ARC’TERYX BORA AR 50 BACKPACK £390

USED BY Thrills-and-spills seeking editor Simon Ingram USED FOR 1 year

I got hold of this thing about a year ago because I needed something tough for a trip to Skye’s hyper-abrasive Cuillin – and this screams ’bombproof’ from the first touch. The fact that I found it in the Trail gear cupboard rather than bought it in a shop rendered me ignorant of the huge price tag it carries (sorry about that), but at least it puts me in a position of objectivity regarding its performance. And this I would say is good. It’s heavy, but the engineering of the clever RotoGlide hipbelt gives a kind of floaty feel which takes the sting out of heavy hauls and stops unbalancing you quite so much when scrambling. Unfussy looks, a thermo-moulded back panel, a big front pocket and extendable top lid make it adaptable for mountaineering and carrying heavier loads, which this pack is born for. I’d have liked proper pockets on the hipbelt rather than mesh ones, and I can’t quite get the hang of the opening of the weatherproof main compartment cover. On that note, after two days in rain my stuff still got a little damp at the bottom of the sack. It is darn tough though, absorbing scrape after scrape on terrain that has already claimed another pack of mine. This almost justifies the cost, as I would say it probably will last twice as long as a pack half the price. I say almost. You do get a hell of a pack for it, but £390 is a lot of cash.

VERDICT

The La■d Rover Discovery of rucksacks: bri●●ia■t, tough a■d cost●y.