From this perspective, the clamshell design, goggle pocket, and avalanche tool pocket (vertical zipper) are all visible. Photo: Black Crows
Black Crows Powder Hunter collection offers a keen-looking and trimmed-down X-Pac fabric pack in the Dorsa 22.
Perhaps the most notable feature of our slow start to ski season in the Tetons was the excellent start in the Northwest, SW Colorado, etc. It was one of the few times I’ve yearned to travel out of the Tetons between December and March. Thankfully, that’s all changed around Christmas, and I am back to seeing familiar faces visiting from Colorado and elsewhere. And we are back to daily Teton powder runs.
Which is appropriate: “Powder Hunting” is the resonating buzz phrase of the day with our friends at Black Crows. In line with their usual flash and fashion, they dropped another limited collection on January 8th. While we weren’t lucky enough to score a set of the sweet white camo Nocta skis (they do look cool, despite my misgivings about white powder skis), we have been trying out a Powder Hunter edition Dorsa 22 pack.
And the venerable Black Crows Nocta comes in a snazzy new “Powder Hunter” top sheet design. Other than the top sheet, the Nocta is the same design as recent iterations. Rumor has it, THR has an orange-top-sheet pair floating in some powder around Bend, OR. Photo: Black Crows
The Black Crows Dorsa 22 pack Powder Hunter edition sports an X-Pac outer fabric. Photo: Black Crows
The Black Crows Dorsa 22 pack Powder Hunter edition is a slimmed down ski pack which could fit the bill for paired down tours and ski mountaineering. Photo: Black Crows
In my eyes, the Dorsa is an iconic pack–probably not unrelated to THR contributors and local heroes Adam and Billy using them during some of my formative years as a skier. To me, the Dorsa represented peak minimalism in a ski pack: Few pockets, few features, burly Cordura fabric, any color you want as long as it’s black.
The unfortunate reality of the past few years has been a departure from the simplicity of the previous Dorsa, both in loud yellow and orange colorways, and a more complex construction with less burly fabrics. I was immediately intrigued seeing the Powder Hunter Dorsa pivot to a laminated X-Pac fabric (VX21). This version is the Dorsa 22, which features a zippered clamshell design, vs. the roll top of the Dorsa 27. The Dorsa 22 X-Pac Powder Hunter edition costs $299.00 and comes in one size.
Another perspective on the safety toll pocket.
The lined goggle pocket can serve multiple functions: a general small item stash pocket, or, as designed, real estate to house precious goggles.
The padding on the hip belt is removable which makes sense for a smaller volume pack like the Dorsa 22.
The safety tools pocket is accessed through a center zip.
The side key pocket is ample enough to stash low-volume items.
The Black Crow chevron patterned back panel made of polyamid/EVA foam offers decent padding while carrying loads suited for this sized pack.
I’d say the Dorsa Pack’s most unique feature is the vertical front access zipper. In the current Dorsa, this accesses the avalanche gear/wet pocket. This provides relatively quick access that is mostly unencumbered by carrying skis or any other straps on the pack, but the vertical zip makes getting a shovel blade or handle a little cumbersome to get in and out. Speaking of the ski carry, an adjustable loop stows away into the wet pocket for the ski tails, and a small loop by the opposite shoulder strap that an included buckled loop threads through for a great, pulled-in-tight diagonal ski carry. I never used the removable top loop. Instead, I opted for a Voile strap here, but this system worked better than most for me. There is no A-frame option on the Dorsa 22, which seems fine given its low volume and high-fashion design.
This is one of the first packs I’ve used with a goggle pocket, which is the only extra pocket aside from the main compartment and avalanche gear pocket. It’s kind of nice having a fuzzy pocket for your goggles, but I often added my Voile straps, sunscreen, skin wax, and headlamp in with my goggles, which probably made them a little less safe from scratches.
Employing a Voile strap for the tip side and the built-in strap for the tails: diagonal ski carry.
Another view of the same diagonal ski carry system.
I am certainly someone that romanticizes minimalism in the mountains, and given my deep obsession with packs and pack design, a small, clean pack on a big ski tour is my ultimate representation of good fashion. The clamshell style reminds me a bit of an old 20L Black Diamond clamshell pack that a mentor of mine used for everything from day-to-day guiding to some of the biggest technical Teton ski runs. Although this design may not be peak functionality, a non-expandable 20-liter pack is a stylish and confident choice if you can make it all fit.
A footnote and apology here: I’m terrible at getting pictures of myself using gear in the wild. It’s a hard sell to ask a client to take a photo of me skiing, and it rarely crosses my mind to take photos when I am out recreating. So, some stock photos it is, until I’m back from guiding today. I’m trying to do better…
Finally a pack review. Are you planning on doing more of them? Been eying the blue ice yagi and/or the taka, but hard to get hands on them were i live and few reviews online.
@Gavin, you might find your clients more willing to take pictures than you think. I certainly have taken some of guides I skied with, and Rob C. used one for a product review article.
What I’d really like to see in pack reviews is the pack fully stuffed with the days gear, and then seeing skis or axes attached, and things like water or a jacket inserted and removed.
In the stock picks they always have it nicely filled, but no more. In real life, stuff starts to bulge, and move, and suddenly the skis or axes don’t sit so well anymore, or it becomes super hard to get that jacket or water out at a snack break.
These don’t have to be in use, they could be taken at the trailhead, or in your living room.
Thanks!