Advnture Verdict
Featuring very well thought-out design elements all-round, the Tatonka Cima di Basso 38 W is a technical pack for peak-bagging and trail adventures in the hills.
Pros
- +
RECCO reflector
- +
Great design elements
- +
Brilliant female-specific fit
Cons
- -
Too many bells and whistles for casual use
- -
Too heavy for very lightweight adventures
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First impressions
If your idea of a good time outdoors always involves heading for the mountains, the Tatonka Cima di Basso 38 W backpack is a piece of kit with your name on it.
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German outdoor brand Tatonka named this technical pack, designed with female climbers and ski tourers specifically in mind, after an 1,800-metre (5,906ft) Swiss peak, and it is definitely ready for challenging alpine conditions.
• RRP: £145 (UK) / €160 (EU)
• Weight: 1.35kg /47.6oz
• Capacity: 38L / 2319 cu in
• Sizes: One size
• Colors: Grey / Black / Red-Orange
On the trails
With 38 litres of storage space, the Tatonka Cima di Basso 38 W is best suited as a roomy daypack or for overnight peakbagging expeditions, with space to spare for technical kit, a rope, climbing shoes and spare clothing.
There are plenty of external loops and clips on this pack for holding ice axes and/or hiking poles safely. An elastic front pocket makes it easy to stash a helmet or a rope on the go. You can also remove the hip belt so that you can wear the Tatonka Cima di Basso 38 W with a climbing harness. A built-in RECCO reflector makes you more visible to mountain rescue teams in the event of an avalanche.
When you aren’t climbing or ski touring the pack is a great daysack for walking and trekking, although at 1.3kg it’s not quite light enough to work for fastpacking adventures.
We were impressed with the sack’s outer material on test – it’s a tough ripstop that can take any manner of knocks and scrapes (although the light grey colour does end up looking dirty relatively quickly).
The Cima di Basso is water-resistant enough to withstand a shower but no separate rain cover is included, which might be an issue if you got caught in torrential weather.
