Multi-Day Ski Mountaineering Pack?

[rod9301]

Mammut peyragude 35+10. Great carry, good suspension.

Then add two superlight bags for rent and shedding bag, strap them on the outside and you've got a light pack good for 7 days, food, and everything else you would have to have someone sew daisy chains, but that really easy.

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[tgapp]

Sounds like you're describing the HMG Ice pack in a 3400. I've got one in like new condition I'd sell for a good price. Lmk if you're keen on it. Frame size large.

ETA: doesn't have an avy gear sleeve but it's still one of the best alpine climbing packs I've used. Only selling because I got a 45 NWD Cilo pack

[Samski360]

Sounds like you're describing the HMG Ice pack in a 3400. I've got one in like new condition I'd sell for a good price. Lmk if you're keen on it. Frame size large.

ETA: doesn't have an avy gear sleeve but it's still one of the best alpine climbing packs I've used. Only selling because I got a 45 NWD Cilo pack

Thanks tgapp. Does the HMG have load lifter straps? The photos on their website didn’t look like it. That was the main reason HMG wasn’t in the running (and new they’re a little out of the current budget).

[North]

Sounds like you're describing the HMG Ice pack in a 3400. I've got one in like new condition I'd sell for a good price. Lmk if you're keen on it.

If it has the ski carry upgrades I’ll get in line.

[jacob_dbu]

Check out the MH AMG bags. Also enjoying my Mammut Trion (non spine)

[Va Ki Bo]

Resurrecting this thread now that longer days and multi day spring trips are on the horizon. Anyone have a multi day ski pack they’re stoked on? I’m in the same vein as OP but not quite as picky.

Current iteration of Patagonia Descentionist 40L:
Roll-top with top strap, separate external avy-pocket, side access zipper, load-lifters, minimalist belt with two pockets and gear loops.
40L only but looks like more than +10L with roll-top expanded.
If the main body is not made of light paper shit fabric - looks perfect.

[rod9301]

Current iteration of Patagonia Descentionist 40L:
Roll-top with top strap, separate external avy-pocket, side access zipper, load-lifters, minimalist belt with two pockets and gear loops.
40L only but looks like more than +10L with roll-top expanded.
If the main body is not made of light paper shit fabric - looks perfect.

Really fragile and it doesn't carry well, skis and boots on it, forget it.

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[Samski360]

Damn. The descensionist pack was definitely checking boxes on paper.

I might have to take a look at one anyway. Seems like it wouldn’t carry worse than the Cirque 45.

[riff]

I’m a big fan of my recent HMG fanboy status, and after some multiday outings, don’t miss the load lifters much after all.
Lifters and dedicated tool pocket was hardline requirements for me before, but I’m fine without em now and stoked on the construction, weight and toughness. I’ve got a porter 4400 in woven dyneema i got second hand; very pleased. Daily tours in a porter 2400.
Previous pack was Descensionist 40.


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[dub_xion]

I’m a fan of my Mammut Spindrift Guide 45+ (discontinued), carries great and checks all your boxes; would spring for the Trion if I were in the market now. There’s also the TNF Cobra in a 52l and 60l that only lack diagonal carry, and avy gear fits in the oversize crampon pocket.

For multi-day with a full pack, diagonal carry is going to move the skis far from your center of gravity and actually add to the effort of just hiking, which I think is why I think many of the larger packs only have A-frame carry. However, if you’re using it for day trips also and will have things cinched up, I can see your desire for that feature.


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[jacob_dbu]

I’m a fan of my Mammut Spindrift Guide 45+ (discontinued), carries great and checks all your boxes; would spring for the Trion if I were in the market now. There’s also the TNF Cobra in a 52l and 60l that only lack diagonal carry, and avy gear fits in the oversize crampon pocket.

For multi-day with a full pack, diagonal carry is going to move the skis far from your center of gravity and actually add to the effort of just hiking, which I think is why I think many of the larger packs only have A-frame carry. However, if you’re using it for day trips also and will have things cinched up, I can see your desire for that feature.


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That's a great point about A-frame vs. diagonal that I did not think about. When I was looking for this I ordered a lot of packs including the TNF Cobras. I wasn't impressed by them, but I can't recall why.

[North]

Can anybody speak to the durability of the HMG packs w/o the ski upgrade? Specifically the side panels when used with skis? HMG doesn't offer the ski upgrades anymore, and the only woven dyneema packs they offer now are the prism and 2400 ice pack. Seems like it's trending towards "hipsters buy our shit so whatever."

