Aether Pro 70

I so wanted to purchase this pack, I transferred my winter load out from my existing Atmos AG65 (AG65 was far from maxed out) to the Pro 70, I was just able to fit the load out contents into the Pro 70 with very little is any spare space, I can only conclude this has a smaller volume than the Atmos.

Pack arrived today; right out of the box the quality seems amazing. Incredibly light and feels like a spaceship compared to my older packs.

This pack is amazing, I'm a bit of a gear junkie, and if I had to pick one from all the packs I’ve ever owned, this beautiful looking work of modern back-packing art stands firmly above the rest. Yea it looks great, better than the pictures! the red, black n grey, stays on the outside, etc, but ofc its more than just how it looks, the thing just works.

Durability wise Its built like a brick sh** house, the main body material has gram for gram or so they say 12 times the tear strength of steel yet its very lightweight. Having the stays on the outside of the pack makes them field repairable, not that they will ever need it. Key areas are further reinforced, The only 2 zips on the pack are on the removable (replaceable) lid and removable hip-belt, this is a pack designed to last. There is no faff.

Features are limited to keep the weight down, but it still has all the important stuff. I really like the hip-belt pocket, Osprey have decided one should have a zip and one simply cinched, this is a much better place for a water bottle than on the pack itself. The zip pocket also has a piece of plastic reinforced cord for quick stowing of walking poles but you could hang anything there. Nice compression system, removable sleeping mat straps, lass points on the lid, axe loops, there is a top cover if you ever remove the lid. Its all very well thought out, nothing that's going to break, add weight, but everything you need. One thing I've noticed is due to the hip-belt being removable and the lid being removable with both male and female buckle connectors, its very possible to make yourself a lumbar pack like I can with another back-pack.

Comfort is the key here, what we are looking at is a 70+ litre pack that can handle 27.3 kg (60lbs). I would never go that heavy, nowhere near, but that's not the point, its simply very comfortable no matter what you throw at it. Nicely padded, comfy hip-belt that can be heat moulded to your body if you take it to a outlet (time will do this anyway). great shoulder straps, load lifters that really seem to work well, to sum if up this pack is more comfortable than a pack I use to love from lowe alpine that weighed 3.4kg. This weighs in at 1.8kg. You can strip it down to 1.5kg, what you are then left with is a bomber big sack with killer support that’s super comfy. I’ve owned so many packs I try not to think about it but I can easily single this out as the best pack I’ve ever owned.

I bought this for my trip to Aconcagua, as my older packs (20 years+) were quite heavy. Normally people use daypacks for approach part where gear is carried by mules, but I used the Aether Pro 70 to save some weight, after all my daypack was not much lighter. Worked perfectly. On the mountain we needed to haul gear and food to upper camps up to 5960m, and made also one carry to camp 1, pack weight was 17-22kg each time. I can honestly say I never even noticed the pack (after getting it off the ground) while climbing, and I was the only one in the group who carried all personal gear without extra porters to the highest camps. It might be worth mentioning that I was 10-40 years older than anybody else in the group, and have artificial hips on both sides.

Naturally not all this can be attributed to the pack only, but I certainly can not fault it for anything. Well, hip pocket zipper might be bit difficult to close, but that might be my clumsiness also...

I just used it for a small 3 day winter hike. i did not use a rain cover in the snom and everything stayed perfectly dry. It's really very comfortable. I also used it as a harnas to pull my pulka, just used 2 carabiners to attach it to the belt.

I have used this pack a number of times while camping in the mountains. The terrain we covered was very rocky and a few scrambles to get to our camp spot. This is were the pack excelled. I had 2days worh of gear. Camera equipment tent winter sleeping bag. Never felt a pack feel so secure to my body. No waving around or feeling uncomfortable. Didnt even use a rain cover as the pack has no issues with a small down pour. Only suggestion would be a side zip. I always use the side zip on my Zenith. This pack would be perfect if it had one. Brilliant minimalist pack. Even looks the business

Recently I did 8 day Tour du Mont Blanc hike with this backpack and I fell in love with it.
Highly customisable, was able to attach ice-axe, tent, sleeping mattres and hiking sticks.
With all that weight it was really comfortable to carry the backpack. Did not feel any pain on my hips or shoulders. It held rain also pretty well.
It feels really sturdy and made out of high quality material.
The only drawback that I see is missing a quick access to bottom compartment. Because if you want to reach the bottom of the backpack you need to pull everything out. Apart from that the best backpack that I have ever bought.

A rigid frame and we'll functioning load shifter straps makes this pack very good at transfering weight to the adequately padded hip belt. Shoulder straps are well padded. I needed more external carrying space so I fitted mesh stuff sacks to the external straps. Narrow pack shape makes it stable and holds weight close to the centre of gravity but I had to adapt the way I pack to eliminate empty air pockets. So far seems pretty sturdy and should last years but not over engineered unlike their other backpacking rucksacks. Great that it has no unnecessary zips to let the rain in.