Light and fast pioneer, John Bouchard high on the Grand Charmoz, Chamonix, mid-70'sI’ve been fascinated with light outdoor gear since my first Outward Bound-type course when I was 14 years old. Miles Becker was an OB instructor who started working for a private boarding school in the Bay Area and ran OB-style courses in the North Cascades each summer for the students there. A family friend brought us together and I spent two summers with Miles when I was 14 and 15 years old in those magnificent mountains of Washington. Those two trips turned out to be some of the most formative experiences of my life.
North Cascades, 1975. Me = 95 pounds. Pack = 55 pounds. Motivation for later.Miles loved to tinker with gear. After those two trips I spent some more time with him and did my first ski tour in the Sierras in 1978. During that trip I became indoctrinated into the ethos of light and fast that has colored every trip to the mountains since. When I look back on those trips with Miles I realize just how ahead of his time he was.
Miles Becker, 1978First off, he owned a sewing machine and fabricated his own gear. I thought that was cool as shit and I finally got a machine of my own many years later. On our ski tour along the Buena Vista Crest above Glacier Point near Yosemite, Miles showed up for the 7 day trip with a home made pack that weighed exactly one pound. I shit you not. This thing carried all his stuff for a spring ski tour and, empty, wadded up into the palm of his hand. It had the modern wrap around style waist popular at the time and was frameless, of course. He honed his food down to one pound per day and we brought along an old Optimus stove on which to heat our meals. His pack, with food, weighed 22 pounds for the week.
Buena Vista Crest, Sierra Nevada, 1978He also loved pushing the limits of ski gear at the time. Inspired by the antics of Ned Gillette who skied through some huge mountains on 50mm Nordic bindings, Miles preached a similar ethic to me and I spent the week on mid-high leather boots, Nordic norm bindings and edgeless Fischer skis. The descents were desperate but we covered a bunch of ground that week and had fabulous weather.
Miles was fond of making his jackets from sailing spinnaker cloth. This stuff was light and strong and quite wind proof. He sewed anoraks with half length zippers to cut weight. He liked them long like the trendy cagoules so popular at the time. I cut off the handle of my tooth brush, cut my ski wax in half, eliminated all the stuff sacks in my pack and learned to scoff at the idea of the Ten Essentials. I became a sort of backcountry renegade, a disciple of his philosophy and I was proud.
When I joined the Army in the early 80’s, I was deeply offended by the gear I had to carry. I was no Special Forces soldier. I was just a regular grunt. 
Sp4 Harder, Wildflecken, Germany, 1985There was nothing high-speed about our equipment. I imported some of my own gear where I could, hiding stuff like polypropylene underwear under my combat fatigues. I even managed a North Face down vest one cold winter outing and my commanding officer turned a blind eye to the puffy collar protruding from my BDU top.
I spent the better part of the Eighties and early Nineties only going to the mountains rarely, becoming an obsessed cyclist instead. But when I returned to my alpine passions in ’94, I was pleased to see John Bouchard at Wild Things crafting equipment for alpinists with elegant design and lightweight in mind. He and Mark Richey took their gear and tactics to the great ranges and tested their ideas. Wild Things packs could be found on the backs of many of the great climbers of the time like Mugs Stump. I didn’t climb like Mugs but I had a cool-ass purple Wild Things Andinista like him. Interesting that Wild Things when on to filling lucrative military equipment contracts. I bet those soldiers were psyched.
Mugs Stump and his Wild Things AndinistaTruth be told, the Andinista was light but had some design quirks that needed fixing. Randy Ratclif knew that, too and decided to sew his on packs and still does at Cold Cold World. I’ve owned three of those bags over the years. Although, he sews a very solid, well-designed and trust worthy pack, I think they’re suffering from failing to keep up with more modern materials. Old habits die hard and I’m sure retooling with newer cloth would be expensive. I get it.
Pushing the limits of my Cold Cold World Chaos, Denali, 2000Most modern pack manufacturers know that weight matters to at least some of their customers. That said, the average REI shopper seems oblivious to this concept as evidenced by the bells and whistles-heavy packs hanging from the walls of many gear shops. Too many zippers, compartments and random useless features adorn many of them.
MFT setting standards and trends in other arenas these days.Packs became more complicated while alpine climbing was experiencing a refinement of style and equipment from the leaders of the day. Guys like Twight, Bouchard, Kennedy and Blanchard were handing the torch off to the next generation of envelope pushers like House, Anderson, Garibotti and Pretzl. The "single-push" and "night naked" approach to big objectives required seriously simple and light equipment.
