ski touring pack reviews

The Black Diamond Dawn Patrol 32 ski touring pack.

Review: Black Diamond Dawn Patrol 32 Ski Touring Pack

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Ski Touring Pack
Black Diamond Dawn Patrol 32
$200, 30L/1,831 c.i., 2 lbs. 9 oz./1.2 kg (S/M)
Sizes: S/M and M/L (32L/1,953 c.i.)
blackdiamondequipment.com

When ski touring or riding in the backcountry, besides our skis or board, our pack becomes the piece of gear we interact with the most—and we place competing demands on a ski touring pack: We want it light and comfortable for the up and the down but to also have easy, quick access and critical organization and features. On many days of backcountry ski touring, I found the Black Diamond Dawn Patrol 32balances those demands well and excels for backcountry and side country tours that involve more minimalist capacity needs.

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The Mystery Ranch Saddle Peak ski touring pack.

Review: Mystery Ranch saddle Peak Ski Touring Pack

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Ski Touring Pack
Mystery Ranch Saddle Peak
$219, 25L/1,526 c.i., 3 lbs. (S/M)
Sizes: S/M and L/XL
backcountry.com

An all-purpose, quiver-of-one ski touring pack that crosses over from days of lift-served and side-country skiing to full days of ski touring in the backcountry can seem like a Goldilocks quest—many are either too big or too small. After days of resort skiing and ski touring in Utah’s Wasatch Range with the latest iteration of the compact and smartly designed Mystery Ranch, I’ve seen its strengths and minor shortcomings.

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Deuter Freescape 40+ ski touring and freeriding pack.

Review: Deuter Freescape 40+ and Freescape Pro 38+ SL Ski Packs

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Ski Touring-Alpine Pack
Deuter Freescape 40+
$220, 40L/2,441 c.i., 3 lb. 5 oz. (men’s)
One size
backcountry.com

Deuter Freescape Pro 38+ SL
$220, 38L/2,319 c.i., 3 lb. 5 oz. (women’s)
One size
backcountry.com

There are days skiing or riding backcountry snow or on multi-day yurt trips where you need a pack with extra space for gear, layers, food, etc., and a feature set that lets you push your adventures to another level. That’s exactly what you get with the men’s Freescape 40+ and women’s Freescape Pro 38+ SL. On numerous days of backcountry ski touring, including four days at a yurt in Idaho’s Boise Mountains, I found the Freescape offers a degree of versatility for objectives in the mountains that smaller, skiing- and riding-specific packs do not.

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