Review: Hyperlite Crux Pack
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In a Nutshell
Hyperlite’s Crux is a strong step forward for the brand in the world of ski packs, but still leaves room for improvement.
Stated Capacity: 40L (+15L expandable roll top)
Weight: 1,331 g
Size Tested: Tall
The Hyperlite Crux is available now.
Intro
This fall, Hyperlite announced that they were coming out with their second ski pack, and their first with back panel access. We covered that release here, and also hit Cody Townsend with some questions about the pack’s design and intentions, so if you’re looking for context, that’s a great place to start.
The short version is that the Crux is a 40L pack designed around objective-based skiing. It’s meant to be lightweight and easy to use, with the features you need and none that you don’t. For some great examples of the sort of skiing this pack was designed for (and just a good ski film) check out this episode of Cody’s 50 Project.
We’ve managed to get some time in the Crux this winter, so it’s time to weigh in on where it shines, and where it doesn’t.
Capacity and Sizing
The biggest strength that I see in the Crux is its sizing. Hyperlite offers it in four sizes, from Small through Tall. Their size chart makes it easy to figure out your torso length and the appropriate size. I’m on the short end of the Tall size, but I really like how it fits. I wish more brands offered expanded pack sizing, especially for folks with longer or shorter torsos. It makes a big difference in how packs fit over long days. I found the Crux to be very comfortable even while heavily loaded.
Hyperlite bills the Crux as having a 40L capacity that expands to 55L when you use the extended drawstring top. The Tall pack has a little more capacity, thanks to its size, but I would still call it a very generous 40L pack. There’s plenty of room for just about anything I can imagine bringing on a single day objective.
Features
The Crux is, by design, a fairly minimalist pack.
Starting at the top, there’s a removable “brain.” I like this brain in theory, but I don’t think the application is great here. The pocket in the brain is really small, and there’s a bunch of extra fabric that doesn’t provide any extra storage. You can fit snacks and accessories in this pocket, but goggles or anything bigger would be a tight fit.
And the hooks that attach the brain to the daisy chains on the pack have the twin honors of both being a little bit of a pain to swap on and off with gloves, and also having a tendency to come unhooked and fall off at inopportune moments. I opted to leave the brain at home for most of my skiing.
Underneath the brain is a double-decker drawstring closure system. This allows the pack to expand for bigger loads.
Again, in theory this system makes a bunch of sense. In practice, not so much. If you’re using the pack on shorter tours, where you don’t have it packed way up into this expansion zone, the extra fabric really gets in the way of this top opening. It makes it hard to get the top all the way open and access your gear inside the pack. And, unfortunately, this opening is the only way to access your avy gear.
The other access to the main pocket is through the back panel. This is built with a velcro closure at the top and two zippers down either side. You can grab the flap at the top and open the whole thing without fiddling with zippers. However, I did find that the zipper pulls had a little bit of a tendency to wedge uncomfortably between the pack and my back unless I took care in stowing them. That back panel access is fairly small, so make sure to organize your pack well.
Inside the main pocket are sleeves for your avy gear. On the “Tall” sized pack I’ve been using, they are very, very long. My probe falls down into its sleeve, so that I have to reach five or six inches in to grab it, while my shovel handle hangs suspended in its sleeve, the same distance from the bottom of the pack.
On the outside of the Crux, there are compression straps that also work for a ski A-frame carry, as well as pockets for pickets or anything else you might need to carry. These are a nice touch.
You can buy a diagonal ski carry system separately, or use ski straps to lock onto the included daisy chains.
The back of the pack features two daisy chains, storage for two ice axes, and a nice big stretchy pocket. This pocket is great for skins, a rap line, or anything else you want to stuff away quickly.
The Crux’s waist belt is removable and features a large pocket on one side and a gear loop on the other. The sternum strap is adjustable along a daisy chain, and the internal frame is removable.
