Dana Designs

Astralplane

comfort, durability, pockets weight

Capacity: 106 litres (Terraplane 82 litres) Materials: nylon Closure: detachable lid with 4 pockets Back system: internal frame, framesheet Sizes: 4 Compartments: 2 Pockets: lid, 2 front Features: side zip access mysteryranch.com

This huge, heavy pack is well over 20 years old. I bought it in the 1990s for leading ski tours when I was sometimes carrying a week or more’s food as well as camping gear in places much colder than Scotland, like Spitsbergen and the Yukon Territory. I don’t use it often now, but I took it out for this trip as I had some bulky gear and I couldn’t fit everything easily in my usual 68-litre winter pack. I had forgotten the Astralplane is the most comfortable pack I’ve ever used. It has a massive, thickly padded hipbelt and a frame system that’s rigid longitudinally but flexes side to side, which makes the pack stable. The pockets are huge with long zips and there’s zipped access to the main compartment. I can’t fault the design. Dana Designs is long gone; however, the company did resurface as Mystery Ranch, offering a similar pack with the same design and back system.

The Terraplane is a bit smaller at 82 litres, and a bit lighter at 3.08kg.