The Finest Ski Backpacks of 2023

For skiers, snowmobilers, and splitboarders, backpacks carry avalanche rescue tools that can save lives. Other times, they just carry a few energy bars and a water bottle or an extra pair of mittens. Picking the right pack for your day on the slopes depends a lot on the mission at hand.

While most packs have a lot in common — namely, shoulder straps and a central zippered compartment — they differ wildly in size, weight, and how much they’ll comfortably carry. Packs these days are incredibly well-made. Materials are built to last, seams are heat-welded or bar-tacked, and buckles only break if they’re abused.

Across many winter seasons, we have tested dozens and dozens of ski packs that are available now. Testers have racked up hundreds of ski days (at resorts, in the backcountry, and on ski hut trips) in Canada, the U.S., Japan, and Europe.

To find the best ski backpacks, we ascended and skied Oregon’s Mt. Hood and Washington’s Mt. Adams, ski and splitboard mountaineered in the Rocky Mountains, and scrambled up snow-covered peaks in the Dolomites. We’ve steered backcountry snowmobiles to reach the base of peaks and couloirs and joined skimo races, too.

While not every top-notch ski and snowboard pack made our list, we can assure you this guide includes excellent designs across a range of volumes and styles. These packs serve a spectrum of objectives for various types of skiers, riders, and sledders.

For more help choosing the best ski backpack for the season, check out the details behind pack designs in our buyer’s guide at the bottom of this article, as well as our comparison chart. If you still have questions, take a look at our list of frequently asked questions.

Otherwise, you can scroll through to see all of our recommended buys or jump to the category you’re looking for:

The Best Ski Backpacks of 2023

Best of the Rest

Ski Backpack Comparison Chart

Why You Should Trust Us

Our GearJunkie gear testing team includes a range of skiers and splitboarders from intermediate to expert who explore inbounds ski areas across the United States — from the West to East Coast and around the Rocky Mountains. Our testers also travel around the U.S. and overseas, venture into the backcountry, hike uphill at the resort, and use off-trail snowmobiles to play in and access out-there terrain.

Among our testers, Snowsports Senior Editor Morgan Tilton started alpine skiing in her backyard at Telluride Ski Resort at age 4, followed closely by learning to snowboard. Thirteen years ago, she completed her first AIARE 1 course and continues to pursue backcountry certifications and exploration today by splitboard, off-trail snowmobile, and skis. (She’s thankful the industry now makes stellar splitboards, breaking the need to snowshoe with a solid board on her back.)

Throughout our field tests and personal experience, we determined the best ski backpacks based on a variety of metrics including fit adjustment, ergonomics, gear carry options, hydration compatibility, ease of use, organization from compartments to pockets, access, load placement, comfort, hip belt and shoulder strap design, performance, quality, durability, and value. These ski backpacks serve a range of athletes, applications, volume of gear, and budgets.

Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose the Best Ski Backpack

The trick to deciding what pack to buy is knowing what you’re going to use it for.

Do you want something small and compact you can carry for a quick uphill session at the ski hill after work? Or do you need a spacious, weight-bearing pack for an overnight hut trip or a weeklong summit snag with a remote basecamp?

Then, think about feature sets and overall capacity. Will you be carrying ice tools? A ski mountaineering axe? Crampons? Will you be on a splitboard or skis and what type? Will you be in-bounds only?

In your terrain, will you need avalanche safety equipment? Do you have room for all the necessary layers, enough food and water, and a tailored first aid emergency kit? Do you need to carry a radio? Do you prefer to drink water through a bottle or hydration bladder?

These are a handful of the questions you should ask as you consider the best ski backpack for your needs.

Types of Ski Backpacks

A wide variety of ski backpacks exist. Depending on your objectives and the terrain you’ll be in, you might want a pack that’s lightweight and simplified for in-bounds use or uphill sessions at a ski area. Or, you might need a streamlined, minimalist pack for fast and light training and skimo races.

