Winter Backpack Recommendations

Pinnacle
Exos 58
REI Flash 65

Depending on your feature preferences and how they fit you.

I'll second the pinnacle. I like mine. 40% off every year if you can wait a while.

30lbs and comfortable usually means a frame. I would definitely look at the ULA Circuit – not sure if the pricing would be prohibative.

Good luck on getting a winter backpack load down to 30 lbs. (or less) with water and food included.

It can be done easy if you are just camping/hiking. Winter makes me think snow if that the case you dont need to carry much water?

not water …

as to the pack … whatever fits best as always …

I've been thinking of this, too, and want to get a new winter pack eventually. My main criteria for size would be something that can carry my sleeping bag– WM Lynx, which compresses down to a little larger than a basketball. My ULA Circuit fits it, but barely. How does the Pinnacle compare in size with the Circuit?

Just to add to the already excellent packs mentioned above, the Six Moon Designs Starlite. this is currently my winter pack of choice. I have the old version with the two stay vs the current with the one U-stay. I wish the my pack was compatible with the u-stay, as I really like it in my GG Gorilla.

30oz with the stays, and right at or just above your $200 price point, depending on whether you want the hip belt with the pocket or not.

It takes a bit of fiddling to get the one-size-fits all to fit yourself, in my experience, and I wish the shoulder straps were a bit wider, but otherwise, I really like the pack. Nice, comfortable hip belt. Absolutely cavernous to the point where I do wish it had a slightly better compression system for smaller loads. Not so much a problem in winter when you can let your big lofty bag expand to fill the space.

My winter overnight base weight is in the 13-15lb range, depending on how cold it will be. I’ve carried 27lbs in the Starlite fairly comfortably with just a tri-folded Ridgrest short in the pack pocket for a frame. For 5oz though I’d rather just put in the stays at that weight.

I’ve tried out (at home) the Exos 46, ULA Ohm (smaller cousin to the Circuit) and an REI Flash 50, and have no complaints about those packs either in my limited, at home use.

the pinnacle has more volume in the main body, the front pocket of the circuit holds more (it's stretchy mesh vs an fixed zipped pocket like on the pinnacle)

the pinnacle IMO needs additional support for loads in the 30# range, I'll be fabbing up a HPDE sheet for this winter; the circuit is good to go as is

w/ the 40% off sales that golite has regularly the pinnacle is definitely worth peeking at :)

Thanks for the comparison, Mike. That's pretty much what I needed to hear. I wish I could find a Pinnacle in a store somewhere near me, but golite products seem hard to find around here. I'll keep looking. Luckily, there's still plenty of time until winter camping for me.

I am looking at going for the Mammut trion light this year. It has a zip in waterproof liner and dry bag roll top. All this for like 1100g grams and can be stripped easy to 5-600 grams easy!!

$200 even shipped from what i can find.

My other option would be the Blue Ice Warthog at 720 grams.

Its gonna be one or the other for me this year. I used a Osprey Varient 37 last year and it was way too big with waaaay too many straps and shizzah lilke that!!

Haven't carried my Pinnacle since I got my Circuit. Overload the Pinnacle a tiny bit, and it really collapses. May have been user error, I forgot to cinch down the compression straps.

Great thread! I have to have a framed pack, so I'm considering the Exos 58 and the ULA Circuit. Any other framed packs I should be looking at?

Below are two UL options for "framed" packs.

1) ZPacks Exo – http://www.zpacks.com/backpacks/exo.shtml

2) MLD Exodus FS – http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=185

3) HMG Windrider SW – http://www.hyperlitemountaingear.com/products/packs/hmg-windridersouthwest-ultralight-pack.html

in full on winter conditions. I have thought about having ZPacks make me a Cubin 30L pack with ice axe loops and a all but i wonder how durable it would really be?

Any thoughts?

Are you going to be carrying snowshoes, shovels, probes, poles, axes, etc.?

Most UL packs arent good in winter IMO if you are needing to attach a bunch of gear to the outside.

I prefer backcountry ski style packs because they are tough and they can carry the kitchen sink on the outside.

Personally I use a Dana Shadow Peak.

Check out the latest couple of packs from HMG. Cilo Gear may also have something.

I have an older model Pinnacle, it doesn't have the hip pockets. I've found when I load it up with weight the shoulder straps dig just a tad more than I find comfortable for long periods of time, but this was a summer hike, so this may not be as much an issue in the winter when I'm wearing more clothing though.

I like the pack overall, fits a trash compactor bag perfectly and the side pockets are easy for me to get things in and out of. My one "complaint" is that the secondary zippered pocket becomes mostly useless when the main pocket is full.

Take a look at the Granite Gear Blaze AC 60. I'm seriouly considering it. Now that I'm carrying my bag plus my two daughter's bags also.

Not really sure why this is marked "winter" as a backpack is a backpack is a backpack – unless of course you are talking about a water proof backpack, in which case, Thom Darrah and Chris Wallace are the only two people in this list so far to provide accurate answers.

None of the listed ULA packs are waterproof backpacks. Neither are the Exodus, Starlite, or Pinnacle.

The ZPacks is cuben fiber and theoretically the material itself is waterproof, but what about seams and what about submerging it?

The Hyperlite Mountain Gear is cuben fiber and theoretically the material itself is waterproof, but what about seams and what about submerging it?

But even than, you have "waterproof" and you have "submersible proof". I have yet to see anybody shoot a video with the ZPacks backpack and a HMG backpack filled with gear and thrown and fully submerged in a river, swimming pool or bathtub to see whether or not they truly are "submersible proof". (I tested both my HMG Windrider and my ZPacks Blast in a bathtub but sadly I did not shoot a video. The ZPacks did not fail. The HMG failed because of the hydration port – and they have thus far totally refused to offer the pack without it (I have asked dozens of times) but perhaps their newer 'ice-pack' does not have one??).

If we are really worried about our gear getting wet, why is it the entire outdoor industry has lead us to believe that the term "waterproof" associated with backpacks – or using a "packcover" – all of a sudden means our gear is not going to get wet. Ask anybody who has had to cross a river that is above their hips – ask anybody who has fallen down in a fast flowing river – whether or not their backpack is truly "waterproof" – What we need to do is start demanding that the term should include the backpacking being fully submersible, otherwise, it is nothing more than a market ploy.

(edited to fix typo -sigh)

For myself, a 'winter' pack shouldn't have outside, open pockets that can fill up with snow.

The Mammut Trion Light looks to me too be the closest thing and also kind UL? Zipp in seam sealed dry bag roll top. 1100 grams complete for a 28L pack easily stripped to a 600gram summit pack.

I guess it depends on what you do in the winter, personally I don't go swimming or diving when winter camping so submersible means little to me; a pack liner sufficiently protects any gear that I don't want to get wet

what I want is plenty of volume for a lower rated bag, a ccf pad (in addition to my inflatable) and more clothing, something that can carry 25-30# comfortably -all without a big weight penalty