Review: Rab Hyperon 65L Trekking Pack

For big ol’ trekking packs, I look for something that won’t leave me questioning my life choices halfway up a scree slope. It has to be comfortable enough to forget I’m basically carrying a small flat, durable enough to survive whatever weather tantrum the mountains throw, and clever enough in its organisation to avoid the dreaded full unpack just to find a single glove. Or biscuit.

I tested the Hyperon 65L in the Tyrolean Alps during a ski-touring trip that involved hauling gear to huts on the Seefeld plateau. Ski layers, food, bit of safety gear. I also used it is as the main stowed luggage to and from the UK.

The pack swallowed my bulkiest kit with ease, including a full down layering system, skins, and a morale-boosting block of chocolate the size of a paperback. The V-TRAX™ back system proved its worth almost instantly — adjusting it on the fly with gloves on was faff-free, and the hipbelt cinched in with an oddly satisfying precision, distributing weight like it had a spreadsheet for my spine.

It brushed off snow and ice like a stubborn mule and held its shape, even after being unceremoniously dumped here, there and everywhere.

I did miss having a quick-access stretch pocket for snacks (yes, a hill I’ll die on), but the zipped hipbelt pouches did a good job stashing essentials.