In Use
At the beginning of every ski season I like to get out and do a day of avalanche rescue drills, building up from relatively simple, low pressure single beacon scenarios, to timed multiple burials, with the goal of honing my rescue systems. So my first day in the Crux was spent running around a flat meadow, refreshing my beacon, shovel, and probe skills. I’ve found that doing these sorts of drills is a great way to get to know a pack, since I end up loading and unloading essential gear a bunch of times quickly, and generally just use the pack a lot more in a day than I would carrying it to the top of something, transitioning, and carrying it back down.
Unfortunately, that first day in the Crux revealed a lot of weaknesses. But first, the strengths: It carries really, really well. This is the most comfortable 40L ski pack for my body that I’ve ever used. It’s quite nice, even loaded down. And I really like the external stretchy pocket and daisy chains. They make it really easy to carry things like an extra layer or your helmet close at hand.
But otherwise, I was pretty frustrated by the Crux. First, the brain kept falling off. The little hooks kept coming out of their webbing loops, leaving it hanging jauntily off the back. But still, somehow, when I wanted them to come off, they left my gloved fingers stymied. Not great when you’re trying to beat the clock and access your shovel.
The pocket in the brain is tiny and sort of useless anyway, so I took it off and stuffed it in the pack.
That made it a little easier to access my tools, but not easy enough. There’s a billowing sea of fabric between you and your gear with no way to stow it. I don’t think the double decker drawstring closure is well executed here. There’s so much extra crap falling into the way, with no good way to roll it up or stuff it away. I found myself cursing every time I opened up the top of the pack. And I had to do that a lot, because, as we’ll get to later, the back panel is small and a bit of a pain to operate.
And then, once I’d waded through the loose bedsheets of fabric, and found the right slot for my probe, I had to noodle deep into the slot it lived in to pull it out. Not the end of the world, but given how much frustration I’d already been through, this felt like a bit of a cherry on top.
All that to say, I don’t think the avy gear stowage in the Crux is very good. I also don’t think most skiers train for realistic avalanche scenarios enough, and thus, won’t care as much as I do about this feature. But if I was burried, I would not want my partner to have to go through the song and dance routine to get to their gear that I experienced with the Crux.
It’s great that Hyperlite included the zippered back panel access on this pack, but it doesn't feel very well executed. It’s small (11”x6”) and kind of hard to open and close. The option to grab the top and rip it open is nice in theory, but less great in reality. And all the panels are really stiff, so just opening one side to slide things in and out doesn’t work very well. It’s sort of an all-or-nothing opening.
There’s no mesh pocket on the inside of that back panel, so you need to have your own stuff sacks or storage options for smaller things inside the pack.
And once you do get it open, it really wants to close again. And it has stick velcro on the end, so it wants to stick closed, or stick to anything soft in your pack. I found myself using some creative profanity as the velcro grabbed onto my midlayer when I fumbled inside for my spare glasses. When you close it back up, make sure to stow the large zipper pulls so that they don’t jam into your back.
I think the Crux is a great pack, until you take it off your pack and have to access the things inside it. It carries so well. The daisy chains, stretchy pocket, and waist belt pocket are all awesome. But dang, getting into the pack is a bit of a pain, especially given that the whole point of this pack is to provide easier access to your gear when you’re in precarious situations.
So, for skiers or objectives where you’re not planning on getting in and out of your pack much, the Crux makes sense. But otherwise, prepare to be patient with its access points.
Price and Value
At $499, the Crux is not cheap. However, for the sort of skiers it’s aimed at, who are focused on weight and performance above all else, it could make sense. And it is on sale right now for $399, which puts it in line with Raide’s LF 40. Where I see it especially standing out is to folks with torsos on either end of the traditional sizing spectrum. For the quite short, or very tall, this could be a bit of a game-changing pack. But for the rest of us, in terms of pure bang for your buck, there are stronger options, including the Raide LF 40 (review coming soon.)
What sort of skiers will get along well with the Hyperlite Crux?
After using the Crux, it feels easiest to recommend to folks who will benefit from Hyperlite’s extended sizing. Having a pack that fits well makes a huge difference. However, if you prioritize easy access to your avy gear, or honestly, to most of the contents of your pack, there are better options available.
