Marmot Alpha 25 Review

The Marmot Alpha 25 is a nice backpack option for those looking for a backpack they can take for a hike, snowshoes, or head into the backcountry skiing and snowboarding.  We used this pack on various hikes, from a 5 mile quick hike to 20 mile day hikes to hiking Colorado’s 14′ers.  With a 25L/1550 cu inches capacity, we could load pretty much all our gear and then some.  We found that it was hard to pack the bag out to its capacity, but it was nice to have the room for stashing unexpected gear.  A few of the features we liked on the Marmot Alpha 25 included the hip belt zip pockets and the water bottle holder pockets.  The hip belt pockets were roomy enough to stash all of our essentials while hiking, including a cell phone, camera, and energy bars.  The side pockets for water bottles were convenient as we often find it difficult to reach our water bottles in many of the packs we have tested in past.  The backpack comes with a roll top closure that comes with its pluses and minuses.  Typically you can lose a little weight with a roll top and it helps with sealing the bag to make it waterproof.  The downside to a roll top is that it can be a bit of a hastle to get something out the backpack vs. using a zipper.  The verdict is still out on the front stash flap as we think this could have been a mesh compartment and worked just as well.  Overall, we liked the Marmot Alpha 25 and recommend it to our viewers.  For more information on this backpack, please visit Marmot.com