When the going gets narrow, and the temperament of the terrain is always abrasive, the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 40-liter pack is built to play rough.
Imported.
| Size | White | Black |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 842 g (1 lb. 13.7 oz.) | 921 g (2 lbs. 0.5 oz.) |
| Medium | 879 g (1 lb. 15 oz.) | 950 g (2 lbs. 1.5 oz.) |
| Large | 916 g (2 lbs. 0.3 oz.) | 978 g (2 lbs. 2.5 oz.) |
| Tall | 930 g (2 lbs. 0.8 oz.) | 989 g (2 lbs. 2.9 oz.) |
| Best Use | Backpacking |
|---|---|
| Frame Type | Internal Frame |
| Ultralight | Yes |
| Gear Capacity (L) | 40 liters |
| Gear Capacity (cu. in.) | 2,400 cubic inches |
| Weight | S: 2 lbs. 0.5 oz. (Black); 1 lb. 13.7 oz. (White) L: 2 lbs. 2.5 oz. (Black); 2 lbs. 0.3 oz. (White) Tall: 2 lbs. 2.9 oz. (Black); 2 lbs. 0.8 oz. (White) |
| Fits Torso Length (in.) | S: 15-17 inches L: 19-21 inches Tall: 22+ inches |
| Fits Waist/Hips | S: 26.5-49 inches L: 29.5-52 inches Tall: 29.5-52 inches |
| Material(s) | Dyneema composite (Black colorway: 150-denier; White colorway: 50-denier) |
| Frame Material | Aluminum |
| Number of Stays | 2 |
| Reservoir Compatible | Yes |
| Pack Access | Top |
| Number of Exterior Pockets | 3 |
| Raincover Included | No |
| Hipbelt Pockets | Yes |
| Dimensions | S: Height: 31 in.; back width: 12 in.; top circumference: 39 in.; bottom circumference: 34 in. L: Height: 33 in.; back width: 12 in.; top circumference: 39 in.; bottom circumference: 34 in. Tall: Height: 33 in.; back width: 12 in.; top circumference: 39 in.; bottom circumference: 34 in. |
| Gender | Unisex |
Types of packs
Backpacking packs can be 30 to 70-plus liters. To choose the right capacity, consider trip duration and the gear you’ll bring.
Backpack features
Think about the frame type, location of important pockets, padding and ventilation, among other things.
Backpack fit
Your pack should be correctly sized for your torso length (not overall height) and hip circumference. A fit-expert at an REI store can help.
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Love. Love. Love. I consider myself a medium weight hiker. My base weight is about 12 lbs and my food weight is about 2 lb/day. I have a 17" torso and opted for the small 2400. This pack fits like a dream. Doesn't have load lifters because it doesnt need them. Load lifters are an excuse for companies to cheap out on design/manufacturing costs and make a pack that "fits" a wider range of torsos but sacrifices comfort. Hmg offers 4 torso sizes. Osprey and gregory offer 2-3. Love that it doesnt have a huge frame to hit me in the back of the head. Feels like a part of my body when scrambling. Stays are comfy and transfer weight to hips. Up to 25 lb I barely even notice I have this thing on. 25-30 I notice it and theres more pressure in my shoulders than I like, but doable. 40 lbs is doable if its an emergency but I wouldn't choose to do this for more than maybe 15 miles. I recommend this pack for people who have their base weight dialed in, and it is under 15 lb. I am a woman with a small frame and havent been bothered by the unisex straps. Because it fits well I dont have too much pressure on my shoulders. And the straps are thin so they break in and conform to you shape. I dont love the compression straps. Theyre pretty useless unless using it as a day pack. Wish they went under the pockets. But with all my overnight gear I hardly need them. Internal compartment is like 28 liters while external pockets add 10. The back isnt breathable but I dont do the trampoline style anyway so its not been an issue for me. If you're deciding between 2400 and 3400..The only difference between 2400 and 3400 of same size is extra fabric at top of tube. So any all that excess gear you want to carry will be over head. Still. A nice option if you have to hike your friends gear out. Bottom line. Very rugged, durable, well designed and well manufactured pack. Looking forward to many years with this friend and very happy with my purchase.
This is a very specific backpack. I needed one for hiking the West Highland Way in Scotland, but I’m sure it’s not suitable for that kind of trekking. Maybe I’d use it for mountain climbs where it’s always damp and cold, but I’m not certain. The fabric feels like thick polyethylene. It’s very lightweight. A major drawback is the lack of back support. The chest strap also doesn’t provide any real support. It’s well made, but it’s not worth the money.
