The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 55 Backpack is a sturdy, ultralight backpack made with Dyneema Woven Composite that’s good for thru-hiking and multi-day backpacking journeys in rugged terrain. That is the Hyperlite backpack you need to get in the event you bushwhack and navigate off-trail via dense foliage, desert terrain, or canyon nation. The Dyneema Woven Composite used on the Southwest is 10 occasions extra abrasion-resistant than the Dyneema/Polyester Composite that Hyperlite used on earlier fashions of the Southwest. It’s additionally a water-proof cloth, so it would forestall your pack from absorbing water and getting heavier within the rain.
When you’re deciding between the Southwest 40 and the Southwest 55, I like to recommend the 55. The primary distinction between the 2 is the size of the extension collar (the half above the shoulders). Being a rolltop pack, that is simply compressed if not wanted. With lower than an oz distinction between the fashions, the extra flexibility is price the additional weight.
- Weight: 29.3 ounces (measurement medium)
- Gender: Unisex
- Closure: Roll high
- Torso size: Mounted lengths, starting from 15″ to 21+”
- Pockets: 5, together with hipbelt pockets
- Seam-taped: Sure
- Hydration appropriate: Sure, port over proper shoulder
- Body: Inside (2 Aluminum Stays)
- Pockets: 5 exterior, plus primary
- Max Load Capability: 30-35 kilos (Hyperlite claims 40 lbs)
- Supplies: Dyneema Woven Composite, Dyneema Hardline (nylon ripstop) pockets
- Quantity: 55L w/ 11L of exterior storage
- Bear canister compatibility: The BV425 and BV450 match within the backside, the BV475 matches horizontally within the extension collar, and the BV500 and Garcia solely match vertically.
- Execs: Ultralight, abrasion-resistant, taped seams, wide selection of sizes, waterproof cloth
- Cons: Costly, no load lifters, can’t retailer a BV500 bear canister horizontally
2025 Mannequin Enhancements
Hyperlite made a number of substantive modifications to the Southwest 55 in late 2025 that made it a a lot better backpack. Most of those have been pushed by the elevated competitors from packs made with Extremely 200 and Extremely 400, one other ultralight, waterproof, and abrasion-resistant materials that has been extensively adopted by ultralight cottage corporations, together with ULA, Durston, Lite-AF, Nashville Packs, Search Outdoors, SWD, and Black Diamond, amongst others. When you already personal a Southwest and it’s been overwhelmed to loss of life, I’d suggest upgrading to the brand new Southwest 55. Listed here are the modifications to the previous Southwest, now obtainable.
- The brand new Dyneema Woven Composite Material is akin to Problem Extremely 200 when it comes to abrasion and water resistance, with solely a minor value enhance.
- Added daisy chains alongside the perimeters of the entrance pocket.
- Shortened the elastic high of the entrance pocket to make gear storage safer.
- The facet pockets are bigger and deeper.
- Moved the ice axe loop to the facet of the pack from the center. Added a shaft holder.
- Modified shoulder straps, including extra curve across the neck for elevated consolation.
- Added extra bartacks to the shoulder straps, enabling higher sternum strap adjustment.
- The facet compression straps at the moment are detachable and might be linked exterior the entrance pocket to connect gear to the entrance of the pack.
- Eliminated the mesh hydration pocket since most individuals by no means used it, and changed it with a toggle. Added two inside loops on the high of the keep pockets for pocket attachment.
Missed Alternatives
Sadly, Hyperlite didn’t reap the benefits of its 2025 mannequin replace to handle some longstanding points with the Southwest, Windrider, or Junction packs.
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- No load lifters, nonetheless. These could be a welcome addition to Hyperlite’s increased quantity packs, notably within the absence of an adjustable torso size. For the rationale behind this omission, see my interview with Hyperlite Co-Founder Mike St-Pierre in 2019.
- No push-forward hipbelt adjustment (referred to as a Scherer cinch after Michael Cecot-Scherer, who invented it at Kelty.)
- No gear loops sewn alongside the rear nook seams. These would allow higher gear attachment choices alongside the pack’s sides, at the side of the brand new daisy chains alongside the entrance pocket.
