Hey guys,
So lately I've been thinking about the packs that I own and the intended uses of them, and I think that there is a way to be doing this better, with only one or two packs rather than 3 for my purposes, thus, saving money. First I guess I should describe what I use my packs for, and what I plan to use a new pack for.
Currently I own a Bora 65, Osprey Variant 52, and a MEC 28L daypack thats near the end of its life. My big conflict is that the Variant 52 and Bora 65 are fairly similar, and overlap quite a bit that I feel like I don't need one or the other. Let me explain more.
I need a daypack for hiking, cragging, backcountry skiing, and just general other stuff. Preferably around 30-40L, but compressible down if I have less gear than that. The MEC daypack that I have is too small for cragging and will be soon for backcountry skiing, but the Variant 52 is too large.
I also need an expedition/alpine pack that will be used for ski touring, alpine climbing, and backpacking. Somewhere between the range of 65L, again, compressibility and expandability are quite important to me. The Bora 65 I use for my backpacking and longer ski touring, whereas the Variant 52 is my extremely large day cragging pack and overnight ski touring pack.
So, pretty much, I'm thinking of selling all of these packs and starting from scratch with a new system. I haven't had any thoughts on the daypack, but as for a new expedition/ski touring/backpacking/alpine climbing pack, I have been looking at the North Face Variant 45, which claims to expand to 65L, but compress down smaller if need be.
Open to any suggestions however, I definitely don't know what I'm doing here completely.
Cheers,
-Apex