Ortovox's Peak range of backpacks are designed for high-alpine tours in the most demanding conditions. They're absolutely stacked with features – including dedicated attachment points for skis, axes and helmets, plus a separate compartment for your avalanche safety gear. This version – the Peak Dry 40 – is the waterproof model, which has the obvious benefit that you can dispense with those fiddly rain covers that flap about in the wind. High-frequency welding will keep the seams sealed up tight through years of use, and the 360D TPU polyamide fabric is completely waterproof without the need for polluting and unreliable water-repellent coatings. It's worth noting that this waterproof version uses a slightly different back panel to the standard Peak backpack – it features a 3D foam system that's designed to spread the load evenly between the hips and shoulders, with an ergonomic S-shape that fits the pack to the curve of your spine
If you’ve spent much time in the Alps, chances are you’ve seen a lot of folk sporting Ortovox kit. It’s one of the biggest and most well-respected brands in Austria and Germany, backed up by the kind of mountain heritage that most companies can only dream of.
Ortovox started out more than 40 years ago making avalanche transceivers and other rescue equipment, and to this day they’re still the go-to outfitters for mountain rescue teams, alpine guides and extreme mountaineers. Get your hands on an Ortovox pack or garment and you’ll soon see why. The construction and quality of this stuff is on a whole different level, right down to tiny details like the buckles and merino mesh inserts. It’s gear you can rely on day-in, day-out, in seriously spicy conditions – and thousands of mountain professionals genuinely do just that.
Ortovox kit has a very distinctive, technical look – and their background in mountain safety means they’re big on bright colours that make you easy to spot in an emergency. But the materials bear closer inspection too. They’re huge champions of the properties of natural wool, and they’ve been using it in performance mountain gear since the 80s – putting them streets ahead of other manufacturers who are only just rediscovering nature’s original miracle fibre. As a bonus, this also makes their products very environmentally friendly, and the entire winter range is now climate neutral.
-Barry S., Verified Buyer