- The extension collar nonetheless has an apparel-grabbing velcro strip on the high as a substitute of being changed with snaps or one other closure kind. The threads holding this Velcro are inclined to unravel and fray with in depth use.
Backpack Storage and Group
The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 55 Backpack is specified by a conventional ultralight type with a big primary compartment, facet water bottle pockets, and a big entrance pocket. The 2 sides of the rolltop might be linked to straps and buckles on the perimeters of the pack or clipped to one another on the highest of the pack. I desire utilizing the facet straps as a result of I get higher compression in the principle compartment, which is useful when I’ve a number of gear or meals to hold.
The within of the principle compartment is totally seam-taped, making the inside successfully waterproof because it covers all of the thread holes created when stitching the pack. I nonetheless suggest lining the within with a water-proof liner or trash compactor bag, which may preserve you heat as an emergency bivy or segregate soiled, moist objects equivalent to clothes or rain flies from clear, dry objects, and so forth.
The inside has two body keep pockets, which maintain the pre-bent aluminum stays that type the backpack’s body and defend your again from sharp objects saved within the inside, like bear canisters. You possibly can take away the stays, however I can’t see why you’d ever need to.
When packing the Southwest 55, remember that the pack’s again panel and body stays finish on the high of your shoulders, offering no additional rigidity for gear saved within the extension collar. Heavy objects, equivalent to meals luggage, needs to be packed in the direction of the underside of the pack and as near the again panel as potential to stop them from shifting or bulging out awkwardly. That is an surprising consequence of switching to the Dyneema Woven Composite cloth, which is way softer and fewer inflexible than the Dyneema Composite Material used within the earlier era of the Southwest. That materials was stiffer and far much less versatile, permitting for higher management of overloads within the extension collar.
After I pack the brand new Southwest 55, I begin by inserting my quilt, stuffed in a dry sack, on the backside of the pack. Then, I stack my meals bag on high of it and organize different heavy objects alongside the again panel as I’m going. I stuff lighter-weight insulating layers and clothes behind the heavier objects to carry them in place, after which put my lightest objects within the extension collar (primarily unfastened clothes and private results). I then use the pack’s roll-top to compress the objects within the extension collar as tightly as potential, thereby lowering the amount they require, whereas attempting to steadiness the load on each side.
There are 5 exterior pockets on the Southwest 55 backpack: two facet water bottle pockets, a bigger entrance pocket, and two hip belt pockets. The entire pockets are made from stable 210 denier Dyneema bolstered nylon ripstop (Dyneema Hardline), enabling the pack for use roughly or in off-trail situations that might shortly shred most mesh pockets.
The facet water bottle pockets are massive sufficient to comfortably match two 1-liter water bottles collectively and have drain holes at their base. Water bottles saved within the facet pockets are additionally reachable and replaceable whereas carrying the pack. I just like the deeper facet pockets as a result of bottles would come out of the older Southwest mannequin pockets, particularly when venturing off-trail, in locations the place they’d be laborious to recuperate.
The rear pocket is massive sufficient for me to retailer all of my moist gear, equivalent to a tarp, tent fly, or moist rain gear, my water filter, and smelly objects like a wooden range that I don’t need inside the principle compartment.
The bottoms of the black hardline pockets are made with white Dyneema Woven Composite (not less than on the white Southwest 55), which permits some mild, making it simpler to seek out objects in them. I retailer my tent stakes, bug dope, Joby tripod, head internet, additional gentle bottles, trowel/tp package, a wooden range, my cookpot, and odds and ends in these pockets. Having them backlit makes objects a lot simpler to seek out with out having to empty out the complete pocket.
The hipbelt pockets have waterproof zippers and are massive sufficient to retailer a smartphone, just a few meals bars, a Nuun pill sleeve, or AquaMira bottles. I can open and shut the zippers with out breaking my stride.
