Hyperlite Mountain Gear Elevate 22

For everyday use in Dyneema, HMG offers the Daybreak 22: 22 L inside plus 4.5 L of stretch-mesh outside pockets, 19.2 oz, one size and a 20 lb ceiling. The heavier 5.1 and 5.9 laminates put it at the durable end of HMG's day range rather than the lightest.

HMG's minimal roll-top is the Summit 30: 30 L, 12.7 oz, one size, and a removable 3/4 in webbing belt. It is the cheapest HMG pack at $210 and works as a summit bag or a stripped-down day pack.

On a running-vest harness, the Aero 28 is a roll-top fastpack: 28 L inside plus 8.5 L of external pockets at 17.8 oz in Medium. It uses HMG's lightest laminate, DCH 3.8, with 100D Dyneema ripstop at the wear points.

Alpine routes and scrambles are what HMG built the Vertex 32 daypack for: 32 L, 22.4 oz in Medium, and a removable foam panel in place of a frame. Its body mixes Dyneema Woven Composite 5.0 with DCH 5.1 and Gridstop, the abrasion-led recipe HMG uses on its climbing packs.

The Contour 35 is Hyperlite's frameless fast-and-light pack, and at 15.7 oz it is one of the few sub-pound packs on this site. Dyneema Composite Fabric makes it effectively waterproof at a weight woven fabrics cannot reach.

HMG's lightest framed pack is the Waypoint 35: a single aluminium stay in a 35 L laminate body with 6.5 L of stretch-mesh outside pockets and a padded, pocketed hipbelt that comes off. It fills the slot between the frameless Contour 35 and the two-stay Unbound 40.