I guess it depends what type of touring your doing. A litte 20 litre pack would do for day tours, maybe bigger if you wanted to take mountaineeringh kit. For multidays it would depend on if you had to take food etc or were using catered huts. I'm sure i've heard of folk doing the haute route with very small packs; any bigger and you just tend to take more crap, and the skiing gets harder!
I've got a 20L NorthFace Summit series pack and find its perfect for 1-2 days. You can fit the essential spare clothing plus safty equipment (shovel probe etc.) along with a couple of sandwichs and its not too bulky.
Re Junglejammer if you get too big for short trips I find myself stuffing it with usless crap that becomes a pain to lug around all day.
If you're planning on doing any walking, my life changed with the vertical ski carry! makes such a difference!!
Yeah, I agree 20L is about right though I've got a nice Salewa 30L - the straps let you pack it down really nicely so most of the time it 'feels' like a really small bag but when you need to you can actually get a fair bit in it. Most of the time I just have a shovel and probe and a couple of muesli bars in it, but if I'm skinning I can still fit a small first aid kit, headtorch, skins, harscheissen, crampons, axe, and a spare thermal in it. I have used it when on glaciers too though when you start wanting to add a small rope, glacier kit, extra jacket and stuff it starts bursting at the seams so I usually use a slightly bigger bag for that. Be interesting to hear what other people pack...
Backpack kit list for non-glaciated, non-technical day tours: shovel, probe, map/compass/gps, ski crampons, dry thermal, food & juice (not much!), small firstaid & headtorch
For non-glaciated, technical tours (i.e. more ski mountaineering than touring): add light crampons and axe. I've got a couple of different weights of axes depending on how technical its likely to be.
For glaciated: add 8mm 30m rope, plus crevasse kit (sometimes the crampons and even the axe get left out depending on what I'm doing). lightweight harness.
I've just changed to a GoLite bag - its actually pretty big but packs down really nicely so it does a good job as a day/resort bag and as a longer tour sack. Plus it weighs hardly anything!
For me a 20L DaKine backy is perfect - its great on the days when all i have is shovel & probe and copes really well with the most I ever ski with. The carrying system (diagonal) annoys me a bit but its actually not that often that I'm carrying anyway - its usually short bootpacks where i end up just having skis on my shoulder to be first to the pow pow anyway!!
I've got an Ortovox Haute Route and I'm very pleased with it... Safety kit specific pockets in bright red, loads of room inside, pockets on the hipbelt which is super comfy... the straps let it be strapped down alot smaller than its max size.
Re: Backpack for ski touring
Posted Mon, 03/28/2011 - 19:30I guess it depends what type of touring your doing. A litte 20 litre pack would do for day tours, maybe bigger if you wanted to take mountaineeringh kit. For multidays it would depend on if you had to take food etc or were using catered huts. I'm sure i've heard of folk doing the haute route with very small packs; any bigger and you just tend to take more crap, and the skiing gets harder!
Re: Backpack for ski touring
Posted Tue, 01/10/2012 - 14:29I've got a 20L NorthFace Summit series pack and find its perfect for 1-2 days. You can fit the essential spare clothing plus safty equipment (shovel probe etc.) along with a couple of sandwichs and its not too bulky.
Re Junglejammer if you get too big for short trips I find myself stuffing it with usless crap that becomes a pain to lug around all day.
If you're planning on doing any walking, my life changed with the vertical ski carry! makes such a difference!!
Re: Backpack for ski touring
Posted Tue, 01/10/2012 - 14:43Yeah, I agree 20L is about right though I've got a nice Salewa 30L - the straps let you pack it down really nicely so most of the time it 'feels' like a really small bag but when you need to you can actually get a fair bit in it. Most of the time I just have a shovel and probe and a couple of muesli bars in it, but if I'm skinning I can still fit a small first aid kit, headtorch, skins, harscheissen, crampons, axe, and a spare thermal in it. I have used it when on glaciers too though when you start wanting to add a small rope, glacier kit, extra jacket and stuff it starts bursting at the seams so I usually use a slightly bigger bag for that. Be interesting to hear what other people pack...
Re: Backpack for ski touring
Posted Wed, 01/11/2012 - 12:04Backpack kit list for non-glaciated, non-technical day tours: shovel, probe, map/compass/gps, ski crampons, dry thermal, food & juice (not much!), small firstaid & headtorch
For non-glaciated, technical tours (i.e. more ski mountaineering than touring): add light crampons and axe. I've got a couple of different weights of axes depending on how technical its likely to be.
For glaciated: add 8mm 30m rope, plus crevasse kit (sometimes the crampons and even the axe get left out depending on what I'm doing). lightweight harness.
Re: Backpack for ski touring
Posted Wed, 01/11/2012 - 20:15I've just changed to a GoLite bag - its actually pretty big but packs down really nicely so it does a good job as a day/resort bag and as a longer tour sack. Plus it weighs hardly anything!
Re: Backpack for ski touring
Posted Fri, 01/13/2012 - 17:26For me a 20L DaKine backy is perfect - its great on the days when all i have is shovel & probe and copes really well with the most I ever ski with. The carrying system (diagonal) annoys me a bit but its actually not that often that I'm carrying anyway - its usually short bootpacks where i end up just having skis on my shoulder to be first to the pow pow anyway!!
Re: Backpack for ski touring
Posted Thu, 01/26/2012 - 00:33I've got an Ortovox Haute Route and I'm very pleased with it... Safety kit specific pockets in bright red, loads of room inside, pockets on the hipbelt which is super comfy... the straps let it be strapped down alot smaller than its max size.