I switched from the ULA Circuit last year to the Hyperlite 2400 Southwest this year and am so happy! Not only is the pack 11oz lighter, it also carries the weight better on my hips (even without load lifters). It is rough and tough scrambling through trees and brush and definitely is water resistant, as I fell in a couple of river crossings this summer with no water seeping in. There were only a couple of tears on the pouch, which I patched up easily with my sleeping pad patch. Only drawback with minimal weight, is the hip belt is not so padded (so on a slim person it can be annoying ... but fine when I had on my fleece).
What a difference a pack can make on difficult climbs. The Hyperlite Mountain Gear 2400 Southwest is not just tough enough for the rocky canyons of the American Southwest its named after, it can handle the White Mountains in winter. The Dyneema tube and exterior pockets are tough enough to stand up to the sharps on snowshoes, micro spikes, axes and crampons. Its simple design and minimalist, but effective, components lend itself to reliability in a cold environment without sacrificing comfort and load carrying capability. The wide straps and friction buckles are large enough to be manipulated in the cold with gloves on. Forget the bells and whistles, this pack doesn't need them to perform flawlessly.
Purchased this pack a few years back after spending quite a while dialing down my gear in anticipation of some longer backpacking trips, and got to truly put it through its paces this summer on my thru hike of the Long Trail. In a very short summary, it's as close to a masterpiece as a backpack can be. But to elaborate further, I decided to list out some specific pros and cons. Pros: - Bombproof. This thing absolutely does not quit. As anyone who has done the long trail knows, there's a lot of fairly technical parts where your pack makes contact with rocks, roots, etc. After 270 miles of abuse, this thing looks like it did the day I got it...except now the white DCF is no longer quite so white. But especially compared to certain other UL pack brands that may or may not start with Z, the build quality on this thing is nothing short of sensational. Not a single seam, zipper, strap, or stitch has loosened or degraded in any way, and I know for a fact this thing can and will survive many, many more miles on trail. It might not be *the* absolute lightest UL pack out there, but in terms of material and build quality you'd be hard pressed to find something that manages to be this light while being so tough. In terms of dollars per mile, especially for someone who does a lot of hiking in technical environments, I genuinely cannot think of anything on the market which would outperform this pack, especially for the weight. Plus it's waterproof, meaning that my gear stored inside stayed 100% dry even through some pretty significant downpours. - Comfortable. As a person with an unusually long torso (22" Iliac crest to C7 measurement while only being 5'11") this pack in the Large size was excellent for me. If I had to buy again I'd maybe consider trying the Tall size but honestly I have zero complaints. The shoulder straps are excellent, the frame distributes weight very well, and the hipbelt is comfortable and ergonomic as well as having excellent weight transfer. My full pack weight with 2L of water and a full food resupply came out to around 25lbs, which is worth considering as well. I've not tried the pack with and weight significantly above that mark, but from my experience it could easily handle more weight than that without being meaningfully compromised in comfort. I'll touch on this in the cons but apart from a few minor complaints this thing is extremely comfortable and gave me one less thing to worry about, which is greatly appreciated. - Simple and well-thought-out. This is somewhat of a personal preference, but the fact that this pack is stripped down to the bare essentials for a framed pack really, really works. The main pack body is just a single pocket, but for a pared-down gear loadout it's not an issue at all. The external pockets are simple, well made, and do everything you need them to do. The hipbelt pockets are, while not everyone's preference, a great thing for me as I like to snack while walking in order to cover ground faster, and for that they are extremely useful. I believe (though I'd need to double check this) that the pockets themselves can be removed to save weight, though personally I'd never even consider that as the additional ergonomic benefit provided by them is far worth the small weight penalty. There's not an overabundance of buckles and closures, but those that do exist are placed in logical spots and are easy to use and durable just like the rest of the pack. The rolltop closure is also simple and very helpful to use, though I do have a small (very personal) gripe with it that I'll touch on later. But again this pack is everything you need and nothing you don't for a framed, fully-featured pack. Can you go lighter by shaving off parts? Absolutely. But for having a full frame, hipbelt pockets, and other thoughtful features, the execution is nearly flawless. Cons (TLDR, all very minor): - Weight. This is a very, very light pack for what you get, at around 31oz without any modifications, but there are certainly lighter packs out there. For a thru hike of something like the PCT or Colorado Trail where there's very little technical terrain or chance or pack abrasion, you can probably find options that would provide similar comfort and carrying capacity at a lighter weight, though at the (sometimes *very* significant) cost of durability. But for my personal use in the relatively technical areas of New England, I'd vastly prefer the slight weight penalty in exchange for not having to worry about blowing out a seam or slashing open the main pack body on a rock. - Comfort. Far and away, this pack is extremely comfortable for me personally, but obviously pack fit is a very personal matter and my experiences did not always match what I heard from other people. I have somewhat