I probably didn't really need another rucksack, in fact theres no question about it - I didn't. But with Ultimate Outdoors reducing a lot of their stock in their January sale I couldn't refuse one of the Arc'teryx Cierzo 35 packs, reduced down from £70 to £50 at Ultimate Outdoors Lancaster. Arc'teryx describe it as:Lightweight and highly packable summit pack. Our lightest day pack under 40 litres.
So, the most obvious thing thing that blurb is that this pack is supposed to be light, and it most certainly is weighing in at 580g. I've had a play about, and if you do a bit of trimming, and removed the compression system you can knock about 100g off this which is getting into serious lightweight territory for a pack this size. Its frameless and has minimalistic waist strap which comprises simply of 1.5 inch webbing with no padding. The capacity is a conservative 35l, but if you really stretch the lid you can just about cram 40 in there. Theres one large lid pocket, and a main body - thats it, no side pockets or zips, no hydration sleeve etc. Its clean, and I like it.
My predominant winter climbing pack for the last half a decade has been my trusty POD Black Ice, one of the ones that Pete O'Donovan in his garage before production moves to China. It is a great rucksack but due to its size, when I'm going fast and light, or climbing something pretty hard I found myself wanting a frameless sack that was a bit smaller and lighter, willing to sacrifice some comfort on the walk-ins. I thought I'd solved this when I bought my Black Diamond RPM in the summer, and while this was great for Chamonix style alpinism I've found for British winter climbing, getting a full rack, harness, helmet and other winter kit is a bit of a squeeze. So enter the Cierzo...
Walking off the Ben with a fully laden Cierzo 35.I took it out on its first proper outing on Tower Ridge at the weekend. I packed fairly light, but still had all my winter gear and a moderate sized rack in my pack so it wasn't at its lightest for the 2 hour walk in. Surprisingly though it actually carried fairly well, with the hip belt taking more load then I was expecting it too. Unlike a framed rucksack you do have to be careful how you pack the cierzo as the back padding is minimalistic, you could if you wanted add in some extra foam sheets to pad it out a bit more. once we got to the climb I re-packed the sack, with the lid tucked inside the main body and hip belt fastened out of the way. As expected it was a dream to climb with.
This is by no means a definitive review, I'll write one when I've truly used and abused the pack but I think the Cierzo is going to do well. I'm going to take it down to Snowdonia with me next weekend for some rock-climbing and mountaineering, and I'll take it up to the Cairngorms when I'm there in a few weeks time. I also have high hopes for this when the summer alpine season comes around, for stuff of more traditional nature - i.e. not lift accessed, and I reckon it will just about take bivi kit.
The pack has already received positive reviews on the Alpine Guides site and on Alpinist.
Great (pre-)review. :)
ReplyDeleteI admit the few times I've looked at Arc'teryx packs I've not been that impressed by them. Granted I've never seen the one in question here, but I thought the Khazri and Khamsin were really poorly designed. They felt overbuilt where they didn't need it and flimsy where they did need it. Then again I didn't like the POD Alpine series either, but the Black/Thin Ice were excellent. It took me ages to settle on a good pack!
I'm really happy with my Grivel Alpine 45 to be honest - it's a little heavier than some competing packs (although not exactly a brick and it can be stripped down quite effectively) and that front zipper access is killer. I can pack heavy stuff in towards my back without worrying about how I'm gonna get at it (water especially). Potential for better weight distribution offsets the extra weight for me.
Had I not gone for that I would have probably picked either the Macpac Pursuit or Pitch but they felt a bit stiff for my liking and no lighter than the Grivel. Bombproof though.