Backpack Attachment and Compression System
The Southwest 55 has two tiers of facet compression straps that can be utilized to connect gear to the skin of the pack. A backside compression strap runs horizontally exterior every water bottle pocket, whereas the higher strap is oriented at a diagonal to deliver the load nearer to the wearer’s again for higher load-to-hip switch. Each of those straps are girth hitched to daisy chains operating down the perimeters of the entrance pocket, to allow them to be eliminated.
In use, I take away the underside compression straps over the water bottle pockets as a result of I discover they intrude with getting water bottles into the facet pockets, or I route the 2 straps over the entrance pocket, which can be utilized to connect cumbersome gear like snowshoes to the pack. HMG additionally sells additional webbing straps for this function as an add-on, though there’s nothing stopping you from rigging up some twine and twine locks as a substitute.
Along with the roll high, which offers wonderful high compression, there’s a Y strap that runs from the entrance of the pack (between the shoulders), over the roll high, and attaches to the again of the pack. This strap is nice for securing cumbersome objects like a foam pad, rope, or tent physique to the highest of the pack. You can even lash a bear canister underneath this strap, but it surely helps if the pack bag beneath it is rather full and tightly packed, so you’ve got a “shelf” to relaxation it on.
Dyneema Woven Composite Material is a three-layer composite cloth, with a one hundred pc UHMWPE woven face, a center layer of gridded UHMWPE, and a movie backing. Thus far, it’s obtainable in two weights, a 100-denier model that’s 3.1 ounces per sq. yard and a 200-denier model at 3.9 ounces per sq. yard. Hyperlite Mountain Gear makes use of the 200-denier model in its new packs, together with the Southwest.
Backpack Body and Suspension System
Each the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 55 Backpack and the Southwest 40 Backpack have a light-weight body system referred to as body stays as a substitute of a wire perimeter body or framesheet made with laborious plastic. The stays are aluminum rods saved in body pockets in the principle compartment. They arrive preformed and can match most individuals comfortably, however might be simply bent to match your bodily traits. When you determine to bend them, hint a line on a bit of paper alongside the facet profile of the manufacturing unit keep, so you’ll be able to return it to its unique form in the event you botch this course of. It’s straightforward to botch.
The body stays terminate behind the hipbelt and are liable for transferring the load onto your hips, that are a lot stronger than your shoulders. The hipbelt on the Southwest is sewn onto the pack bag. Most ultralight backpack producers have stopped doing this, opting as a substitute for a extra modular design the place different-sized hipbelts might be swapped out and hooked up with Velcro. I assumed Hyperlite had stopped stitching their hipbelts to their packs, so I used to be stunned to see this on the Southwest. This sewn-on hip belt is likely one of the primary the explanation why HMG’s packs carry so effectively. I believe it makes an enormous distinction in load switch and management.
The hipbelt of the Southwest 55 is roofed with padded mesh, however not overly padded, which is what I desire, with a beefy entrance buckle for sturdiness. The shoulder straps even have mild padding, with sewn-on daisy chains that make it straightforward so as to add accent pockets, like a shoulder pocket or navigation gadgets, to the straps.
Suggestion
The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 55 Backpack is a sturdy, multi-day backpack designed for demanding adventures that can outperform most different ultralight-style packs. When you’re tough on backpacks, however nonetheless need one which weighs lower than two kilos, the Southwest 55 pack most likely has your title on it.
Equally, at residence on the path in addition to off, the Southwest 55 Backpack has the additional quantity required for longer or extra technical journeys when you have to carry additional gear or clothes. I exploit mine for lengthy backpacking hikes once I want to hold additional meals, shoulder season insulation, or chilly climate tenting gear that received’t match within the smaller quantity Hyperlite Mountain Gear’s Southwest 40 Backpack.
Whereas successfully waterproof as a advantage of its Dyneema Woven Composite Material and seam taping, the worth of the HMG Southwest 55 Pack lies in its distinctive mixture of low weight and sturdiness with out skimping on useful options. You shouldn’t need to compromise on sturdiness if you’d like an ultralight backpack. Get one just like the Southwest 55 that’s designed to final. Nuff stated.
Disclosure: Hyperlite Mountain Gear donated a pack for overview
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