It's safe to say Escape is bigger than climbing holds at this point. The Sport bag is a pretty well thought out affordable option in a niche and normally expensive backpack category. This was not sent to me for review, I ordered it as soon as I saw it was available. There's a few things I wish were done better, but it's still a huge upgrade from a trail pack that's been kind of shoehorned into carrying gear and needing to be opened and closed multiple times throughout the day. The Sport, on the other hand, embraces it. The TL:DR of this bag is that it should be one of your first buys in your gym-to-crag transition. It can't be beat for the price and what it does. There's a few minor things I wish were better, but I really wish I'd had this pack four years ago.
The gist of the bag is that it's a 55 liter bag with a mostly waterproof exterior and a roughly six inch wide section on the back that zips the entire length of the bag. This opens the bag up completely, allowing you to access what you need quickly, instead of unstacking everything out of a traditional pack and then restacking once you have acquired what you wanted. The med pack that would normally be wedged all the way down in the bottom corner of your pack is now at the top of the bag because you've opened the whole thing from the side. The top does have a cloth roll top that's water resistant, and expands to make more room if needed. This has a draw string enclosure and then can be strapped closed. I'm pretty comfortable with leaving this thing in most rain.
Other storage includes small straps on the outside to hold a clip stick, small zippered pockets on the waistband, and then pockets on the inside and outside of the 6" section that unzips the entire bag. A rope tarp also comes with the bag, and it does everything you'd ask of a rope tarp. My bag setup currently holds two pairs of shoes, a harness, two medium bags of loose stuff, small medpack, a 40m rope, the clip stick and a large nalgene bottle. The hip pockets carry keys and wallet. The long zippered pockets carry batteries, headlamps and small things like that. The pack carries well and I didn't feel any abnormal discomfort with this bag.
So, Pros:
- Essentially everything above. Plenty of space.
- Easy to use bag. Functions exactly as intended.
- Comfortable. No complaints there.
- Unzipping the bag has the pair of red handles and it's a well thought out design where you grab the pair of them and pull opposing directions.
- Exterior is pretty much waterproof.
- Comes with a rope tarp.
- If you get the bright yellow one, they can spot you from the space station.
Cons:
- I wish there was just a little bit of webbing on the outside of the bag. I get that it's supposed to be slick, but I'd rather clip my stick to webbing instead of using the straps.
- The strap that holds the top enclosure doesn't really lock down. Kind of a suggestion. Not a big deal, it's largely redundant.
- There's no handle at the top of the bag to lift the entire bag with. This is probably my biggest complaint. If I want to lower the bag, or just lift it into a truck or something, there's no good way to do that unless I'm running a strap through the shoulder straps.
- The zipper isn't super robust. The bag needs to be packed cleanly and then zipped. You're not going to fill the bag super full and then just zip-compress the whole thing. This is fine, I'm ok with just doing a better job of packing my bag. The zipper just won't take a lot of abuse and I think it's probably what will go first on the bag.
The last two are the only things that mildly concern me. I'm very pleased with the bag. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the bluff in it, and the simple ease of access I had to everything I brought. The process of taking everything out and being at risk of misplacing it goes away with this bag when everything is just right there. If I need my medpack quickly, it's there. Hand sanitizer, tape, change of shoes, camera battery. Where ever it is in the bag doesn't matter anymore, it's right there. I'll point pretty much every climber at this bag as a good next step after they start acquiring gear.
Great on Escape to push beyond climbing holds and training, and they do it well. I love what they're bringing to the market, and I really appreciate what their guys are doing in the shop to innovate and improve the options climbers have. Thanks guys.
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