4 day Mt Rainier climb test

By pth2523863 Ranked #358 - Weeklong Packs (Over 4500 cu in) November 3, 2008

Loved it. I did not know which pack to buy - I was looking for a quality, light pack that was sturdy enough for multiday alpine climbing. It also needed to be comfortable enough to carry heavy loads and allow me to save some ebery for summit attempts.

I had my eyes set on this pack and the bora 65. I had tried on the bora 80 but thought this was too heavy and big for what I had in mind. I did not have the opportnity to touch both in a shop, so I called backcountry. The recommendastion I got was to buy both, try them out in the mountains and return one of them (or both if I wanted to!). I did not really believe this, and expected to run into some proiblems when i wanted to return one after using it to climb mount Rainer, but backcountry lived up to its promise: they fully refunded my used pack.

A friend ended up using (and liking) the bora 65, but I preferred the khamsin 70. It is lighter, easier to handle because of the big openings and is still comfortable enough. Our paks were treated to some prettu cold and heavy weather: we summited during a blizard, and when we woke up after a night of smow and ice rain, both packs had to be hacked out of the ice.

I am very impressed by backcountry's service, offerings and information. Nothing beats testing a pacvk while on a climb, and being able to do this to choose a pack and getting reimbursed for the other is just great.

Last note regarding the khamsin 70: it does not have a sleeping bag compartment to save weight. This was something I expected to miss, but it turned out to be completely fine, because of the easy access to anything being probvided by the side pockets.

Great pack, great service from backcountry.

View Details: Arc'teryx Khamsin 70 Backpack - 3967-4577cu in

Helpful Votes: 3 Yes