--- title: "Review: Hyperlite Mountain Gear 3400 Junction on the Great Himalaya Trail" description: "A review of the ultralight Hyperlite Mountain Gear 3400 Junction backpack by Pavlína Adam, who tested it on the world's hardest trek - the Great Himalaya Trail." canonical_url: "https://gramino.com/blog/review-hyperlite-3400-junction-great-himalaya-trail" last_updated: "2022-10-16" --- # Review: Hyperlite Mountain Gear 3400 Junction on the Great Himalaya Trail Authors: Pavlína Adam Date: 2022-10-16 A review of the ultralight Hyperlite Mountain Gear 3400 Junction backpack by Pavlína Adam, who tested it on the world's hardest trek - the Great Himalaya Trail. The Himalayas. It's probably going to be cold there. And snowy. Lots of snow and ice. And then there's the monsoon. But what does a monsoon actually mean? Wikipedia says it'll rain. A lot. OK, so it'll rain and it'll be cold. That's roughly what Sarah and I pictured when we decided to set out on the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT). Reportedly the **hardest long-distance trail** **in the world**, **1,700 kilometers** across the whole of Nepal. The fact that it would be worth it was backed up by the route itself, crossing 21 passes above 5,000 meters, including two above 6,000 meters. But what do you even pack for a trail that fewer than a hundred people have completed, and half of them were Nepali? And as we all know, they don't need much. A pair of flip-flops and a garbage bag will do. Now that's what I call ultralight! Sarah and I wanted to go the ultralight route too. Though on the Great Himalaya Trail, something a bit more robust made sense – no crazy super-ultralight gear here. The foundation of success on trails this long is a **comfortable, reliable backpack**. I went with a backpack from **Hyperlite Mountain Gear**, specifically the [**40-liter Junction**](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-junction-40l). For **extra durability**, I chose the **black version, weighing 939 g**. [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Junction 40 (2025)](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-junction-40.md) While packing, fear took over. Not only had I packed like I was headed to the South Pole, I probably could have saved Scott's entire expedition from starvation. Now I just had to fit all of it into my backpack. Surely it'll fit… it doesn't! At the last minute, I frantically call Gramino to say I need the [**bigger 55-liter version – the Junction**](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-junction-55l). I go through my gear again and again, and finally get down to **8 kg of base weight, including an ice axe and crampons**. That's workable. After all, there still has to be room for some chips :-)) … and the glacier gear I'll need for crossing the technical mountain passes. [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Junction 55 (2025)](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-junction-55.md) The Great Himalaya Trail is full of **obstacles**, **and therefore adventure too**. Besides hiking over 5,000-meter passes, we faced waist-deep snow, wading through wild rivers, balancing along snowy ridgelines, and, at lower elevations, mud slides and crossing glacier fields as sharp as razor blades. **And on top of it all, it kept raining. The whole time.** The Hyperlite Junction was made for exactly these conditions. It's built from a **mechanically resistant fabric** and, most importantly, it's **waterproof**, so it held up even through heavier rainfall. Just in case, I also kept a **trusty Nepali-style** **garbage bag** inside my pack, in case wading through a river turned into an involuntary swim. [Sea To Summit Ultra-Sil Dry Bag](/p/sea-to-summit-ultra-sil-dry-bag.md) What works well for me on the Hyperlite Junction is its **single main compartment**, where you can pack everything in a clearly organized way. No need to play backpack Tetris. The small internal mesh pocket on the back panel is probably meant for a hydration bladder, but I found it worked great as a **well-hidden pocket** where I **stashed all my valuables**. Thanks to the **lightly reinforced back panel**, I never felt any lumps, even when packing in a hurry. I really came to love the **front mesh pocket** (the kangaroo pocket), which seems to be bottomless. The **side pockets** are just the right size to fit two one-liter bottles each, and nothing fell out even after four months of daily use. But what I loved most was the **perfectly fitting hip belt** with **two large pockets**, big enough to hold a full day's supply of gummy bears (in Nepal, swapped for instant noodle soup and a bag of sugar, since gummy bears aren't a thing there). [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Pods](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-pods.md) The only thing I could really fault is the **Velcro on the roll-top**, which honestly could have been skipped. Digging for something at the bottom of the pack meant climbing halfway in myself, and the Velcro sometimes wrecked a hairstyle I'd spent days cultivating. This backpack became my **loyal companion**, one I'd only trade for its smaller sibling, since by the end we'd **managed to trim our base weight down to 5.5 kg**. - [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Pods](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-pods.md) - [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Versa](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-versa.md) - [Liteway Fanny Pack](/p/liteway-fanny-pack.md) - [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Shoulder Pocket](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-shoulder-pocket.md) - [Liteway Lite Pocket](/p/liteway-lite-pocket.md) - [Liteway Elementum Pack 50 L (2024)](/p/liteway-elementum-pack-50-l-2024.md) - [Tyvek 75x230 cm (for 1 person)](/p/tyvek-groundsheet-230-x-75-cm.md) - [Liteway Lite Pocket Ultra](/p/liteway-lite-pocket-ultra.md) - [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Dyneema Repair Kit](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-dyneema-repair-kit.md) - [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Side Entry Pod](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-side-entry-pod.md) This post is also available as [HTML](/blog/review-hyperlite-3400-junction-great-himalaya-trail). ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.