When I started winter mountaineering in the UK, I remember the guidance being that 40L is a pretty good benchmark size. This held true for me for several years, and I’ve had lots of great days out with my trusty Mammut Nordwand 38L. But heading out for overnight trips in seriously cold winter in Japan has forced a bit of a rethink – I can get everything in the 38L bag, but it’s tight – unsurprisingly, the packing list for 2 days above 2500m in -20ºc temperatures is a bit different to a one-day outing on the west coast of Scotland. Heading out for a trip with friends on their first winter outing this year and needing to take a bit of extra ‘just in case’ gear was the final straw – it was time to go up a size.
After much to-ing and fro-ing between mountaineering stores in Tokyo, I settled on a North Face Cobra 65. It’s been a revelation – the extra space makes a huge difference to feeling like I have everything I need on big winter days out and it’s extraordinarily comfortable. And I like the white/red combo (although the North Face logo on the lid is coming off…).
The 38L Mammut is still seeing some action on single day outings, but for big winter trips and multi-day routes I’m converted to a big more space…