The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Waypoint 35 is a Dyneema DCF daypack designed for rugged journey mountaineering, peak bagging, and backpacking with very low-volume ultralight masses. The Waypoint is a classically designed roll-top backpack with a stretch mesh entrance pocket, facet water bottle pockets, hip belt pockets, and a pair of pockets on the shoulder straps for holding small water bottles, electronics, or snacks. Made with waterproof cloth and seam-taped, the Waypoint 35 has a single aluminum frame-stay and optionally detachable hip belt, able to carrying masses as much as 30 kilos with ease.
Specs at a look
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- Weight: 24.8 oz (703g) – measurement giant
- Detachable hipbelt weight: 4.8 oz (136g) – measurement giant
- Gender: Males’s
- Inner Quantity: 35 Liters
- Exterior Quantity: 6.5 Liters
- Pockets: Fundamental + 7
- Load lifters: No
- Hip belt Pockets: Sure
- Hydration system appropriate: No
- Ice Axe Loop: Sure
- Colours: White or Black
- Supplies: Dyneema DCF, 100D Dyneema Gridstop, Dyeema Stretch Mesh
- Most beneficial load: 40 lbs (we predict it’s nearer to 30 lbs)
- Bear Canister Compatibility: BV425 and BV450 (horizontal), BV475 and BV500 (vertical)
Backpack Pockets and Storage
The Waypoint 35 is a water-resistant Dyneema DCF rolltop-style daypack with 35 liters of house making it good for all-day adventures, notably people who require additional clothes layers, meals, or additional gear like winter traction aids or climbing gear. It’s made with Dyneema DCF, which is waterproof Dyneema cloth encased in polyester for improved abrasion and daylight resistance. The inside is seam-taped so rain received’t leak by the seams, in contrast to backpacks made with typical supplies like Robic or Cordura (nylon.)
The primary compartment has 35L of capability, together with the portion above the shoulder straps, often referred to as an “extension collar.” Most mainstream backpack makers don’t embody this a part of the backpack after they cite inside quantity and solely depend the house as much as the highest of the body. It’s essential to pay attention to this on the Waypoint as a result of it’s a really slim pack that’s solely 10″ extensive on the base with extra space for storing within the higher half of the pack bag. This isn’t essentially dangerous so long as you pack heavier objects decrease down to forestall the pack from changing into too top-heavy, which might throw you off steadiness. However the slim width of the pack offers the Waypoint the nimble character of a climbing/ski pack, making it fairly agile to hold.
As a roll-top backpack, you possibly can roll up the unused materials within the extension collar should you don’t want the additional house otherwise you wish to compress the pack’s contents from the highest down. The highest of the pack bag has a stiffener inserted to make it simpler to roll, however there’s no velcro to seal the perimeters, which Hyperlite beforehand used on their bigger quantity backpacks and had an inclination to fray with heavy use. The 2 ends of the dry bag model high will be clipped to themselves on the highest of the pack or to straps alongside the perimeters. If not wanted, the buckles on these facet straps can join to at least one one other over the entrance mesh pocket, which is useful for carrying gear like snowshoes in winter. (see under)
The inside of the principle compartment doesn’t have a hydration pocket or a hook to hold a reservoir or hydration ports to run a hose system by, so that you’ll most likely wish to carry your water in open packets on the skin of the pack. There may be an inside pocket that holds a pre-curved aluminum body keep which is detachable however it’s too slim and small to carry a lot else.
The pack’s exterior has a modest entrance stretch mesh pocket made with sturdy Dyneema stretch mesh that’s good for storing free layers or a moist water filter. It has a clip on the high to forestall objects from falling out and drainage ports within the backside corners. (It’s not sufficiently big to slip the underside of snowshoes into).
The pack has two open facet pockets which might be good for holding water bottles. They’re angled on high to make it simpler to tug out bottles or substitute them whilst you’re strolling and have an elastic cinch wire operating alongside the highest to safe objects inside. The pockets even have drain holes within the corners.
The shoulder straps include sewn-on Dyneema mesh pockets. These can be utilized to carry small water bottles, electronics, sun shades, or snacks. I take advantage of one to tuck away my iReach Mini2 so it’s not dangling from a shoulder strap.
Lastly, the hipbelt additionally comes with stable exterior pockets. These are solid-faced for sturdiness and have waterproof zippers on high. They’re an honest measurement for holding small electronics and snacks – not enormous – however acceptable.
