The Osprey Aura and Atmos AG packs were launched world wide in the middle of 2015 to a large amount of fanfare and they quickly received multiple industry awards. The AntiGravity™ harness had been touted as giving great comfort when carrying heavy loads while still allowing a high level of ventilation and I was excited to give the women’s Aura 65 a run.

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Tech Specs

The Aura AG comes in two volumes a 50 & a 65 litre and uses a women’s version of Ospreys new AntiGravity™ harness which incorporates a ventilated hipbelt with a seamless mesh and 3D cavity backpanel. This harness system gives the pack wearer a highly vented and comfortable fit whilst providing excellent load carrying performance. The Osprey Atmos AG uses mens version of the AntiGravity™ harness.

What makes it a women’s specific harness you ask? There are a few subtle changes that give a more comfortable fit to the fairer sex. Namely a shorter torso length, the shoulder straps are fitted narrower to sit on a ladies shoulders which supports the weight more efficiently, the shoulder straps are also cut to fit around a ladies chest. Women’s hips are conically shaped with a larger difference between the waist and hip measurements. The Fit-on-the-Fly™ hipbelts are shaped and angled to accommodate this difference which allows a more comfortable load transfer and support.

The Aura 65 is packed full of handy features but still comes in below 2 kilograms for the medium size. The twin zippered front and lid pockets, base zip and top-lid entry points meant that it was never a hassle to get to what I needed out of the pack when required. Osprey’s Stow-on-the-Go™ trekking pole attachment gave an easy option to store poles without having to remove the pack to get to them. The pack does feature a separate sleeping bag compartment at the base of the pack however this was not used and the divider was zipped away to give one large space for packing. There is the option to remove the top lid to save some extra weight for short missions and use the FlapJacket™ to keep your gear protected from the elements, yet to be used but good to know if I want to save some weight.

Other features of the Aura are mentioned in the Osprey Aura & Atmos product tour below.

On the Trail

Adjusting the harness when fitting the pack for the first time was a breeze with the adjustable harness allowing you to adjust the torso length of the pack by sliding the easy release cams behind the harness yoke up and down to the desired position. Once adjusted so the hip belt sat on the Iliac Crest (top of the hip bone) and the yoke sat 5cm below the C7 vertebrae.

When I first tried on the Aura AG the first thing I noticed was how the pack’s hip belt was gripping onto me. It felt like I was giving someone a piggy back with the weight spread over the whole harness making the pack feel basically weightless. The InsideOut™ compression also provided impressive load support, which would help to reduce fatigue.

There are two options for water storage an internal pocket holds a hydration reservoir with tube poking out through a small hole then down the shoulder strap for quick access to water. The stretch side pockets also allow for easy one hand access to a water bottle. The pockets on the hip belt were super handy, giving a spot to store those small items you want to get to while walking like lip balm, a Clif Bar or small point and shoot camera.

Traditionally canvas has been the fabric of choice for many local pack brands however modern nylons have become increasingly more durable to abrasion, wear and tear. More importantly the weight saving of a nylon pack over a canvas style is pushing 1 kilogram and is significantly less expensive. The Aura and Atmos have a heavier duty nylon on the base with special attention given to places of high wear and tear. While I haven’t used the Aura AG on an off track bush bashing hike through the South West of Tassie yet the pack is not showing any wear marks after the number of hikes it has done so far. The Auras AG high denier nylon has a relatively good water resistance however I still used a pack liner to give peace of mind that the contents would remain 100% waterproof no matter what weather was thrown at me.

Now with a number of hikes and most recently a 9 day hike on the full circuit of Torre del Paine in Patagonia the Aura AG was filled with a reasonable weight of around 15kg including water. The Aura performed amazingly well with the AG harness supporting the load and while the temperatures pushed close to 30 my back, lumbar and hips remained relatively sweat free especially compared to those in the party who used traditional styled packs.


More tech and fitting details can be found here and head into your Paddy Pallin store or online to try the Osprey Aura and Atmos AntiGravity™ packs for yourself.

Review: Osprey Aura & Atmos AG Pack
The Aura AG is an amazing pack. It has pushed the boundaries in harness design and has given us a very supportive yet still extremely well vented pack that will handle all but the harshest off track walking with very heavy loads. For the 1st time putting my pack on in the morning has now become something to look forward to & I cant wait for my next hike with the Aura AG!!
DURABILITY90%
FEATURES95%
COMFORT95%
VALUE FOR MONEY95%
94%Overall Score

About The Author

Zuzana Melicharova

Zuzana has lived in Europe, New Zealand and Australia while travelling extensively though out these countries as well as Asia, North & South America. Zuzana enjoys hiking, skiing, mountain biking and rock climbing.

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