Reccomend a Mountaineering Pack

I'm gearing up for a trip to the Cirque of the Towers but also plan to backpack for 3-4 days after it. I will not be making a return trip to the car before backpacking. What size, brand, style, etc. Would you reccomend for a 5 day trip, 1 day of climbing,  3-4 of backcountry hiking?

Pick a size by laying out all your gear and seeing how much room you’re going to need in your pack. Your whole trip will be much more pleasant if you can keep the pack size below 70-75 liters. Ideally you would pick a pack by finding a store with a good selection in your size range and some capable staff who can measure your torso length and adjust a couple different packs to fit you, then let you wear the pack around the store with a few sandbags in it. If that’s not an option then don’t be afraid to order a couple packs to adjust and try on at home, then return the ones that don’t work. Just keep the packs clean and leave the tags on so they’re easy to sell after you return them. Having said all that, Osprey makes very well made packs that seem to fit more people than any other brand. Gregory packs are well made and a good fit for almost as many people as the Ospreys. The Osprey Äther Pro 70 is very comfortable and weighs less than a lot of 60-65 liter packs. It also offers much better load support than the true ultralight packs. Pack weight and load support are going to be big issues on this trip.

 Couple caveats with the aether pro (I have it and like it):

-it’s to narrow to fit a full size bear can (bv500) horizontally (vertically fits)— narrow is great for scrambling though, very stable.

-the perimeter frame can get in the way climbing, and if you wear a helmet it limits your ability to look up (but it does give you lots of hard points to strap skis/snowshoes/etc, and it does carry 50lbs+ well.

-it’s pricey— if you can’t get a discount it’s in the same price range as custom packs.

alternative sub-4lb load haulers— cheap: BD mission 75, expensive/made to order: SWD Big Wild, seek outside 

I'm a big fan of the suspension on Mystery Ranch packs.  My alpine pack for the Cascades is a MR Scepter 50.  I can pack everything into the pack for a few days of glacier travel in early spring conditions.  If I want more room I've figured out a way to add a brain to the pack for approaches that adds ~20l of storage plus the ability to strap a bear canister or similarly sized stuff sack to the top of the pack securly.  There are a lot of good, simple, tube-style alpine packs on the market and many of them are cheap and adequate, the MR packs are the only ones that I've found that work well with my shoulders and carry a load better than anything else I've used at similar pack weights.

Are you planning to carry the pack on route or leave it in camp for your day of climbing? 

I like the Patagonia Ascentionist, it can be compressed down and climbs well for a person my size (men's medium). 

If you plan to leave the pack in camp any large backpacking pack will do as long as it fits well and carries your necessary loadout and then a small on route pack for your summit day.

For a larger pack I have a Mountain Hardware Col series pack in 75L. It's very lightweight for the size and compresses well. They have replaced these with the AMG series available in a variety of sizes