Ortovox Haute Route 45 Pack - 2010 BCS

My husband has the 35L size of this same pack, and I have the women's version. They are both excellent and exceed our expectations in every way. The comments in this negative review are inaccurate, except maybe the snowboard comment -- I ski, so I can't confirm or deny whether it carries a snowboard well. But the other rants are incorrect and may be from improper use of the pack. There was also apparently a "fit problem" that upset the prior reviewer. A few corrections: the "aluminum struts" are so soft and only give support -- there is no way you could feel them through the padding. The hydration tube does not prevent you from using the back access zippers and it is attached to the shoulder strap, but frankly who cares because we find all hydration systems will freeze -- everyone we know uses bottles in the winter. The pack carries all size ski tips when used properly. The 35L version of this pack fits my husband 6'5", 205 lbs just fine and it also fits our male friend at 5'10" and 185 lbs; it has perfect capacity for an all day outing, whereas this larger 45L version would be good for a multi-day hut trip. Both the pack length and the waist strap length are a-okay for both men. The other reviewer says he took this to Camp Muir -- that's a day trip, why was he carrying a pack this large -- maybe that explains his frustration with the size? This pack is 20% larger than the Osprey he switched to. This Ortovox pack and it's smaller 35L version and the women's version have the best set of features for a true backcountry ski trip -- no competitor products are even close.

I wrote a huge review on this and closed the window before my photo had loaded, loosing everything. Here is an abridged version. They had good ideas, but they missed important points.The bad:It is not one size fits all. The hip belt is fixed and it only fits properly with torso lengths in the 19.5"-20.5" range. It was too long for me at 18.5" and my friend at 19", yet to short for another friend who is 21.25".The hip belt is huge. I have a 35" waist and had it cinched fully trying to get weight on my hips.Base of the o flex frame hits my glutes.A FRAME SKI CARRY WILL ONLY WORK WITH NARROW TAIL WIDTHS OVER 135mm.Snowboard carry is cumbersome and ineffective. Base of the board is attached to the ice axe straps with a female piece that clips around the board. Straps tighten down and out away from the center of the pack. Due to the length of the extra strap they give you the buckles end up right on the sidewall of a normal width snowboard. This makes it impossible to properly tighten the strap down.Top strap attaches to the compression straps and again is cumbersome and difficult to tigthen.The hydration sleeve is in the back panel, tube goes through the shoulder strap which is sewn into the body of the pack which means that the tube blocks full access into the back panel and makes it difficult to open. On top of this the tube does not go through the shoulder strap, increasing the chance of freezing and requiring you to rely on clipping it to a shoulder strap to hold it down. Nice reciepe for getting smacked in the face when you have to straightline a chute.The "helmet carry" is an absolute JOKE. It's just an elastic piece of fabric that is supposed to clip into loops on the top of the pack. It's sized properly for a low profile bicycle helmet. Clips don't hold solidly and can easily be knock out of place.The good:Avy pocket is extremely well designed, quick to identify (red zipper pulls) and inside is well laid out. There was a little ziper pocket perfect for a first aid kit in with them.Ice Axe carry is a good design on the bottom, little tabs on the top for the handle seem questionable. Didn't get a chance to try them since I only did one mellow trip up to camp muir with this.Tie downs on the top and bottom of the pack are great for attaching your rope, crampons, sleeping bag, etc...I ended up returning this pack for an Osprey Kode 38 and couldn't be happier. That pack was extremely well thought out and attention was paid to the details. With this pack I was left wondering whether the designer had done anything beyond backpacking.