Strider even has reflective piping and an antimicrobial finish. What really pushed my gimmick button: the elastic strap keepers. A quick twist with one finger and the excess strappage is wired tight. It's difficult to explain, just look at it carefully when you buy it to see how it's done. We've seen a lot of strap keeper solutions over the years, and we want these on all our monster packs now!

$31.00 at REI

REI Venturi 30 pack

Venturi is not just an Italian physicist who invented a new way to torture high school students in lab class. It's also REI's slick technical daypack for both men and women; we tested the SheFlogger version, weighing in at a svelte 2lb 5oz even with its burly tubular aluminum frame. At 1,800 cubic inches there's enough room for a long day out or an ultralight weekend.

Organization is almost perfect with a single top-zippered main compartment and two waterproof-zippered outer pouches: the smaller horizontal pouch on top is perfect for sunglasses and the medium vertical pouch takes extra clothing layers for easy access. Two water bottle sized mesh pockets on the side and two compact camera sized zippered pockets on the waist belt round out the storage options. Technical features include dual ice axe loops, an inner hydration sleeve and hooks to suspend a bladder in between the mesh back panel and the main pack bag to leave more room inside.

The fit is super-comfy with a wide waist belt that tightens with dual forward pulls, a GearFlogger fetish. The curve of the frame leaves plenty of room for airflow across the back, the shoulder straps are boobatomically correct and there's even a whistle built into the sternum strap in case you need to call the SheFloggers to war. Trekking poles stow nicely on the sides under the compression straps. This is a great design that will cover a wide range of activities. If you're a kitchen-sinker step up to the Venturi 40 with 2,400ci.

$99.00 at REI