Solid. They are right. You can strip it light and the pack still packs well without your bongos hip jarring. Standard rain pour won't soak what's within. If you dig 'Alpine Style' the 45ltr belly will take everything you need - just throw in some courage, chuck-up your breakfast, and mix-it-up. 5'9" 175 pounds - small-medium size goes good.

The bag gets two thumbs down. The marketeers my middle finger. This thing don't work. Heavy loads are not meant to be comfortable, they are suppose to be practical - huge padded backing is both heavy and restricting. No good for climbing be it winter, summer, or when posing about such in an attempt to get your leg over a pretty philly in the pub. The internal steel framing system makes the pack quite wide around the hips - making your moves that much more contorted. MH pumps out some solid gear, but they need testing practitioners with a sturdy spine when it comes to pack design. Give up any thoughts for purchase, you want the BD Dolomite.

I've scored 3 kisses on the cheek, a dozen random high-fives, and been taught 1 secret handshake whilst wearing the sunkiss colored version of this shirt - it pulls, so I continue to pull it on. The side venting hips/zips are great for venting energy and heat on the dance floor - maximizing comfort and style in spite of my dancing ability. So be wary of this shirts' weight bearing design - get one of these on your back, and you'll have the dudes and dudettes hanging all-over your shoulders.

If Berrylium were an ice-cream flavour - it'd be the sweetest thing to smother your insides. But it's not - so the sweetest thing to do is get one on your back. I'm 5'9" 175#, the small size fits me great for ALPINE (such awesome stuff) summer in the super fickle maritime alps of New Zealand. Throw a solid over-sized belay jacket on to prevent chill'n whilst chill'n in the Fall/Winter, and you'll be set (comfortably, not frozen)

Yes, it is totally windproof and waterproof. Yes, the hood comfortably fits the helmets I use whilst wearing a head lamp: Petzl Meteor and Elios, BD Half Dome. The chest zips are not confused when wearing my MH Supernatural and Direttissima backpacks.

The sleeves are in fact long enough for high-sticking reaches on rock for desperate pull-down glory. Throw long gauntlet gloves on your mitts for quality ice time.

I went the red jacket because red is faster. However, given the great look of this jacket, smash it with mud first if you want to be taken seriously in the outdoors.

The dudettes version of this bag is actually a little warmer than the dudes. A bloke of modest size (5'8" 175#, 70% of that being ego!) needs the women's long size. Thereby, if you can handle the colour, go the women's version instead. If you can't handle the colour, and are thinking about it too much - you might as well be a girl anyway, so still, go the women's version in a long length instead.