[tgapp]

Can anybody speak to the durability of the HMG packs w/o the ski upgrade? Specifically the side panels when used with skis? HMG doesn't offer the ski upgrades anymore, and the only woven dyneema packs they offer now are the prism and 2400 ice pack. Seems like it's trending towards "hipsters buy our shit so whatever."

yeah it's just fine without the reinforcement panels. seriously - no durability issues whatsoever

unless you're a-frame carrying all day every day of the winter

[davjr96]

As a cheaper alternative to the HMG packs I have been loving my Patagonia Ascensionist 55. Same idea, single pocket although with a removable brain. Super lightweight (still heavier than HMG by a bit) and carries well. Less instagram points for sure but functional. I've had it summer backpacking, Alpine Climbing, winter overnights and even winter day trips when lending out my other pack with no issues.

[North]

yeah it's just fine without the reinforcement panels. seriously - no durability issues whatsoever

Cool thanks. I find the HMG website to be lacking in info on material specifics for different models. For anybody else looking to up their influencer status, I found these links to contain the information I was looking for on HMG packs:
Current Pack Configs: https://sectionhiker.com/hyperlite-m...kpacks-choose/
Hyper critical overview/review, comparos with Cilo etc.: http://maxneale.blogspot.com/2017/09...-Ice-Pack.html

Ascensionist 55 looks pretty good. Also will look at a Mutant 52.

And for completeness, a full-on nerd out that explains McHale design philosophy. A novel, but more helpful than Dan's wonderfully disastrous website:
http://popupbackpacker.com/mchale-ba...e-big-pack-36/

[riff]

I’ve been really happy with my hmg pack, in fact just did a four day ski traverse with it. 4400 porter, older one made of fully woven dyneema. Occasionally tricky to get stuff from the bottom without unloading it all, but carries pretty good and its tough! I watched ebay and the backpacking light forum and got it lightly used. It’s a good feeling, when i grab it i know I’m getting out on a bigger trip.


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[timmaio]

I just spent 2 nights out with a BD Speed 30. Worked great. Carrying camp every day. It just barely fit the food, stove, mega light tent, pads and FF spoonbill split between the 2 of us. Brought light axe, crampons and ski crampons but didn't need them. It was compact enough to actually ski. I couldn't see bringing anything bigger or heavier and doing a traverse/thru ski. Maybe a 45L if setting up a base camp.

[timmaio]

I’m a fan of my Mammut Spindrift Guide 45+ (discontinued), carries great and checks all your boxes; would spring for the Trion if I were in the market now. There’s also the TNF Cobra in a 52l and 60l that only lack diagonal carry, and avy gear fits in the oversize crampon pocket.

For multi-day with a full pack, diagonal carry is going to move the skis far from your center of gravity and actually add to the effort of just hiking, which I think is why I think many of the larger packs only have A-frame carry. However, if you’re using it for day trips also and will have things cinched up, I can see your desire for that feature.


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Or just make sure your skis are really light, then it won't make much of a difference

I hate A Frame, but if I have to have them on the side of the pack I strap them together and put them on one side.

[Kreemcheese]

I have just moved from a Cirque 45 to a Descensionist 40 since I made money on the exchange and I feel that the Descensionist carries alot better (and possibly more/ at least the same) for my skinny scandinavian body.
But my next pack will with 99% probability be a Mountain Hardwear Alpine Light 50L. Seems to tick all my boxes and only misses on your roll-top (if you stick your shovel handle & probe in the frame sleeve and shovel head in the hydration). A bit over your 250 budget though and maybe discountinued?

[waveshello]

I have the mutant 38. It's a very simple, low tech pack. No zippers on the main bag, just one top loading compartment... For better or worse. I use it for fast and light spring-fall overnight backpacking trips, ski touring, and travel (perfect carry on size!) The suspension is very good, and the compression straps allow you to keep it low profile/close to your body with almost nothing in it or stuffed full. Ski carry is a-frame only, I wish there was an option for diagonal. Skis seem to sit pretty low in the pack, and it's a battle to keep tails out of the rocks especial while descending.

I think I would look elsewhere for a dedicated overnight touring pack, to answer the OP. But the mutant is an excellent "quiver of one" pack that can do a lot of things well if you're willing to compromise a little.

EDIT: forgot one thing that's kind of cool about it for travel. The removable brain is great because you can claim it as your personal item on a flight, then reattach it to bag when you get off the plane. No checked bags. I did 3 weeks in Europe out of this bag with room to spare!


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[random_watcher]

I've been using a Mammut Trion 35 this winter as a day touring/mountaineering pack. Overall pretty happy with the design and would definitely consider the Trion 50 for a bigger/multi day pack but would be happy with the 35 for any trip where I wouldn't be carrying a tent and sleeping bag.

