I'm looking to buy a crag pack. Suggestions?

I LOVE my Trango Crag Pack. Best cragging pack I've ever had by miles. It's bombproof, comfortable and sleek. It stands up on its own, it stays open on its own. Its got convenient exterior pockets for all the stuff you forgot to pack inside, and straps for all your partner's stuff that won't fit in their sad sacks.

BD axis 33 is on sale for $79 on gear coop or The Clymb. Also saw arcteryx pack on sale somewhere in my search. If you go through active junky your get an additional 10% cash back too.

Another +1 for BD Demon Duffel. Easy to access, not expensive, super durable

Wow! So many replies! So many packs!

First, I am just top roping right now. I don't have enough equipment or experience for anything more than that. I have shoes, chalk bag, a couple of ropes, helmet, carabiners etc. Nothing to crazy. I don't know how long of a hike I'll be doing. Haven't really got out yet to climb much. My very first climb was only a short hike.

Second, I have to buy another pack because the Condor bag I have now, I use for school. This is the Condor bag I was thinking about getting, again.
ebay.com/itm/CONDOR-125-MOL…;hash=item461c6c4a0b

It's either made of 500 or 1000 denier nylon. It's pretty durable. It has cinching straps on the outside and inside. It has several nicely sized compartments but not to many, which is what I like. It's only 85 dollars as well.

All the crag packs are nice:) Hard to choose. I might just get another Condor bag. When hauling... does them mean hauling the bag up a cliff? Via rope?

The built included tarps with some of the bags are nice but I think I would rather just buy a small general tarp to carry with me. This way if it's damaged I can easily replace it.

Thanks for all the replies.

I use an older Arcteryx Nozone, ebay purchase...Love it!

Thats a nice bag. They are all nice. I think I might just stick with my Condor. The Condor is 50L and only 85 beans. I'll save the money for more gear.

Beautiful dog by the way:)

There goes Bearbreeder bearbreeding again.

I have a used Arcteryx NoZone for sale 90 bucks...

Z.St.Jules wrote:There goes Bearbreeder bearbreeding again.

to the OP .. if u want something thats useful later on get an well built alpine pack ...

it aint limited to the crag

;)

Anybody with that Trango:

Does it have any kind of strap or handle on the body of the bag so that when it's laying down (with the belt/shoulder straps in the dirt or facing away) you have something to grab to move it around? Hard to tell from the pics.

Will S wrote:Anybody with that Trango: Does it have any kind of strap or handle on the body of the bag so that when it's laying down (with the belt/shoulder straps in the dirt or facing away) you have something to grab to move it around? Hard to tell from the pics.

It does not. The front is smooth, haul bag(ish) material. It's really meant to go strays up in the dirt (keeping the straps clean) from my experience with it. It also stands better than most packs. I tend to flop in on it's front and then, if needed, just grab the pack straps to lug it near by.

I'm my opinion (which doesn't matter) I'd advise you against the condor, and towards something like a demon duffel, trango crag pack, or arcteryx Miura, something built for the purpose

bearbreeder wrote: to the OP .. if u want something thats useful later on get an well built alpine pack ... it aint limited to the crag ;)

Agreed.

CVRIV wrote:Wow! So many replies! So many packs! First, I am just top roping right now. I don't have enough equipment or experience for anything more than that. I have shoes, chalk bag, a couple of ropes, helmet, carabiners etc. Nothing to crazy. I don't know how long of a hike I'll be doing. Haven't really got out yet to climb much. My very first climb was only a short hike. Second, I have to buy another pack because the Condor bag I have now, I use for school. This is the Condor bag I was thinking about getting, again. ebay.com/itm/CONDOR-125-MOL…;hash=item461c6c4a0b It's either made of 500 or 1000 denier nylon. It's pretty durable. It has cinching straps on the outside and inside. It has several nicely sized compartments but not to many, which is what I like. It's only 85 dollars as well. All the crag packs are nice:) Hard to choose. I might just get another Condor bag. When hauling... does them mean hauling the bag up a cliff? Via rope? The built included tarps with some of the bags are nice but I think I would rather just buy a small general tarp to carry with me. This way if it's damaged I can easily replace it. Thanks for all the replies.

