By James McCormack
I’ve got a confession to make: the packs I take out bush are heavy. Really heavy. It’s not that I carry extraneous gear; it’s that, as a professional adventure photographer, I lug around multiple camera bodies, four-plus lenses, a tripod, radios, batteries, a drone… the list goes on. And it adds up, usually to seven kilos of camera gear, often more. That’s not including anything related to the adventure itself. To schlep it all around, I’ve long relied on a freaking humungous pack which itself weighs another three kilos. People look at me and think I’m training to be a Sherpa.
But then, after neck surgery (it’s a long story), I was forced to compromise. Heading out into Queensland’s rugged Main Range, I was under doctor’s orders to carry no more than ten kilos. It was obvious that I’d need (a) to cut back on camera gear, and (b) a waaay lighter pack. Enter Osprey’s 58L Exos pack, weighing just 1.2kg. I could have gone lighter still; Osprey’s 60L Levity pack weighs a feathery 860g. But I wanted something able to carry a load in comfort, and up to the rigours of bush-bashing and scrambling through thick jungle.
The pack is actually one of a series; there are also 38L and 48L versions of the Exos, and there’s a women’s specific sister series called the Eja.
Donning the pack at the trailhead, I was shocked. The Exos was preposterously comfortable. Wow! Actually, make that double wow given the Exos’ lightweight construction. It wasn’t just the lighter load (which had—sorry, Doc—blown out to 14kg; I had to carry 6L of water, enough for two days); it was the supremely well-cushioned shoulder straps along with the mesh, trampoline-style back panel. Surprisingly enough, the hip belt had almost no padding. Even more surprisingly, I didn’t miss that padding once.
The pack has a single top-accessed compartment, and a removable floating lid if you wish to strip weight further. A large stretch pocket on the front can hold wet weather gear. Stretch side pockets can accommodate water bottles. Given the frequent scrub-bashing though, I carried everything inside the Exos. And despite it getting caught on vines, and dragged over rocks or through mud, the pack was robust enough to withstand the lot. The Exos wasn’t so lightweight I felt it necessary in the slightest to treat it with kid gloves.
There was, however, one flaw: No hip-belt pockets. Knowing I’d miss them, I’d jerry-rigged some myself. You can buy aftermarket pockets but really, they should be standard. It was a shame, because the Exos was otherwise remarkable. It’s actually changed my mindset in terms of my go-to pack…if only I could cut back on camera gear.
Need to Know
Intended use: lightweight multi-day adventures
Capacity: 58L
Weight: 1.2kg (M)
RRP: $289.95
More info: osprey.com/au/en