The ULA Circuit is likely one of the hottest thru-hiking and backpacking packs obtainable as we speak. It’s a traditional ultralight fashion pack with an open entrance mesh pocket, a roll-top closure, a spacer mesh again panel behind the shoulder straps, and huge aspect water bottle pockets. My favourite function of the pack is its huge hip belt, customary on ULA’s in a single day packs, which gives wonderful load-to-hip switch and a few vertical adjustability so you’ll be able to dial in an excellent match. For an entire breakdown of the options of the ULA Circuit, see the ULA 24 Ultra Circuit Review I wrote early this 12 months for the blow-by-blow. The solely distinction between the Ultra Circuit and the Robic Nylon Circuit I consider beneath for winter use is the material the packs are made with.
Specs at a Glance
- Total Capacity: 68L
- Closed Capacity: 47L /2900 cubic inches (fundamental physique and extension collar)
- Max advisable load: 35 lbs
- Pack Body: Robic Nylon, Spacer Mesh
- Weight: 37.3 oz / 1038 g
ULA contacted me to ask whether or not I’d evaluate the suitability of the Circuit for winter backpacking since that’s one thing we’ve been doing at SectionHiker.com and writing about for a very long time. Now, winter backpacking means a variety of various things to completely different individuals by way of climate situations and gear wants, so let’s get particular.
Winter Backpacking and Packing Requirements
Three-season backpacking or thru-hiking is often carried out in snug climate, with good beta on the subject of path situations and water sources. But that’s not the case with winter backpacking the place there’s a lot much less certainty about what you’ll encounter. Temperatures are normally beneath freezing, winter days have a lot much less daylight, most water sources are frozen and it’s troublesome to foretell what backcountry path situations will probably be like by way of snow depth or ice.
Weather situations also can fluctuate extensively, particularly at elevation, the place excessive wind speeds and wind chill improve the hazard of frostbite or hypothermia until you carry additional insulation and face safety. You ought to count on to make frequent layer adjustments to keep away from overheating and sweating, however it’s vital to attenuate stopping to keep away from turning into chilled since you’re not transferring. Winter meals necessities are additionally considerably completely different as a result of winter backpacking makes use of roughly twice the variety of energy as non-winter mountaineering. Since you’ll be able to’t eat all of the energy you’ll want in the course of the day at breakfast or lunch, it’s vital to snack very continuously and to have your meals simply accessible so you’ll be able to eat on the transfer.
From a packing perspective, which means you need to carry much more weight by way of meals, water, and gasoline. You’ll wish to carry extra sleep insulation, dry clothes, and a number of pairs of gloves, and hats as a result of it’s troublesome to dry clothes within the chilly. Finally, you’ll be able to count on to hold a number of very cumbersome objects that may’t match inside your pack like snowshoes, a foam sleeping pad to sit down on when melting snow and cooking, traction aids like microspikes, and in lots of instances extra gear together with crampons, an ice axe, avalanche shovel, climbing gear, or ski gear. This extra gear can necessitate switching to a winter backpack that may carry extra weight, has extra closed storage and entry strategies, and has higher exterior attachment factors for carrying cumbersome gear.
Desirable Winter Backpack Features
Winter-specific backpacks and three-season backpacks which are simple to make use of for winter backpacking include options that make it simple to hold and entry winter-specific gear.
For instance:
- A prime lid pocket is nearly vital for winter use since it may well maintain additional gloves, hats, goggles, and face safety that you really want prepared entry to in the course of the day with out having to open the primary compartment of your backpack to entry them.
- A floating prime lid is an actual asset as a result of it may be used to carry gear piled on prime of the primary pack bag in place like a coil of rope, a sleeping pad, a tent physique, and even snowshoes.
- Numerous exterior attachment factors like dual-side compression straps with glove-friendly buckles are good for carrying cumbersome gear or objects with sharp factors like a foam sleeping pad, a shovel, snowshoes, or crampons. You can’t put these things contained in the backpack as a result of they’ll take up an excessive amount of house, they will’t match, or they’ll be lined in snow and ice (as you turn between them) and also you don’t them making all of your different gear moist.
- Bottom sleeping pad straps for lasting a pad or tent physique to the bottom of a pack are helpful.
