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Pete Chadwick tests the Peuterey 35+10 Pack from top French brand Millet. Cragging, Scottish Wineter and Alpinism; it takes it in it’s stride!
Performance: ****
Quality: ****
Style: ****
The Millet Peuterey 35+10 is a technical mountaineering backpack. When it first arrived it was clear that it was well constructed with good materials and had many technical features. But to really appreciate design and function one has to test them in the field so I headed to the French Alps for my summer holidays. Meeting up with CGRUK’s Kev Avery in Chamonix I discovered what a great sack the Millet Peuterey 35+10 is.
The fit was excellent for my 6’1″ frame and the adjusting system worked well, carrying a heavy load on steep descents proved stable as did the sack barely packed and compressed to minimise bulk. The materials that it is constructed from, Nylon and Cordura, with a double layer on the base mean that it is incredibly robust a welcome change from many modern sacks. Millet uses The Free Flex Frame System which allows the pack to provide rigidity and improve the pack’s load-carrying capacity when you add heavy gear or skis.
Some of the other features proved invaluable in the mountains; the larger than normal zipper tabs allow pockets to be opened and closed with cold or gloved hands. There is an excellent crampon compartment with a double layer of nylon and Cordura which keeps the sharp bits out of the way of ropes and hands. The side zip allows an alternative way in to the one large main compartment and worked well. The good sized two lid pockets allowed for enough storage without being so bulky as to prevent looking up when climbing. There are side stirrups and straps for skis and front ice axe loops with stitched in elastic ties that once again proved bombproof.
In use the sack has been the best I’ve ever had. I used it tradding and managed to fit a full rack of gear, two ropes, foot ware, drink and clothing in with room to spare. When sport climbing the wide top allowed all gear and 70m rope in its rope bag to be fitted in thus allowing safe and stable passage on via ferrata approaches to continental sport crags. For alpine cragging and mountaineering the bag proved excellent when carrying heavy loads down the worrying Midi Arête and worked extremely well as a technical sack when both ice climbing and multi pitch rock climbing. There are very few features dangling on the outside of the pack to snag on protrusions and those that are there are essential and designed with this problem in mind. The waist and chest straps provided great stability, comfort and load distribution when walking and climbing.
In conclusion, I would recommend the Pueterey 35+10 to anyone looking for a robust technical mountaineering sack or an excellent cragging sack with excellent build quality and no nonsense practical features.
Price: 35+10 £120, 45+10 £140
- For more information visit the Millet website.
Climbing Gear Reviews 
How about for ski mountaineering?
Out tester Pete says the pack would be good for skiing as it has integrated ski attachments for A system carries.