Gregory Targhee Pack
Integrating a ski and board carry system into a backcountry pack was genuinely new when this was written, and it is now simply how these packs are built, which is the highest compliment a design gets.
What to look for in a touring pack now:
- A-frame and diagonal ski carry, or a vertical board carry, riggable without taking the pack off. You will always be doing this in wind.
- A dedicated avalanche tool pocket with its own front access that takes a shovel blade and probe. Digging past your lunch for a shovel is the scenario the design exists to prevent.
- 30 to 35 litres for touring, 18 to 25 for lift-served days. Bigger rides badly on a chairlift and gets filled.
- A helmet carry and somewhere for wet skins that is not against your dry layers.
The big change since this review: avalanche airbag packs went mainstream, and the battery-and-fan systems largely replaced compressed-gas canisters because you can fly with them and practise a deployment without paying for a refill. If you tour regularly, that is where the money now goes, ahead of any feature above.
And the thing that no pack provides: a beacon, a shovel, a probe, the practice to use all three inside a few minutes, and the judgement to not be on that slope. The pack carries the safety equipment; it is not the safety equipment.
Worth noting that Black Diamond's AvaLung packs, the other option at the time, were discontinued and several models recalled in 2011 over air-intake tubing that could crack in the cold.
Part of the guide to backpacks and daypacks.