Longing to leave the stresses of daily life behind for a while? Backpacking, hiking and wild camping are all ways to do this. And before you hit the trails, you'll need to kit yourself out with one of the best hiking backbacks. Depending how long you’re going for, your rucksack will carry all the gear and supplies you need to do so.
With that in mind, step forward the Osprey Rook and Renn; streamlined adventure backpacks that are lightweight yet hard as nails.The Osprey Rook is tailored for men and the Osprey Renn for women. The features and tech are the same, as is the tough 600D ripstop polyester material, but the cut is slightly different.
Both of these new ultra-light backpacking backpacks incorporate a high-tech back cooling design in the form of Osprey’s ace Adjustable AirSpeed ‘ventilated trampoline suspended’ mesh back panel.
This creates an air space between the pack and your back, encouraging better airflow. It’ll keep you cooler on warm weather backpacking trips, and any time you’re pushing yourself on the trail and working up a sweat.
Big on storage, light on weight
The Rook and Renn backpacks boast epic storage. There's a neat sleeping bag compartment with floating divider, plus external straps for tidying away gear. These dividers also stop your gear from getting mixed up inside the ‘belly’ of the pack.
Loops at the rear enable you to attach a smaller daysack, which you can detach for shorter trips where you don’t want to lug your main backpacking rucksack along.
Adjustable load lifters (to ensure the harness remains comfy in an array of positions), Airspeed Suspension and padded mesh all combine to maximise your carrying stability and comfort. The full length back panel can also be tweaked to achieve the perfect fit, further boosting your carrying comfort and protecting your posture.
Osprey has designed these backpacking rucksacks with a broad hip belt that not only distributes weight onto the hips for an easier carry, but incorporates two zippered pouches. These are handy for stashing small items like lip balm or energy gels.
On the stabilising sternum strap you'll spot an emergency whistle, plus a magnet capable of retaining a hydration bladder bite valve for quick sips of water. Two mesh pockets could house water bottles if you’d rather not use a bladder.
The Osprey Rook backpacking rucksack is available in 50L (1.59kg) and 65L (1.6kg) models, and the Renn is available in 50L (1.5kg) and 65L (1.56kg) models. Generally speaking, the 65L models are ideal for longer trips. Whichever you choose, they’ll undoubtedly boost your carrying comfort each step of the way.
