Organize your pack with stuff sacks

To keep your climbing pack tidy, (okay, tidier) consider using stuff sacks to organize your gear.  With the use of newer fabrics like sil-nylon, stuffsacks these days are in a greater size range, lighter weight, and more water resistant then ever before.  If you toss all your gloves, lunch, sunscreen etc. randomly into your pack, you will have a horrendous time finding anything.  Color coding your sacks is a must, and consider using different fabrics or mesh so you can tell the bag you need just be feeling it.  Stuffing small items all in the top zipper flap can work if you are careful, but it’s really easy to lose small items if you forget and leave the zipper open even a little bit.  Locally in Portland, Next Adventure usually has a good selection of small stuff sacks (and 10% off for Mazamas members, too!)

The savvy climber might have:  larger sacks for extra warm clothes (glove, sun hat, balaclava, etc), and another for food for multiple days.  Smaller sacks could contain food for the day, stove/pot/lighter/windscreen, and small heavier battery items (cell phone, GPS when not in use, headlamp).