New (2025) Gossamer Gear Packs – The Alchemy Collection

This material has been around awhile…Durston released the Wapta 30 in Graflyte in Nov ‘23. Haven’t seen any reviews of the material yet.

The pics on GG look like perhaps a new generation of Graflyte.

You’re right – I see a few packs made with a slightly heavier weight version of the material including the Wapta.  I guess I’m just behind the times.

Looks nice. I’d be curious to see in greater detail what the frame/hip belt interface is. It looks like the bottom of the carbon rods might insert into a ‘wand pocket’ on the belt. That can work quite well for load transfer if done correctly.

This article includes a technical assessment of Graflyte in packs.

There are 4 versions of Graflyte, which are V-52, V-78, V-98 and V-130.  I worked with to develop the original version (V-98) as a good all around balance of weight and durability for lightweight packs, and then they offer it in lighter and heavier weaves as well. So the V-52 isn’t new, but it has been less used in packs. Arcteryx used it for the roll top in their pack and Hyberg uses some, but this is the first pack to go with all V-52. Like anything, V-52 is lighter but less durable than the heavier versions.

We’ve been seeing nice results with the V-98 including people triple crowning on it now. The material has good properties and doesn’t fatigue/breakdown noticeably over extended use, so it can hold up well.

A nice-looking pack to be sure (always the case with GG), but I can’t see the case for switching from my Zpacks ArcBlast. The Mirage is a couple oz lighter but has 5-10L less capacity (I think ArcBlast’s nominal 55L capacity is too generous, especially when the frame is arced). And I couldn’t see much in the way of exterior lash options (I much prefer to keep my tent or tarp lashed to the outside as it is often wet). Also, it looks like the hip belt straps are connected and cannot be adjusted independently.

So, a fine pack but not a breakthrough, at least for the features I value.

This is the first collection I’ve seen in V52, which is probably perfect for the Murmur, given its historical use case scenario of being as stripped down as it gets.

After Dan’s backpacks hit the market and Ryan wrote an article about the benefits of the Graflyte technology, I kept wondering why we haven’t seen more offerings so it’s exciting to see the announcement from GG.

I wonder if the 40 L Mirage has room for a BV450 or Bearikade Scout. If so, it could be a great choice for light and fast 3 or 4-day trips in bear country — and longer with an Adotec or Ursack.

Leaving aside price, a waterproof and durable Murmur sounds like a lovely thing.

If the welded Graflyte is truly more waterproof than anything to date, I could understand a person of means choosing an Alchemy pack. But how much more durable is Graflyte than the Ultra you already have? Actually for all except the 1% of hardcore thru-hikers, out of fashion Robic would last a lifetime, and at a fraction the price (material).

Pack fabrics are starting to remind me of I-Phones, the device you have now works perfectly fine but marketing has convinced you the latest model is a must have.

“If the welded Graflyte is truly more waterproof than anything to date…”
A fully welded (heat bonded) pack can be amazing for waterproofness, but no one is really close to that right now. Several companies such as us, Arcteryx, Gossamer Gear and others are doing some welding on the pack, but it is very difficult to do in more complex parts of the pack, so all of these packs have lots of sewn seams as well. To fully weld a pack, it would either need to be a very simple design or the welding techniques would need to advance quite a bit further. It says a lot that even Arcteryx isn’t confident fully welding the pack. I think it’ll happen but we are a few year away from seeing fully welded main compartments.

“How much more durable is Graflyte than the Ultra you already have?”
It’s hard to say because there are a lot of ways to measure durability. Generally though Graflyte is more about weight savings than durability. Ultra 100X and 200X weigh about 110 or 130 g/m2. With Graflyte you have versions that weigh 52, 78, 98 and 125 g/m2. The 98 and 125 versions are in the same ballpark for durability as Ultra while being a bit lighter, whereas the 52 and 78 g/m2 versions are going to offer more substantial weight savings but probably noticeably less durable in most real world applications.