Plus points are:

-Rear access zip in the back panel, which I have used almost exclusively for access to the main compartment. Honestly wouldn't want to go back to a pack that was only top loading.
-Mesh shoulder pockets have been useful for stashing small items on the go (snacks, glasses, scraper, sunscreen etc.)
-Front pocket is a good size and easy to get into for avy gear, although I would like it to have a sleeve for a probe and shovel handle.
-Hip belt pocket is handy, personally I'd like two and would happily lose the gear loop on the other side.
-Pack cinches down well and carry well when not full with four compression straps and lid.
-Dual axe carry has been a useful feature.

Negatives:

-No diagonal ski carry. I will probably look to add my own at some point.
-The side panels of the pack are very thin and showing wear (small nicks) from a-frame ski carry. I will probably patch these with a heavier duty fabric.

To make this almost the perfect pack for me I would be happy to lose the floating lid design in exchange for a cleaner top (four less buckles/straps and no internal drawcord collar) and just have access to the main compartment through the back panel but appreciate this would not suit everyone. Along with a second (potentially bigger) hip belt pocket, combined with making the hip belt non-removable and a bit more substantial.

[Samski360]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Still on the hunt for the unicorn pack but actually reasonably pleased with the cirque 45. Just got back from a 4 night trip to the eastern Sierra. We hiked in a few miles to set up base camp, and toured from camp each day. I was barely able to fit all my food and gear in the cirque 45. It was a tight fit. But I didn’t have anything strapped to the outside of the pack other than skis, helmet, and z rest.

I think for 1-2 nighters, the pack should work well. It’s a little disappointing the cirque is not a roll top. The draw string gets caught all the time and a few extra liters in a fully extended roll top is all it would take to make this a very capable overnight bag.

While I was in mammoth I talked to a guy in the shop who showed me the salewa guide 45. It looks like it checks almost all the boxes except for volume. Anyone used it? Thoughts?

[themutt]

I wanted to circle back to this thread with results from my search/testing/experiments over the last year and my ultimate purchase decision.

TLDR: there is no mass-produced, unicorn pack that meets the requirements I was originally looking for. So, I went the custom route and am extremely happy. The MH AMG seems like the next best option.

My desire at the outset was a for a 2-4 day unsupported ski mountaineering pack that would also work for backpacking in the summer. The OG feature list was long and the biggest issues when looking at things were (1) the lack of an avalanche tool pocket and (2) packs not designed to carry heavy 30lb+ loads over long distances. If you only need one of those things, then I bet there is a pack out there for you.

I tried on, demoed, or borrowed most packs mentioned in this thread (though I haven’t tried recent mentions of HMG and Salewa). The closest for me were the mountain Hardware AMG packs. They have all the features you could want but they carried worse than I expected when loaded with a significant amount of weight. Had they fit me better I would have pulled the trigger on one.

Other top contenders (that you can buy new today) were the TNF Cobra, Mammut Trion, BD Mission, Patagonia Ascent 55, and Osprey Mutant 52. All had a tradeoff and were a poorer fit for my primary use case than the AMG.

By this point I was fed-up enough with the experiments to try a McHale demo. I had originally ruled them out at too expensive but wanted to see if there was a significant difference between a custom option and a mass-produced one. The McHale process starts with Dan sending you a demo pack to get your measurements and figure out what works for you. I’d gave it a try to see if the packs carry significantly better than the alternatives – there was no downside risk except paying shipping.

I demoed the pack by hiking around the mountains in the summer and, frankly, was blown away at the difference in how it carried. Initially, it’s small – (maybe 5-10% difference in comfort) but noticeable for me when walking around for a couple minutes. During testing, that difference compounded significantly over large distances – especially when heavy loads were in the pack. The comfort of the Mchale compared to other packs sold the deal for me.

The ordering process through Dan was a bit unique (make sure you have a DVD player handy) but overall smooth and it took about 6-weeks to get the pack built once we settled on a design.

I’ve been using the pack for the spring season this year and am very happy with the decision. The McHale’s materials feel bomber, it carries weight extremely well, has the tool pockets I wanted, and compresses down into a usable comfy day-bag. I find myself reaching for the pack even when I don’t need the volume (ex. using it for long day tours) simply because of the comfort compared with my regular touring pack (Gregory Targee 32). It was expensive no doubt, but it will be the single large pack in my quiver for both summer and winter trips. My hope is that it’s an investment which lasts for 10-15 years.

[bodywhomper]

Granite gear blaze 60.

They were on sale last month. Pretty light.

[aaasen]

Haven't seen the Mystery Ranch Scepter 50 mentioned here, but I have used it this spring for a couple 5 day trips and I'm very happy with it. Carries better than any other pack I have owned, has an avalanche pocket, skis great. Could rig up a diagonal carry but I have been using a side carry and don't mind it at all. Would be nice if it had a top lid/extension collar for a bit more space and a side zip for easier access. Still, a very nice pack!