If you’re heading into the backcountry, the ski or snowboard backpack you choose will have unique features. Namely, there will be a dedicated compartment with pockets for your avalanche safety gear: shovel and probe.

There will also be a helmet carry and radio integration via sleeves on the shoulder straps and, on some packs, an elastic loop on the chest strap to secure the mic.

Other backcountry packs offer greater capacity, enhanced back and shoulder support, and special organizational features for ski and splitboard mountaineering or multiday backcountry tours.

Size & Capacity

It’s important to match the pack size to your body shape and size. You don’t want a pack that’s too big or it will shift around. Nor will it be comfortable if it’s too snug.

Pack capacity is a personal choice, dependent on whether you go fast and light or you’re the type of person who wants or needs room for plenty of gear.

In general, sub-20 L packs are ideal for resort skiing and riding, uphilling, or skimo races. Some of these compact packs even have a ski and snowboard carry, which is a nice feature for hike-to in-bounds terrain.

A pack from 20 to 35 L that can haul more is ideal for side-country, backcountry, and gear-intensive trips. A few of the packs in that house include the Thule Upslope 35 L, and Mountain Hardwear Powabunga 32.

Some pack designs in the 30 L to 35 L realm are designed to support ski and splitboard mountaineering expeditions like the BCA Stash 30.

Packs from 40 to 50 L are more stout for backcountry overnight missions and hut trips as well as mixed alpine and mountaineering ascents.

The leanest pack among our top picks is the 16 L Dynafit DNA 16 for skimo races and uphill workouts. The beefiest load-carrying pack is the Eddie Bauer Alpine Sisu 50, a 50 L animal for backcountry tours, mountaineering, overnighters, and hut trips.

Suspension & Carry Comfort

Suspension refers to the shoulder straps, hip belt, and frame sheet. Generally, the bigger the backpack, the more weight you can carry. And more weight requires a more sophisticated suspension system for comfortable carry.

Shoulder straps are generally padded to help cushion your shoulders from the weight. They also help disperse the weight from the pack.

New materials provide cushioning with less bulk. Most modern shoulder straps are a combination of dense foam and breathable mesh. The more weight a pack is designed to carry, the more robust the foam in the shoulder straps.

Hip belts are designed to help keep the pack from swinging around on your back. Packs that will carry 20 pounds or more need some sort of padded hip belt to help transfer weight to the hip bones.

Most hip belts are made of the same dense foam as shoulder straps. They’re built to snugly wrap around your iliac crest so the weight of your load is dispersed between your shoulders, back, and hips.

Torso Length

This is the distance (generally in inches) between the top of your shoulder to the top of your hip bone (iliac crest). Most packs fit torsos from about 16 to 20 inches.

If you have a very short or very tall back, you need to do some research into manufacturers’ recommendations. Fortunately, most packs come in small/medium, large/XL, or small/medium/large sizing.

And with shoulder strap adjustments and load-lifter straps, you can generally get 2 to 4 inches of adjustment out of any pack. Plus, some manufacturers make packs with back panels that have adjustable lengths. In most cases, this is done by moving the shoulder straps up or down the back panel or moving the hip belt up.

Women’s-Specific Packs

Most of our top choices for ski pack designs are unisex or men’s, which can work fine for many riders and skiers regardless of their sex. That said, everyone’s body is unique. Some women swear by women’s-specific packs. If you generally have a smaller frame, consider checking out a women’s-specific ski pack.

Compared to men’s or unisex packs, a women’s pack is constructed based on the average size of female bodies. The back length is shorter, and the carrying system — the hip belt and shoulder straps — hugs a narrower body figure. The hip belt is also made in a conical shape, which sits more comfortably on the hips.

Materials

Modern materials are unbelievably tough. It’s really difficult to wear a hole in a pack when it’s used correctly.

Abrasion is most likely to occur on the bottom of a pack. This is more common in packs hauling heavy loads of solid gear but naturally happens from setting the pack down on various terrain from rocks to ice or snow.

