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On either side of my backpack, I have a loop with some kind of locking mechanism on them. They look like this:
They are placed on the upper center of my backpack:
The plastic bit at the end can be used to "lock" to itself:
What are these loops used for?
The bag itself is a Lowe Alpine Cerro Torre, for reference.
They are designed to fix your ice axes to the backpack so that they won't move very much. This task should be realized in a lightweight manner and it should be easy and quick to release/adjust. One very common approach is the one from your picture, e.g. explained in this video.
Of course you can adjust e.g. poles with them too. Or anything else if you get the point.
Edit: Now that I can also see your other pics it really looks like the lower part of the ice axe fixing system is missing. Still the official notes say you can attach ice axes...
You can also check out this video, which gives interesting information. I have the pack and already used the fixing system Steve House is representing there.
