There’s a sliding sternum strap that can be quickly removed if and when you don’t need it and there’s forward-pull hipbelt adjustment as well. The hipbelt and shoulder straps (which are nice and wide) have a modest amount of padding but I found it was enough for me. To strip the pack weight down even further, it’s possible to remove the floating top lid and then hike with the top fabric rolled up, cinched in and clipped closed. With the frame out as well, that’ll bring the pack weight down below 1000g though it’ll leave your kit a little vulnerable in heavy rain. 

The main compartment can be accessed underneath the floating top lid, through the base or via a big U-shaped zip across the front of the pack. That U-shaped one is particularly handy for, say, hut-to-hut trekking as it basically turns your pack into a suitcase that you can open up on your bed. You need to unclip all the adjustment straps to fully open up this zip – so it’s a little fiddly. 

The Assymetric also has a zipped internal divider at the base so you can keep your sleeping equipment separate from the rest of your kit. 

As for pockets you have one overlid one with a large internal mesh pocket and key clip and one long one on the front of the pack that you can just about stuff a light waterproof jacket inside. The two on the hipbelt are quite large and will easily accommodate a large phone and snacks. Then there are the two stretchy side pockets which are big enough for a Nalgene bottle or a light down jacket and finally there’s a pouch for a drinking bladder inside the pack.

The daisy chain webbing on the front give the potential to clip extra gear onto this if you want to. You also have two bungees for trekking poles, plus one single loop to hold the tips of your poles or the head of an ice axe. 

One big downside in my opinion is that there’s no waterproof cover supplied. Given the untaped seams and amount of zips involved here, you wouldn’t want to count on this keeping all your kit dry in heavy rain. You’d either want to keep everything in dry bags or get hold of a waterproof cover to go with this I think.

Verdict

This is the kind of durable and lightweight backpack I like to hike with. It’s the ideal size I tend to look for in a backpack as well. The eco aspects are all great and don’t seem to hinder the performance and there are some nice useful details throughout. The lack of a front quick stash pocket is a little downside – or a quibble, you could say – as is the fact there’s no waterproof cover, but still, I do think the Assymetric is a great back from Vaude. 

More info: vaude.com