The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Halka 55 is a sturdy mountaineering and winter mountaineering backpack made with Dyneema Composite Materials. It’s outfitted as a gear hauler able to hauling cumbersome winter and mountaineering gear that’s too cumbersome to retailer inside a backpack reminiscent of ice axes and crampons, foam sleeping pads and snowshoes. Not like Hyperlite’s three season rolltop backpacks, the Halka has a floating high lid with a high lid pocket, a necessity for winter sports activities when quick entry to further gloves, hats, and navigation aids is important.
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- Weight: 45 oz
- Gender: Unisex
- Measurement Examined: Massive
- Sort: Framed (two body stays)
- Entry: High (Floating Lid Pocket)
- Pockets: 1 (simply the lid, there are none inside)
- Waterproof: Sure
- Seam-taped: Sure
- Hydration-ready: No
- Supplies: Woven Dyneema, DCH150, 210d Nylon
- MSRP: $425
Design and Development
The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Halka 55 (a 70L model can be accessible) was first launched on the finish of 2024. It was developed at the side of Nepalese guides and is purpose-built for top elevation summit makes an attempt however is well tailored to winter backpacking and mountaineering.
Supplies

The Halka is made with a mixture of Dyneema materials for enhanced sturdiness and light-weight weight. The bottom is made with woven Dyneema which is further robust for resisting floor abrasion and punctures. remainder of the pack physique and lid are made with DCH150 which is a burly ultralight laminate made with Dyneema fibers, glue, and polyester, whereas the hipbelt, shoulder straps, and crampon holders are made with heavy-duty 210 nylon gridstop. Whereas the inside of the pack is totally seam taped and the fabric is waterproof, I nonetheless advocate utilizing it with a pack liner, if solely since you’ll have some place to place moist and frozen gear as a substitute of blending it along with your dry clothes and sleep system.
Backpack Body
The Halka 55 has two pre-bent aluminum framestays which give it a most really helpful load of 40-50 lbs. Nonetheless, the pack doesn’t have load lifters, a trait shared by Hyperlite’s different backpacks. The corporate has taken lots of flack about this over time, a lot of which is warranted. Load lifters develop into more and more vital as pack quantity will increase and might help carry a heavy pack nearer to your torso and hips for a extra environment friendly carry.

The again of the Halka 55 is frivolously padded, a trait of Hyperlite’s larger quantity packs. The pack has a detachable hipbelt with a gear loop on the best for racking carabiners/climbing gear and a big zippered pocket on the left. The hipbelt will also be changed with one which has two pockets or two gear loops relying in your preferences and desires.
I’ve discovered that the pack carries exceptionally properly with all kinds of hundreds, however Hyperlite’s packs have all the time match me marvelously properly when it comes to torso size. All of Hyperlite’s packs have mounted size torsos so that may not be the case for you. in the event you discover that you just’re torso size is on the boundary between two sizes, my recommendation could be to dimension up. For instance, I’ve a 18.5″ torso and all the time dimension as much as their 19-21″ torso size (dimension giant).
Compression Straps/Aspect Daisy Chains


There are two tiers of facet compression straps on the Halka 55 which might be lengthy sufficient to strap snowshoes or a foam pad to the perimeters of the pack, in addition to 4 daisy chains operating its size alongside its sides. I desire carrying snowshoes alongside the facet of my pack, nearer to my torso, and these compression straps work properly for that objective.
Crampon/Ice Instrument Holder


The Halka has a crampon holder, ice decide sleeves, buckles, and shaft holders to hold a pair of ice instruments or axes. Crampons are secured utilizing a bungie twine which is completely hooked up to the pack and fairly troublesome to make use of with naked fingers, not to mention when sporting gloves. I believe the Halka could be higher if Hyperlite had used an open crampon pocket right here, which is a characteristic discovered on different mountaineering packs just like the Black Diamond Mission, Chilly Chilly World Chaos, and Cilogear Worksack. The benefit of a crampon pocket is that it may be used when sporting gloves and might retailer different gear, reminiscent of microspikes. I’ve even stuffed a tent physique in a single to save lots of inside area inside my winter backpack!
Extension Collar


The Halka additionally has a floating high lid pocket which sits on high of typical drawstring extension collar. The extension collar is cinches tight on high and round its circumference with twine locks, which sadly are incorrectly sized and slide open when the pack is overstuffed. They’re simply changed although. A Y-strap runs over the extension collar and can be utilized to carry a rope, pad, or bear canister in the event you use the pack throughout hotter months. One finish is sewn to the entrance of the pack whereas the opposite two ends are hooked up to the pack bag simply above the shoulder straps. It makes the highest of the pack a little bit busy, however may be helpful.


Floating Lid
The floating lid/high pocket is a little bit bit extra problematic. First off the pocket is basically fairly small and it’s troublesome to get greater than an additional pair of thick fleece gloves and a hat into it. The pocket is anchored to the entrance of the pack with webbing straps that may be repositioned up and down the pack’s daisy chains. However the different facet is anchored to the daisy chains on the highest if the shoulder straps, which is a weird place to anchor a floating lid as a result of it interferes with the match of the shoulder straps, pulling them off the shoulders once you tighten the lid. The conventional place to anchor a floating lid is on the pack bag above or to the perimeters of the shoulder straps, not on them.


The straps that connect the floating lid to the pack are detachable. Sadly, they will additionally fall off and get misplaced, which I’ve already skilled. Fortunately the buckles are pretty customary, so you possibly can change them with webbing you will have mendacity round pretty simply, however dropping one of many straps on a visit the place you don’t have entry to a spare would actually suck. I believe stitching the straps to the pack and making them longer would most likely have been a greater design selection.
Winter Backpacks Comparability Desk
Suggestion
The Hyperlite Mountain Hear Halka 55 is a water-proof mountaineering and winter backpack made with Dyneema Composite Materials with a floating high lid. It has just a few quirks which might be vital to learn about in the event you plan on carrying crampons otherwise you’re liable to dropping straps, however on the entire it’s a reliable gear hauler with plenty of exterior attachment factors for hauling cumbersome winter gear. Most of those are straightforward workarounds you can MacGyver round with a little bit ingenuity, further buckles and cordlocks. Nonetheless, the Halka 55 might use one other iteration of refinements to debug these points and make it extra of a contender in comparison with the opposite tried and true winter packs that it competes with.
Likes:
- Daisy chains on pack and shoulder straps
- A number of waist belt choices
- Stiff carry w/ good load switch to hips
- Waterproof materials and seam-taped
Dislikes:
- Crampon holder is awkward to make use of
- Cordlocks slip on extension collar
- Floating lid straps are straightforward to lose
Disclosure: HMG donated a pack for assessment
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