Berghaus 2004 Walking Packs Previewed

More 2004 kit from the Friedrichshafen Outdoor Show. We've already shown you the new, slimmed down Freeflow Light complete with, erm, carbon fibre geodesic exo-skeleton - see here - but that's just the start of it.

The updated Extrem climbing sacs are in the shops now, and the Berghaus designers have turned their attention to the walking pack side of things. The most obvious change is that the longstanding Dart models have been subtly assassinated and replaced by two new sets of walking sacs.

The GR range aren't climbing packs, but beefed-up, more technical day sacs which should cope with four-season mountain walking and easy mountaineering. Fabrics are hard-nosed, abrasion-resistant cordura, there are ice tool loops, hydration facilities, expandable side-pockets, water-resistant zips, hip-fin pockets and a butch new look.

The back system is a slimmed down version of the Cyclops back used in this year's big packs, but the breathable sandwich of Evabreathe foam is now more rounded and contoured for improved comfort. A really neat touch are new, adjustable shoulder straps which can be extended to cope with different wearer dimensions and put the padding where it's needed.

They look good too, as you can see from the pics and will come in three different capacities.

The softer end of the market gets the new Vercors Range of much more basic packs aimed at lower level walkers. But that's just the start - Freeflow Plus is a beefed-up Freeflow design using the original trampolene-style, vented Freeflow back system combined with the sort of tougher fabric normally seen on climbing sacs.

They're not technical packs, even though they get ice axe loops to go with new expandable side pockets and those adjustable shoulder straps again, but Berghaus say they're more suitable for all round use. We're not sure about that as we've found vented sacs a tad cool in cold weather, but hey, now you have the option. Sizes are 35+8, which should do for weekend packing, and 25+6.

On the street side of things, there's a sac called the Morph which is an urban day sac with a hard shell back, loads of pockets, a moulded back system and fold-away hip fins for streamlined museum trekking...comes in 20, 25 and 30-litre guises.

Last but not least, there's a new 49zer0 adventure race / fast movers pack. It's a development of the existing 69zer0 and no prizes for guess that it weighs in at 490 grammes in stripped down mode.

It gets a single main back zip opening for easy access, the well proven Limpet compression system for stability when moving fast and air-mesh back system and, this is the bit we like, angled mesh stuff pockets.

The last detail, the angle of the pockets, is apparently because we were moaning about the impossibility of accessing most mesh pockets without dislocating your shoulder at last year's Extrem Lite launch, so it was nice to see someone was actually listening. Can we have a cut please....