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Veteran climber Gord Betenia doesn’t suffer fools – or foolish design – quietly. That’s why we love having him as our Field Testing Coordinator and Lead Gear Tester at MEC. If something’s not cutting it, he’s not shy about saying so.
To reinvent our venerable Alpinelite climbing packs, Gord teamed up with designer Mark Knight. Gord’s contribution was to take prototypes into the field, thrash them thoroughly, and come back with suggestions. Mark’s job was to find ways to translate those wishes into reality.
As part of the rethink, we ditched the 85L size from the range. Today’s lighter, more compact equipment rarely requires that kind of capacity, and besides, “It was like carrying a fridge on your back – kind of challenging for travel over technical terrain.”
The two largest Alpinelites (the 50Land 75L) have been cut wider. The new width allows a closer fit that stays balanced without forcing you to lean forward. Being able to stand upright is less fatiguing when hiking, but it’s more than a just comfort thing. As Gord dryly notes, “When climbing steep stuff, bending forward is often not an option.”
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This balance is maintained even when you remove items and carry the pack partially empty. The lid is cut to fit when cinched down on a nearly empty pack. If you’ve ever had the skirt on a pack lid clamp down over your shoulder stabilizer straps when the pack’s partially filled, you’ll appreciate the subtle genius of Mark’s patterning.
While we’re talking lids, they’re placed to allow let you tilt your head back easily, even with a helmet on. As Gord points out, it’s not only climbers who need to check overhead. Skiers dodging branches and hikers scaling a via ferrata would rather locate obstacles with their eyes than their skulls.
To avoid what Gord describes as the “climbing while strapped into a spineboard” feeling, the framesheets on the larger packs slide out super quickly, even with gloves on. Grab loops on the cordlocks let you operate both the main pack and snowcollar drawcords while wearing mitts. Likewise, all the snap buckles have an open design that’s both mitt-friendly and snow-shedding.
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Moving on down, we find the gear loops on the waist belts are positioned to complement, not cover, those on your harness. The fabric covering the belt is cut with a contour, to prevent wrinkles forming between you and the pack when it’s cinched tight.
Around back are tool holders that are tailored to carry today’s hammerless ice tools or general mountaineering axes. A crampon carrier located between the tools snaps off when not needed to keep things streamlined. In keeping with that low-drag design, all the Alpinelites have minimal outside attachments. Or as Gord puts it, “No gack. When you’re bushwhacking through BC brush, anything that protrudes WILL be destroyed.”
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The smaller packs in the line (The 35L, 24L and 18L) are likewise well thought out, with lots of attention to detail.
Unless they were pointed out to you, you might never notice many of the improvements Gord and Mark came up with. That’s just fine with Gord, who observes, “You’re only aware of discomfort, not comfort.” If the pack carries so easily and works so logically that you forget about it, their work is done.
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