The Alpinisto is a pack made, as its name suggests, for alpine-style climbing where you want something that will carry all the technical equipment you’ll need for a smash and grab ascent above the snowline. It’s packed full with clever design details, so much so that we could go as far as saying this is one of the most high-spec packs we’ve tested. It’s been a mainstay in the Gregory collection for over a decade now, and we can see why. 

Construction and Fabrics

This is one super tough pack. You’d really need to work hard to inflict any damage on this thing. Not only is the main fabric a 630D high tenacity nylon, but it’s also reinforced at the base with a 210D nylon layer too. 

Pros: Super tough, loads of technical details
Cons: No side pockets

It comes in three different back lengths and these aren’t adjustable so it’s important to pick the right size for you when purchasing. The sizing guide on Gregory’s website should help you out there. It features a padded harness which, interestingly, features a hipbelt that’s located higher up than you’d normally see. The reason for this is to ensure it sits above a climbing harness rather than directly on top of it. 

“There are so many climber-friendly details throughout this pack.”

The back panel is a thing of beauty. It’s a compression molded and thermo-formed foam (that’s a tongue twister) which sheds snow and also provides a degree of insulation to the wearer. Behind this, there’s a full length frame sheet and an aluminium scaffold. These both give a high degree of structure to the pack, making it well capable of handling loads of up to 20kg. 

You have standard access to the pack’s main compartment from the top under the floating lid and through a double drawstring closure and there’s also access via a long two-way zip that runs down the side of the pack, right across the length of it. This makes accessing stuff at the bottom, middle and top of your pack really easy. 

Details

There are so many climber-friendly details throughout this pack. There are universal ice axe holders, for instance, and there’s a large pocket on the front specifically for crampons. There’s an A-frame ski attachment system, glove-friendly zipper tabs, haul handles and even a small internal foam pad to a basic level of insulation during rudimentary bivouacs.