Osprey Aether 85
I used my new Osprey Aether 85 pack for the first time on this hike. I love it. It is far more comfortable than the Gregory Mt Whitney pack I bought last year, and it seems to be more well thought out in terms of construction.
Osprey has a gimmicky feature with many of their packs that allows you to clip one of their Daylite day packs to the back of a main pack. I guess it saves some room inside the pack, and makes it easier to grab the day pack when you want to drop the main pack, as I did on Sunday for the summit climb. What I did then was pack everything I needed for the summit hike into my Daylite, then clipped it to the back of the Aether pack where it was carried until we dropped packs at the Mineshaft Flat trail junction.
This is the second Osprey product I have purchased (I've been using a technical day pack for over a year now), and I am very impressed with the quality, comfort and clever design of their packs. Also, I have heard nothing but good things about Osprey from other hikers and climbers.
I carried the ice axe because I like to use it as a sort of cane when negotiating snowfields. I didn't bring any crampons.
Osprey Aether 85
I used my new Osprey Aether 85 pack for the first time on this hike. I love it. It is far more comfortable than the Gregory Mt Whitney pack I bought last year, and it seems to be more well thought out in terms of construction.
Osprey has a gimmicky feature with many of their packs that allows you to clip one of their Daylite day packs to the back of a main pack. I guess it saves some room inside the pack, and makes it easier to grab the day pack when you want to drop the main pack, as I did on Sunday for the summit climb. What I did then was pack everything I needed for the summit hike into my Daylite, then clipped it to the back of the Aether pack where it was carried until we dropped packs at the Mineshaft Flat trail junction.
This is the second Osprey product I have purchased (I've been using a technical day pack for over a year now), and I am very impressed with the quality, comfort and clever design of their packs. Also, I have heard nothing but good things about Osprey from other hikers and climbers.
I carried the ice axe because I like to use it as a sort of cane when negotiating snowfields. I didn't bring any crampons.