Mountain Hardwear

AMG 75L Backpack

A True Mountaineer's Pack

Love the fabrics of this pack, very durable for laying on rock, mud and snow. The exterior crampon pocket is huge and definitely withstands sharp items. Nice to have a place to stuff my muddy microspikes for the hike out, and i can just rinse the pocket out at home. Plenty of room for shovel, avy probe, saw, etc. in the zippered pouch behind the crampon pocket for quick access. Very thick comfy straps and waist belt to help in carrying 40-50 lbs regularly. The negatives? Sturdy fabrics means the starting weight is a bit high when completely empty. The side bottle/equipment holders are kind of awkward. They don't stretch (that's fine). They have a solid strap to cinch down with. They're at an angle presumably to make it easy to grab the bottle with pack on but i still can't grab it unless i take the pack off or ask someone else to grab it for me. The pockets are a weird triangle fold toward the bottom to presumably make it easier for them to cinch down on thinner items like hiking poles, snow pickets, etc. Wish the pocket had a nice bucket bottom to hold anything with ease without having to be cinched down for worry of it falling out. Could still have cinch strap to keep (smaller) items from falling out though. Lastly the internal frame has flexible, plastic "H" shape for pack to hang on. The frame feels like it's going to cut/wear through the pack fabric and pop through the top based on how sharp the frame feels inside, and when fully loaded the fabric tension hanging on the frame convinces me this will happen one day despite the nice ripstop nylon fabric. Wish they had reinforced the fabric in these spots with thicker fabric or made the frame not so thin that it becomes a fabric knife--maybe rubber covers over these ends could save it. Overall happy with the pack, rugged enough to be thrown around in the wilderness, can be loaded up with tons of winter gear and it carries it all comfortably.

Want to Rate it better but has flaws

Familiarity:

I've put it through the wringer

Size Bought:

m/l

Height:

6' 1"

Weight:

192

I bought this pack for the intention of doing some section hiking on the Appalachian Trail in the winter. I wanted a heavy duty pack with lots of room for gear and very sturdy to handle heavy loads and bad weather. I love the space and the overall design of the pack is solid. I was able to fit all my gear and 6 days worth of food pretty comfortably. The major problem was the hipbelt. I ordered a M/L because I needed the room for my shoulders but the hipbelt fit and design is atrocious. I could never keep it tight on my hips and most of the load kept landing on my shoulders. I am really disappointed a company of mountain hardware's capabilities seemingly just skipped through the most critical design piece of a backpack. There should be atleast 3 different hip belt sizes for people to choose from not 2 that really aren't that far apart size wise. Fix the hipbelt and this pack would be bombproof for the winter.

Great pack, can’t imagine using anything else for winter excisions!

I love this pack! I’ve taken it on two hikes in the ADKs of NY and am so glad I bought it. It keeps all my gear dry and organized and is extremely comfortable. The shoulder straps especially are so nice!

Nice pack with features

not the lightest mountaineering pack, but lots of features, the external pocket is very handy, the pack compresses down nicely with lighter summit days loads, but also able to carry the heavy loads for shuttling loads to establish camps, etc have not used the pack to carry skis, the tool loops are a little small for technical tools and don't fit that well and had to place the tools with the pick down and adze and hammer near the top

Great Pack

Good quality, well laid out, comfortable backpack.

SAR, 14ers, and Expeditions

I purchased this pack primarily for mountaineering expeditions but have been able to also use it for many other purposes due to how well it can cinch down with smaller loads. The material is beefy and the storage is well thought out and abundant. This is truly a Swiss Army knife of packs!

Feels over engineered

Feels over engineered. I decided to take my Deuter aircontact lite 65 +10 up Rainier instead of this. Yes, this has some mountaineering specific features, but it’s way heavier, the ice axe loops are tiny, the hip belt slides, and the picket pocket is way thicker than needed. I’ll use this for backcountry skiing or snowshoeing, but not classic mountaineering or ice climbing.

Too big

This pack has some great features and some bad features. The main concern for me is it even in the smallest size is somehow to big for me as a 5’8” 155 lbs guy. The waist belt can’t be tightened any more and is still too loose for me and I usually wear 29”-30” waist in pants. When loaded up this was sliding down my hips and resting too much on my shoulders. Other than that it’s a solid pack with some quirks but I will need to shorten the nylon loops holding the buckle to the hip strap so that it can carry a heavy load.

Almost Perfect

Great pack, and very comfortable to carry heavy loads. 3 tweaks I would make 1) The AVY pocket zipper needs to go all the way down at least one side 2) The waist belt needs at least one pocket, or a removable pocket system 3) Shoulder strap pockets (like on the Mammut Trion 50)

Good pack

I like the older model of this called the South Col. They upped their game on the material and frame as well as comfort but now there seems to be too much going on. As a guide I like my packs streamline, clean and simple however this one just seems like it has too many straps and clips all around it. If that's your style this will be a good pack.