Page 50 - 2018 AMA Winter

KITREVIEW
SIMOND ALPINISM 33
by Chris Wright
Despite being quite opinionated about gear, I’ve never actually produced a review and I’m not sure whether I’m qualified. I’ll let you be the judge of that...
I drive a seven-year old VW Polo and I like it. It feels like it was designed by someone who thinks like me. Nobody has tried to redesign any part of it for the sake of it; the handbrake is just a ratchet-type lever that you pull up and the dashboard doesn’t try to recreate the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. It just has the features that I actually need, which let’s me get on with using it. It is well-suited to the majority of journeys that I make, in terms of occupancy, load-carrying and speed restrictions. It’s cheap and efficient and has all the sensible qualities that give it absolutely no street cred whatsoever. If this rhetoric doesn’t strike a chord, then if you haven’t already, I would stop reading now.
If you are still reading, then I promise that the rest of the article will be about the rucksack (or rucksacks in general). My first encounter with a rucksack, that sparked me to think about rucksacks, was as an Army cadet. I was given the 58 Pattern ‘Largepack’ and like most people in the Army at that time, I was absolutely astonished to think that someone at some stage might have given it’s design some thought: We live in Western Europe, yet it doesn’t even attempt to be water-resist- ant; it doesn’t actually have any proper straps and can’t actually fit the equipment that it was designed to carry etc, etc... Over the last 30 years I’ve followed the trends through the must-own Berghaus ‘Cyclops back-system’ rucksacks, the bombproof Macpacs, the Alpine-light- weights and nearly everything in between. The Simond Alpinism 33 really takes a bit from everything to make it the best daysack that I have ever had. Read on.
I took some convincing that I could get everything I needed into a bag this size. I have however used it extensively for summer and winter mountaineering forays over the last year and I have never found space to be an issue. If you get a bigger bag, then you will put more stuff in it, simple. It has also made me think about the systems that I use when it comes to carrying things like ropes and crampons, which can be strapped well to the outside of this pack, meaning that you don’t have a half-full rucksack when they are used.
There are a few nifty little features on this bag which could be seen as unnecessary to many users, such as the ski carrying straps, but they don’t dominate the design and offer useful alternative uses. The closure system to this bag is also rather ‘unique’ and I wasn’t sure about it at first. There is basically a drawcord-operated valance that whilst closing up the bag, simultaneously pulls the lid down (check out the website video for more details). It takes some getting used to because some restraint must be exercised to ensure that
50 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER
Enough space
for lightweight overnight bivvying on the Cuillin Ridge