There’s just one big main compartment – no separate lower section – and access is via a top opening with a good-size gaiter with double drawcord closure. The gaiter, combined with the floating lid, can be extended upwards to give an extra 5 litres of space if needed. With winter on the horizon, hillgoers will also have to carry more kit: extra clothing, crampons, ice-axe, gloves, hat, headtorches and all the other essentials to enhance safety, even on day walks. On test, the Contour 50-60S accommodated all our wild camping gear. With its 14.5kg overall loaded weight and tall design, it felt a little top-heavy, especially over more technical ground. When reaching up for holds on scrambly sections, it did shift a little with our shoulder movements. The Trion Spine 50 displays Mammut’s alpine heritage, designed with mountain walkers, mountaineers and ski-mountaineers in mind. Inside the main area is a pouch for a hydration reservoir, with a hook-and-loop secured hanging strap. Drink tube exit is to the right harness strap.

Comfort was good, with the harness providing just enough padding and the hipbelt working particularly well. The sternum strap is secured by plastic toggles in a series of daisy chain loops on each side, which offer less easy adjustment than one that slides on a rail or continuous webbing system. One other niggle with it is that when the sternum strap is tensioned well, there can be a tendency for one side of the retainers to ping out, especially if you’re slipping a map or similar under it. There is generous padding in the shoulder blade area and good padding in the wide harness straps as they come over the shoulder. The hip belt has equally generous padding in the lumbar area and in the wrap-around fins, which feel snug on the hips when carrying a load. The hip belt is articulated towards the bottom of its attachment to the main body, allowing upwards and downwards movement when crossing uneven ground. Inside the main compartment is a hydration reservoir pouch and hanging loop, with exit for a drinking tube to the right harness strap. When not in use, the harness cover folds up and goes in a bottom compartment with hook-and-loop fastening.The main body of the Asymmetric 52+8 is a diamond-patterned 400-denier polyamide-polyester mix with side panels and base in 600 denier polyester, half of whose content is recycled. The fabrics have polyurethane coating.

It falls into the category of gear we like best: put it on and forget it’s there, which means it’s working well for the job it’s designed to do. It will swallow all the gear you need for lightweight wild camping and, with a few niggles, will carry a heavy load in reasonable comfort. It’s big enough for lightweight camping trips and multi-day treks, for which it is best suited and will also serve well on winter mountain days, with plenty of capacity for the extra kit needed.

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Both the harness straps and the hipbelt have ventilation perforations. The harness has dual density foam, which gives reasonable comfort. The hip fins have good padding and were comfortable.

As well as the top opening, the main compartment can be accessed via a large front opening panel, with a double puller zip on three sides. We found this feature really useful for getting at gear when at camp, without having to remove items at the top of the main area. There are twin adjustment straps at the top of the harness to cinch it in more closely to the body.Despite its stated capacity being towards the lower end for the test, it did accommodate all our wild camping kit. The hip belt worked well but the harness straps are not as comfortable as we would like. A little more padding wouldn’t go amiss, though the straps are wide and spread the load well. We’d advise trying them on in store if possible, preferably with much of the kit you expect to place in them to gauge comfort and fit with the appropriate load weight. The Optic 58 has a single large main compartment that was surprisingly roomy for its stated capacity.

It’s a fairly tall, thin design, with the front panel made from honeycomb-patterned 420 denier polyester and the sides and base from 600 denier polyester. The main area also has a front opening, with a double-puller zip running two-thirds of the length of the front panel. Inside the main compartment is a deep pouch for a hydration reservoir, and a hanging loop with hook-and-loop closure. Drinks tube exit is to the right harness strap. The foam in the shoulder straps is fairly stiff, but was reasonably comfortable, with just enough padding, and the harness does support the weight well. There’s more foam padding in the hipbelt, and the fins wrap nicely round the body and are offer good comfort. The main lid compartment is a good size with a zip at the rear. Inside it is a key loop. On the underside of the lid is a second zipped compartment.

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compartment is long enough to accommodate a typical lightweight two-person tent, and there is also a separate zipped bottom compartment for sleeping bag or stove. The separator between main and lower compartment can be unzipped to create one larger area if required. This might be necessary if your tent is longer than the main compartment. The main compartment is a good size and the bottom compartment is bigger than most, and easily accommodated our sleeping bag and stove. There’s a divider between the two, which can be unzipped and opened to create one big storage space.