Review: Millet Prolight 55+20 Expe

Since 1950, Millet has been making some of the best outdoor gear out there. Originally manufacturing backpacks for climbs of 8000m peaks, Millet now makes every kind of gear you can imagine short of ascenders and carabiners. Today, you can find Millet’s gear a staple of ultra-high altitude mountaineers. While I don’t plan on climbing Annapurna anytime soon, it’s good to know their gear has been well tested around the world.

Unfortunately, Millet is incredibly hard to find in the states and is primarily sold in Europe. The first time I saw the brand was climbing in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. Since then, I’ve been trying to find a good dealer to take a look at their full range of products. However, I can’t find any dealer that seems to carry more than a few products by the company. I managed to locate this pack from Backcountry recently so I figured I’d review it here.

Prolight 55+20 Expe

The first thing you’ll notice about this pack is the size. While not as large as an Arc’Teryx Bora 95, this is a big pack. With a total capacity of 75 liters, this will hold just about anything I can throw at it. The pack can be stripped down a bit for summit pushes by removing the lid of the pack for a capacity of 50 liters.

At its heart, this is a climbing pack. There are two ice axe loops that will hold standard mountaineering or technical ice axes. The side pockets hold pickets or wands securely and are easily accessible. As always, this pack is hydration compatible. While you generally can’t use a hydration bladder on a summit push, it is extremely handy for the approach.

The hip belt includes a handy climbing rack for all your carabiners, belay devices, etc. I really like this touch since with most packs it’s a constant struggle to adjust the hip belt of my pack to retain access to the rack. If you’ve read our mountaineering photography series of articles, you’ll know this is also where I attach my camera. Since this pack doesn’t have the standard straps of webbing to loop my camera case to, it takes a bit of adjustment to work. A couple small carabiners will fix that problem though.

Shoulder Straps

The Prolight uses Millet’s “free flex system” of shoulder straps. This system uses a hinge on the back padding of the pack. This allows the shoulder straps to flex with your body as you move. In my initial testing, this system works pretty effectively at heavier loads and allows me a wide range of movement.

A constant complaint I’ve had with Arc’teryx backpacks like the Bora 95 is the padding they use for the shoulder straps. Their padding is a dense closed cell foam that doesn’t give or stretch and results in some strange hot spots on my shoulders. Thankfully, Millet doesn’t use this foam. Their straps are well padded and result in a much more comfortable fit.

Some little touches

I really like some of the little details Millet threw in to this pack. While they do add a slight bit of weight, it really makes management of the pack easier. All the compression straps on the bag have retainers for the webbing which makes organization of the exterior straps quite a bit neater. Additionally, all the compression straps have locks on the size adjustments. No longer will I have to deal with a compression strap that seems to loosen itself throughout the day.

The ice axe loops also use clips that let you remove the ice axe quite a bit faster than the standard loop of webbing. The shoulder straps have a loop of webbing on them so you can put your thumbs through them when hiking. I’m sure I’ll figure some way to strap a photo accessory to them in the future.

Over all I really like this pack. At around $160, this isn’t the cheapest pack out there, but it’s in line with the rest of the competition. If you can find one at a local store, I’d highly recommend giving it a try. More information about the pack is available at Millet’s website here.