skinny shoulders and the shoulder straps on this pack work very well for me. I encountered others on trail who had issues with the shoulder straps being too close together and giving them pain and pressure on their trapezius, which is likely worth taking into account if you have a rather broad neck or particularly high sensitivity in that area. - Ventilation. The DCF back panel of the pack breathes about as well as you'd expect for a 100% waterproof piece of fabric that sits directly on your back. This combined with the Vermont summer humidity and me personally having a very sweaty back in general meant that any shirt I would wear would inevitably be completely soaked on the back panel after just a few minutes. The mantra ended up being to just accept that my back would get soaked and not think about it anymore, and then just hang up my shirt to air out at camp for the night. On the flipside, though, the fact that the backpanel doesn't absorb any water meant that if I took the pack off even for a few minutes, the backpanel would be bone dry. Of course, my shirt would still be soaked, but this did prevent the backpanel from getting icky after being soaked for days on end. Another minor point to add here is that, while the pack body itself is waterproof, the bottom of the pack is not seam sealed, meaning that if you put the pack down on wet ground or in mud water can and will get into the main pack body via the seams. But come on...just use a pack liner. An extra 20 grams isn't gonna kill you. - Egronomics. Very, very slight issue, and not necessarily one limited to this pack, but as someone with limited shoulder mobility (because I don't stretch as much as I should and spend too much time sitting at a desk) it wasn't really possible to get the bottles out from the side of the pack without taking it off. I ended up doing a very, very MacGyver'd (but also very cheap, virtually weightless, and 100% functional) water bottle holder on the left shoulder strap using the daisy chain, two zipties, and a stretchy hairband. But again...really, really not something I can possibly fault the pack for. - Tiny, nearly meaningless details. The velcro closure on the main body is slightly annoying (I just don't like velcro) and I'll likely replace it with a snap closure at some point. And the ice axe loop being in the middle of the back is a weird design choice (though I somewhat obviously never made use of it for its intended purpose on this summer trip in Vermont). But it should tell you something that I have to get this nitpicky in order to find flaws with it. - Cost. $300+ is a lot to pay for a pack. But I cannot stress enough how worth the money this thing is. If you value weight, build quality, and comfort enough to be considering this pack in the first place, I can as close to promise you it will not let you down. Buy once, cry once, and be happy for many more hundreds or even thousands of miles. In summary, if the pack fits you, you know what you're getting, and you're willing to shell out the money for it, absolutely, 100% get it. Are there packs that can beat this thing in specific metrics? Absolutely. Are there packs that are cheaper. Good lord yes. But if what you want is a significantly light, user-friendly, durable, and investment-quality piece of gear, this is your ticket. Looking forward to many, many more adventures with this thing and the great memories that come with it. Well done HMG. You've got yourself a customer for life.
I recently took this pack out on a couple of trips in Capitol Reef national park and the San Rafael river gorge. I'm so impressed with the durability of the pack scraping on sandstone and bushwhacking. I wanted to keep my kit ultralight but have an improved ability to carry 6 liters of water while backpacking in the desert southwest and this pack allows me to do that comfortably.
About 10kg load back is quite comfortable HMG forever true fragrance law
I've been backpacking for 50 years and this is the best purchase I have ever made. It forces me to get my pack weight down to 25 pounds and I'm able to fly up and down the high Sierra trails, passing youngsters carrying their buses on their backs. The pack also folds down to day-pack size for peak-bagging on camp days. I love it!
I just got this backpack a few weeks ago and have taken it out twice now. The first trip was small and it rained the entire day. It was a great opportunity to check the waterproof claim of the pack. It held up fantastically. After an entire day of non stop rain the contents of my pack were bone dry. The Y-shaped strap over the roll top is fabulous to store just about anything. The second trip was an overnight and it handled everything I needed with room to spare. I did have one of the grommets on the bottom come off. I called Hyperlite, a real person answered, and their customer service was absolutely amazing and they assured me it would be fully taken care of. I can not comment on long term durability since I have not had it that long. Outside of the grommet it looks like it is going to hold up much better than you would think when you first lay your hands on it. I highly recommend this pack and I am sure you will not be disappointed with it.
This pack was awesome on its first trip. Really happy at how comfortable this bag was on me. I have had a Gregory for over a decade and this pack was lighter, more comfortable and easier to use than my old bag. The simple inner and outer pocket makes organization much easier to handle, especially for those of us who tend to not care as much where you are stuffing things throughout the trip. I also had a black bag and was hiking in 80+ degree weather with zero shade. I noticed no significant difference in heat of my pack when compared to my light blue bag so was very happy with that. Belt pockets can fit a lot of snacks or a large i-phone. Cons: -If you like to reach for your water bottle without taking off your pack it can be hard, I was able to do it but barely and is hard to put back in the pocket, people with flexible arms/shoulders should be able to do it -The price is high
