Construction & Features

In most ways, Hyperlite Mountain Gear Waypoint 35 is a slimmed down version of the traditional HMG packs you know and love; most closely related to the Unbound series. It’s made with the same waterproof, ultralight, and hyper-durable Dyneema (DCH 50) fabric. It’s adorned with large side pockets, large hip belt pockets, and a Dyneema stretch mesh front pocket. It features a D-shaped bottom to stand upright while loading, a roll top closure and a Y-strap top mounting/compression cinch. It even has a large internal stay for added load transfer.

The design deviates from most HMG backpacking packs in three primary ways, all of which are neutral or beneficial. First off, it’s smaller; designed to carry a dialed-in ultralight kit, not your everyday backpacking load. However, with the tall roll-top closure, you can stuff a lot of extras inside. Secondly, its weight class is much lower than average compared to most HMG packs which typically land in the 30-34oz range.

Third and finally, you get the exciting, new, widened shoulder straps (for increased pressure dispersal) with built-in, front-mounted shoulder strap pockets for storing snacks, small water bottles, electronics, or other handy items. This is a nice upgrade, and we expect to see these shoulder straps applied to more HMG packs in the future.

One minor disappointing note is that the front shoulder strap pockets are slightly too small to be optimal for use with a .6L Katadyn befree. They can fit, but only at half volume or lower and with a bit of effort. We’d like to see these pockets get about 25% larger in future iterations to accommodate a water filter.

A few other worthwhile call outs include the cinchable side pockets, very large hip belt pockets, stiffened roll top collar (instead of velcro), and side compression cinches.