Marco Pretzl, Vince Anderson and Steve House
When I started serious ski mountaineering, I immediately bought a Black Diamond pack. I owned several. Although they had a couple of light packs for summer use, there was nothing light about BD ski offerings. Heavy Cordura and ballistics cloth were touted like they were good things. Look. I get it. People want shit that lasts but compromises have to be made to lighten the load and speed up. Separate compartments for avy gear was also deemed necessary. More senseless weight and unnecessary features, in my opinion. Before I finally broke from the herd, I briefly owned the ubiquitous Avalung pack. Oh, ferchrissakes. More weight I’d likely not need. Sure, it adds a level of theoretical safety but I choose to ski conservatively instead. As an aside, I think using the Avalung sling "hybridded" onto your favorite pack might be an acceptable alternative for sketchy outings. It can then be removed as your avy exposure changes. But I digress…
The light finally came on when I discovered the CAMP line of packs. These Italians get it and produce the goods guys like me need to pursue skiing in the style we like. 
Dropping weight where we can. Fat skis and light packs.To this day, I think they’re the only gear company out there that is fully committed to light and fast gear for climbing and skiing. They cover the whole gambit of gear from packs to clothes to crampons, tools, harnesses and other assorted nik naks that will have you dropping serious heft from your back. And, yes, you can buy speed.
In the earlier days several years ago CAMP had some intermittent durability issues due to funky pack cloth. Honestly, I never experienced a failure but had a few friends with self-destructing packs. This was unfortunate. But the company recognized the issue and sourced better materials that are looking promising in the new batch of bags out now. With packs this simple it’s hard to change the design too much but little tweeks here and there continue to move the products in a positive direction. I remain committed.
My everyday touring pack for this winter is the CAMP X3 600 Plus. This year’s model sports improved material, a more subtle color palate and a cleaned up design. At 35 liters, it’s perfect for a big day out. Separate elastic loops in the single compartment hold your shovel handle and probe out of the way while keeping them easily accessible if needed. The shovel blade sits just fine against the back pad. 
The rest of my stuff goes in easily… first aid kit, repair kit, emergency Mylar bivy, puffy jacket and sometimes pants, followed by big gloves, a shell and some water. The lid holds my GU Energy selection for the day and maybe my extra hat and light gloves. I can usually fit a helmet on top of all this if I want.
On technical outings where tools, rope and assorted trinkets are required for the objective, the helmet goes on my head from the car and the rope can go under the lid. The only short-coming here is that it has only one “real” tool loop at the base. I’m not sure what the mini one is for on the opposite side but it’s too small to get a modern tool into. One thing I’ve noticed with these Italian designs is that there is a use for that loop but it has thus far eluded me. Maybe someone out there knows.
Crampons are best carried in the bag as there is no external fixation point for them. But let’s be realistic here. The pack is not made for climbing. But I’ll use it as such when weight really matters and I’m moving fast. Other qualities of the pack have me overlooking these small points.
Mesh pockets on either side keep layers, extra gloves, skins or other items easily accessible. Funny that when I got my first X3 600 several years ago, I cut the pockets off somehow thinking I was stripping weight. Technically, it did but this material is so light that loss of the convenience of the pockets far outweighed the few grams I shed. Zeal has its price in stupidity. Doh!
The “Backdoor” feature, a zippered access through the back panel, is missing on this pack and I’m glad. With my shovel packed there, it was hard to get to stuff in the pack that way anyway and eliminating it cut serious weight.
There’s a handy zippered pouch on the waist belt, which has been improved. Older versions were impossible to zip closed one-handed and that’s been fixed.
One of the standard features on most CAMP packs is the Xpress ski carry system that’s handed down from skimo racing allowing on-the-fly transitions from skinning to boots without removing the pack. 
2014 Pierra Menta, Arreche-Beaufort, FranceOnce you have this feature, you’ll never want a pack without it. The only drawback, perhaps, is that when multi-sport approaches are required, cycling with the skis on the side is not ideal. A diagonal attachment is best in this setting but I’ll forgive that rare need. Additionally, CAMP has switched from a ski hook to a wrap around and clip affair for more security when climbing. Hooks are still best for racing but can be precarious when banging around in chimneys while mixed climbing.
Front buckles have been fitted with a handy quick release widget that avoids fiddling with the small Fastex buckle releases with thick gloves. I’ll be curious to see how durable they are. If they fail, the normal buckle is still fully functional.
One additional feature I like is a small zippered pouch on the inside of the back panel that is handy for additional GU or other small items. 
Behind this is a single, removal metal stay weighing only 32 grams that can be removed when the zealous fiend shows himself.
When a skier looks at packs of similar size as the X3 600 Plus, it becomes obvious that you’re putting on weight before you even leave the trailhead. I don’t necessarily want to pick on Black Diamond but they’re the most popular gear company for the average American skier. The comparable-sized pack from them, the Alias, weighs in a full kilogram heavier. This includes the Avalung, of course. But with this pack or any other ski pack from them, I don’t have the choice to carry this additional feature, or not. Other models only get heavier from there.
Having options. I think this is the most important detail when trying to move faster and do more in the mountains in less time or with less effort. Every gear choice has a weight consequence. If speed and efficiency are important on a given outing, then choose every item in your pack with that in mind.