With two 24+ hour races on my schedule this year, it was time to retire my favourite (but very old and worn) race pack and invest in a new multiday pack. I knew that I need a pack that would provide the following: a minimum 20L of space, adjustable straps both around the shoulders and the waist, space for a 2L bladder and a couple of external pockets for gear.
Now, there are probably 100 different packs that fit that bill so I started to look for a pack that would provide more and man did the XA 25 deliver. To start, it’s WATERPROOF (ok, so not totally as I found out swimming across a lake with my pack at Angry Seagull but it did keep my gear dry in a rainstorm!), it has a built in whistle on the shoulder strap, it has this cool velcro feature that keeps your bladder in place (ha) and with a little tweaking it can also connect to the Salomon Custom Front Pocket. It’s comfortable to wear, it’s very light and extremely versatile. I raced with my last pack for 3 years and it had few of the features that the XA 25 has, I’m sure that this will be my multiday pack of choice for a long time. Great pack…..I highly recommend it.