Packs designed for carrying ice-climbing equipment will generally have a padded bottom. This keeps sharp objects from poking through the bottom of the pack when you set it on a hard, rocky surface.

These specialty packs often use durable material in places where you attach an axe or crampons. Ski packs also have reinforced attachment points so sharp ski edges don’t cut into the pack.

Organization

A major differentiator between ski and snowboard pack styles is whether or not there’s a designated compartment for avalanche safety equipment — the shovel and probe. That design component is essential for backcountry and side-country recreationists because efficiency and organization are critical and life-saving.

Many ski and snowboard packs have an internal sleeve for a hydration bladder and a sleeve to route the hose but not all sleeves are insulated. Beware — the water in your hose can freeze. To be proactive, you can blow the water back through the hose after each sip, but it can help to get a proper pack, too.

Pockets add weight but are nice to keep everything in place. Again, efficiency is key when we are playing outdoors in cold, gusty, snowy elements.

We appreciate at least one spacious hip belt pocket if not two. These are handy if you want to keep snacks, sunscreen stick or sunscreen chapstick, slope angle reader, straps, or glove liners handy. Most packs for backcountry or front-country use have a softly-lined goggle pocket and ski helmet carry, too.

Packs with one or two oblong pockets toward the top-front of the pack offer an easy-to-access placement for quickly grabbing items like a google lens, sunglasses, snack, ice scraper, rub-on skin wax, compact phone, or satellite communication device. Pockets that are buried deep inside the primary compartment are not ideal, because we typically need to dig through a pile of items to reach what we’ve stashed.

Ski and Snowboard Carry

Many ski backpacks have a ski-carry system — which can be used for skis or splitboard skis — and potentially one for snowboard carry, too.

Generally, backcountry skis — or a splitboard — can be attached to a ski pack via an A-frame setup, which many travelers feel is well balanced. The caveat? An a-frame carry cannot be used with packs that are set up for an airbag deploy. The other ski option carry is diagonal. Some pack designs feature straps for both of these arrangements. Other packs also provide a solid snowboard carry that is either vertical or horizontal.

Most of the time, how you carry your skis, split skis, or snowboard is a personal preference, but terrain management can also influence your choice, especially for split boarders. For instance, if you’re bootpacking a backcountry ridge or short hike-to at the resort, you might not prefer a vertical snowboard carry if the tail is digging into your calves between steps. However, if you are bootpacking a steep slope that will not top out with enough space to transition from split to solid, or rappelling into the start of the descent, you might need to strap your assembled solid splitboard to the back of your pack.

You’ll want to be sure to practice clipping your skis, split skis, or snowboard onto your bag before you head to the backcountry to make sure you know how the strap arrangement functions. Be sure to pull on your pack to make sure your gear isn’t smacking the back of your calves or head.

Compartment Access

Snowsport packs often have back-panel access via a U-shaped zipper that lets you fold back the entire back panel like a clamshell. This method of entry is handy if you’re going to throw your pack down in the snow when you open it up. This way, your shoulder straps and back panel stand a better chance of staying dry and not soaking up water.

This design is also a convenient way to access gear that’s sitting in a certain quadrant of your pack without needing to unload all the goods into the snow or wind.

Some packs have front access through a large U-shaped zipper. Other designs blend the two entries with both a front and back-panel entry, which is super helpful. A handful of designs are top-loaders or have a roll-top closure.

Extra Ski Pack Features

Additional pack details range from a helmet carry system — usually, a pouch or pocket that’s removable, stashable, or compressible — to a hydration sleeve for a bladder and an arm sleeve to protect the hose.

Compression sleeves are really nice for hugging a load and making it more streamlined. Load-lift straps are also key for adjusting how the pack sits on your shoulders and back, a fit that changes throughout the day due to adding or pulling out gear from inside the pack. Some packs also have external and internal gear carriers — that are fixed, removable, or adaptable — for ice tools, an ice axe, poles, crampons, or a rope.

FAQ