- Daisy chains are exterior gear loops for clipping objects to the surface of a backpack from additional webbing straps and exterior pockets to insulated water bottle sleeves.
- An exterior crampon pocket makes it simple to hold microspikes or crampons in order that they’re simply accessible whereas holding the sharp factors away out of your physique and different gear in case you fall.
- Side zippers allow you to entry or stash insulation layers in the primary compartment with out having to open the highest. This is very useful on a high-volume backpack over 70L in quantity.
- Ice axe loops and shaft holders to safe axes to the surface of the pack.
- A hipbelt with an enormous heart buckle that doesn’t fill with snow and can be utilized whereas sporting gloves.
- A snowshedding again panel and hipbelt padding
How Easy is the Circuit to Use for Winter Backpacking?
If your model of winter backpacking resembles the winter backpacking necessities I checklist above, the Circuit is awkward to make use of, significantly when in comparison with winter-specific backpacks just like the Osprey Mutant 52 or the Black Diamond Mission 75. Other light-weight backpacks just like the Granite Gear Blaze 60 or the Granite Gear Crown3 60 are additionally considerably simpler to make use of as a result of they’ve twin compression straps on three sides and optionally available floating lid prime pockets than can deployed over their rolltop pack baggage, so you will have the perfect of each worlds relying on the season. (See Also: 10 Best Winter Backpacking Packs)
That’s to not say that you simply couldn’t hack the Circuit with third-party webbing straps to create higher attachment factors, however the present pack design remains to be restricted in that regard as we focus on beneath.
Mesh again panel and hipbelt padding
The Circuit’s again panel and the within of the hipbelt are lined with a porous mesh that picks up snow while you put the pack down. This melts in your clothes while you put the pack on and makes it moist, which could be very undesirable in winter.
Hipbelt
When you set the Circuit hipbelt on it’s worthwhile to tighten it by pulling on 4 webbing straps that rigidity the belt utilizing ladder locks. This can solely be carried out by eradicating your gloves in winter since you want a wonderful diploma of dexterity to seize the ends of the webbing. An easier hipbelt with a a lot beefier heart buckle that doesn’t clog with snow is extra fascinating.
No exterior closed pockets
All of the storage on the Circuit is in the primary pack bag, so there’s no place to place additional gloves, mittens, hats, goggles, or face safety contained in the pack with out stopping, opening the pack bag, and retrieving these things. You can’t put the within the entrance mesh pocket as a result of they’ll get moist there and turn out to be ineffective. While you’ll be able to put snacks into the hip belt pockets, they’re not massive sufficient to carry this additional accent clothes. The solely various is so as to add a big third celebration chest pack hooked up to the entrance shoulder straps.
Snowshoes
The most effective solution to carry snowshoes is alongside the perimeters of a backpack, near your hips. This is straightforward to do with backpacks which have dual-side compression straps with glove-friendly side-release buckles. Unfortunately, the Circuit solely has one aspect compression strap, that closes with a glove-unfriendly ladder lock and a brief webbing strap that’s solely barely lengthy sufficient to safe a foam pad to the aspect of the pack with one finish in a aspect pocket. There’s additionally no means so as to add your personal aspect straps as a result of there are not any gear loops sewn into the vertical rear seams alongside the aspect of the again panel.
Assessment
If you’re in search of a backpack that may span four-season use and your winter situations dovetail with those described above, I wouldn’t advocate getting the ULA Circuit. It’s simply not arrange for versatile winter backcountry use. It’s wonderful in the event you solely want to hold microspikes or crampons over a brief snow-covered part of path, however it’s not simple to pack when you need to carry quite a lot of snowshoes and mountaineering instruments for any size of time. I additionally don’t suppose it’s actually price making an attempt to reengineer the Circuit to be four-season prepared. There are simply too many function and structural adjustments required that it’d in all probability be extra expeditious to design a wholly new pack on the pre-existing Circuit or the bigger ULA Catalyst body.
I hope this evaluation was no less than helpful to offer you a style of what to search for in a winter-capable backpacking pack and tips to packs, together with light-weight backpacks, that may span four-season use.
Disclosure: ULA donated a Circuit backpack for this text.
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