The Deuter Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL backpack.

Review: Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 and 45+5 SL Backpacks

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NOTE: See my review of the updated-for-2024 versions of the Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5 and 45+5 SL backpacks.

Ultralight Backpack
Deuter Aircontact Ultra 50+5
$250, 55L/3,356 c.i., 2 lbs. 11 oz./1.2kg
Deuter Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL
$250, 50L/3,051 c.i., 2 lbs. 11 oz./1219g
One adjustable size in both models
Aircontact Ultra 50+5: backcountry.com
Aircontact Ultra 45+5: backcountry.com

Many mid-size, lightweight and ultralight backpacking packs share more similarities than differences—because the design details they share have proven popular and work. Still, Deuter’s Aircontact Ultra 50+5 and 45+5 SL distinguish themselves from some competitors for their adjustable, comfortable fit and smart design details that make a difference in your experience carrying it, as I found using the Aircontact Ultra 45+5 SL on a five-day, late-summer backpacking trip in the Wind River Range and a three-day hike on the 22-mile Boulder Mail Trail-Death Hollow Loop in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in early October.

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A backpacker in the East Fork River Valley on the Wind River High Route, Wyoming.

The Wind River High Route—A Journey in Photos

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By Michael Lanza

An elegant, high-elevation, multi-day walk through a magnificent mountain range is the stuff of dreams for many backpackers, and there may be no walk better than the Wind River High Route. Traversing a range with few equals by any measure—elevations, abundance of alpine lakes and glaciers, remoteness, length and breadth, or raw splendor—the WRHR embodies everything we imagine a great hike in the mountains should be.

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The Gregory Miko 20 daypack.

Review: Gregory Miko 20 and Maya 20 Daypacks

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Daypack
Gregory Miko 20 and Maya 20
$130, 20L/1,220 c.i., 2 lbs. 1 oz./936g (men’s Miko 20)
One size each for men and women, adjustable
Miko 20: backcountry.com
Maya 20: backcountry.com

Don’t fix what ain’t broke has proven a timeless rule to follow and Gregory seems to take it to heart with the Miko and Maya, the brand’s 2023 updates of its classic Miwok and Maya. Wearing the men’s Miko on dayhikes of nearly 10 miles and 4,700 feet up and down 5,774-foot Mount Adams in New Hampshire’s rugged northern Presidential Range and a mostly off-trail dayhike-scramble of 11,330-foot Twin Peaks in Utah’s Wasatch Range that spanned eight hours with 5,200 feet of up and down, I concluded that these daypacks remain true to a successful lineage while showing subtle improvements to excellent daypacks.

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The SlingFin Hotbox tent.

Review: SlingFin Hotbox Four-Season Tent

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Ultralight Alpine/Four-Season Tent
SlingFin Hotbox
$650, 3 lbs. 9 oz.
slingfin.com

Through three cold December nights camped at over 8,000 feet in Idaho’s Boulder Mountains, snow fell hard enough that I had to dig this tent out a few times. All that cold, white smoke was great for two reasons: the backcountry skiing my kids and I did—and testing the Hotbox, SlingFin’s answer to the challenge of creating a lightweight tent built for alpine climbing and other four-season adventures.

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A backpacker above the Belly River Valley in Glacier National Park.

The Best Backpacking Trip in Glacier National Park

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By Michael Lanza

The three bighorn sheep lifted their heavily horned heads to gaze at us, but never budged from their beds of grass amid boulders on a mountainside above the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park. The mountain goats we saw on various occasions gave us little more attention than that. And fortunately, the grizzly bear sow with two cubs in tow that passed within about 30 feet of us—an encounter of less than 10 seconds that is etched into my memory forever—gave us no more than a passing glance.

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