Backpack Body and Suspension
The Waypoint 35 has a single, pre-shaped aluminum body keep operating down the inside compartment’s center. The body keep terminates behind the lumbar pad, which holds the detachable hipbelt in place, so that you get an honest quantity of load switch from it. You additionally don’t really feel the body keep when sporting the pack as a result of the again behind the shoulder straps is frivolously padded. Hyperlite charges the max beneficial load of the Waypoint at 40 lbs which appears a bit beneficiant to us however I suppose it’s doable in case you are keen to suck it up. We expect the max “snug” load is nearer to 30 lbs.
The hipbelt is optionally detachable on the Waypoint. It’s additionally out there in a number of sizes so you will get a great match. Hyperlite doesn’t have a measurement chart on the Waypoint product web page for hipbelt sizing as a result of it’s buried in an FAQ, however right here’s what you wish to know.
Waypoint 35 Hipbelt Waist Sizing
- Small: 26.5” – 49”
- Medium: 27.5” – 50”
- Massive: 29.5” – 52”
- Tall: 29.5” – 52”
The shoulder straps and hip belt on the Waypoint usually are not curved or flared to accommodate ladies’s dimensions. An increasing number of producers, together with ultralight gear producers, are shifting to make actually unisex backpacks with S-shaped shoulder straps, so it’s just a little stunning that the Waypoint 35 is just designed for males and never clearly gender-independent.
The pack is just out there in white or black. Whereas the white pack’s exterior will get dirtier quicker, it’s simpler to search out issues inside as a result of the inside is white and never black. On Hyperlite’s bigger backpacks, additionally out there in white or black, the black cloth is considerably extra sturdy than the white cloth, however the two are equal on the Waypoint 35.
Exterior Attachment Level and Compression
Many daypacks have one tier of compression straps, not two, as is often discovered on higher-volume backpacks. That’s the case with the Waypoint, which has one side-compression “wire” above the facet bottle pockets to assist shrink the pack’s quantity or safe objects to the facet of the backpack. I’m not a fan of using cords for facet compression and far favor using webbing straps with glove-compatible buckles when attaching cumbersome objects to the skin of the backpack, if just for the easy undeniable fact that they don’t freeze in snow or freezing temperatures.
Nevertheless, Hyperlite has achieved one thing distinctive in designing the cord-based attachment and compression system. First, they’ve added 6 small webbing loops across the perimeter of the entrance Dyneema stretch mesh pocket so you possibly can connect gear to the skin of the backpack utilizing static or elastic wire. Plenty of different distributors do that, too.
The Waypoint’s single side-compression “wire” is tied at one finish to the highest webbing loop and on the different finish to a buckle with two features: a line loc tensioner at one finish and a buckle you possibly can squeeze open on the different. Sadly, the buckle finish can solely be connected to at least one level alongside the entrance nook of the pack and never a number of factors.
The wire that ships with the pack isn’t lengthy sufficient to safe something very giant, like a foam pad to the facet of the pack or snowshoes, however it’s simply changed. Nonetheless, it’s completely appropriate for securing thinner objects like a Smartwater bottle with a Sawyer water filter connected, a Tenkara fishing rod, or trekking poles, supplied they relaxation contained in the facet pockets. The buckle simply makes it simpler to take away longer objects from below the wire.
The pack comes with a high Y-strap which can be utilized to strap cumbersome gear to the highest of the Waypoint like a folding foam pad. It may also be used to safe bigger objects like snowshoes to the entrance of the pack together with the webbing straps used to carry down the ends of the rolltop in the event that they’re threaded across the pack’s entrance.
Suggestion
The Hyperlite Moutain Gear Waypoint 35 is positioned as a daypack, however as you possibly can see above it will probably simply be used for winter mountaineering and even ultralight backpacking with small compact masses. It’s a water-resistant backpack that’s seam-taped and made with Dyneema DCF cloth which might take a whole lot of abuse when mountaineering on or off path. Whereas it’s a surprisingly slim pack, I’ve discovered that makes it fairly nimble and responsive to hold. With 7 pockets, together with two on the shoulder straps, it’s loaded with options that make it handy and a whole lot of enjoyable to make use of. In case you’re searching for a hardy backpack within the 30L-40L vary, it’s undoubtedly a contender and value a critical look.
Disclosure: HMG donated a backpack for overview.
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