If you're ready to pony up another $80 or so for a pack, I'd strongly suggest NOT doing another Condor or any other MOLLE laden "Tac Pack". For one, nearly all of the TacPacks out there are FAR behind the rest of the pack world in terms of design and innovation. Arcteryx, Mystery Ranch, Wild Things and perhaps a few select others aside, nearly all the Tactical packs out there are sub par. Lots of do dads and webbing, not a lot of substance. Also, they tend to be decided into multiple compartments which is useful for their intended user but not so much for climbing. For the most part, climbing gear is awkward in size and bulk etc. We climbers typically just prefer to pile it all in to one main compartment and then have a top pocket for all the small things (wall, phone, keys). While your Condor probably will work in the short term, you'll likely find that you have to divide up your gear across all those compartments which is a PITA or worse, some compartments will go unused being too small for the gear that needs to fit in there.

Take those $80, head over to BackcountryGear.com (who have a 20% one item code on their site) and get the Trango Crag pack for $80 shipped. Win. That pack should serve you well for a while and take you from TR to Sport to Trad if you so desire. While there's some merit in the idea that you should buy an Alpine Pack for future versatility, that only has merit if you anticipate DOING alpine in the near future. Alpine Packs tend to be smaller and of much lighter construction. It might not take the beating TR and cragging sessions dole out before you ever get to using it for the alpine.

Crag Pack. $80. Win

how much gear do you REALLY need to carry on the inside of a pack anyways? ... remember you tend to have climbing partners to split the gear load

its not like yr dragging around bolting and cleaning/gardening equipment ...

a good alpine pack will last just fine ... were not talking about the UL ones with 100D fabric ... but ones with double or triple or quadruple the denier ...

you arent dragging a "cragging pack" through chimneys on a climb or hauling it up faces ...

the ~40L alpine pack is the do everything pack .... you can use it overnight hiking, for light alpine, for winter sports, for "cragging", though a bit large for long multi you can make it work fine if its strippable ...

eventually one will do some moderate "alpine" or scramble ...

one with 210D+ fabric ... weights ~1.5 KG or less ... and goes down to < 1 KG sripped ... and has ice axe loops, side compression straps, and a rope carry strap ...

personally ive got an old osprey mutant i use ... theres many other brands

but regardless find the one that FITS best ... load em up and walk around the store for hours ...

theres no point in getting any cragging, alpine or any other pack if it doesnt FIT well ... and carry a 20-30 lb load comfortably

;)

Another happy Trango Crag Pack owner.

Will S wrote: Does it have any kind of strap or handle on the body of the bag so that when it's laying down (with the belt/shoulder straps in the dirt or facing away) you have something to grab to move it around? Hard to tell from the pics.

It also has a beefy handle/strap between the top mounting point of the shoulder straps. I use that when I'm moving it a short distance. I've yet to lay mine down, since it stands up so well, but it does have a zippered front, so you could conceivable lay it down on the straps and unzip it like a duffle. In that case it would be nice to have a handle on that side.

Ok, i will look into some other packs. But i do love that condor because it is comfortable and there arent to many compartments or to few. Its by far the best bag i have ever owned. It has one very large main compartment where i could stick all of my stuff. I dont think i will have a lot of gear in the end. I only plan on bouldering, top roping, and lead climbing. But ill look into some other options.

If down the road you do want to go the one big compartment route (you'll fit more in that way), don't discount some handy work with a knife and cutting out useless crap.

I use a 30L cilogear worksack, used to use a 55L Macpac pursuit. Both are great packs, but have the same short coming. I use a large stuffsack as a rope bucket, it's annoying to load large things into both packs. They almost feel like they're wider at the bottom than at the opening.

Contrast this to HMG packs...Which feel like you're operating a giant funnel, and have a far more waterproof closing.

Any bag I take to a crag I often end up climbing with. I'm not sure I have any crag packs, only climbing packs.

If I were to buy a pack today, ~40L seems a good size to me, I'd probably take a gamble and go with one of these - never seen one before but it sure does look nice and simple:
cascadecraftworks.com/shop/…

Now that I think about it, I don't really like draw string closures.

Water resistance is nice when you fall in a river on the way to the cliff.

If you climb ice, a pack that accepts the rope as well as the rack is key in my opinion. Starting the day with a rope that got wet or covered in snow on the approach puts you at an instant deficit.