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Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight™ Ultralight Backpack Review

In my ongoing quest to find the best ultra-light backpack for winter backpacking, I recently tried Outdoor Vitals’ Shadowlight™ Ultralight Backpack. This is my first impression.

In my ongoing quest to find the best ultra-light backpack for winter backpacking, I recently tried Outdoor Vitals’ Shadowlight™ Ultralight Backpack. This is my first impression.

Most ultralight packs are designed for light loads and 3-season thru-hikers. In recent years larger size ultra-light packs have become available. The challenge is finding ones that are adaptable to winter backpacking requirements, such as a 30–35 pound weight limit, 50–60 liters of capacity, and the ability to put all liquids, a closed-cell pad, an ice ax, and snowshoes on the exterior. The Shadowlight Ultralight Backpack is one such option.

Outdoor Vitals ShadowLight 60L pack
The Outdoor Vitals ShadowLight 60L pack out snow camping in the Cascade Mountains.

The Shadowlight comes in two sizes, 45 and 60 liters (short, regular, and tall; with a range of hip belt sizes (31”, 32”–36”, and 37” and up). The maximum recommended carry weight is 35 lbs. The pack is made of Outdoor Vitals’ own special Spectra/Robic ripstop fabric, which, according to the company allows them to “cut incredible weights while retaining top-of-industry durability and strength.” What’s more, Outdoor Vitals states they “added a 24-inch frame to transfer the load from your shoulders to your hips for ultimate comfort when your load creeps up in weight whether it be a long water carry” or “winter trips.” For these reasons, I decided to try out this pack for winter backpacking.

Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight backpack


I often need to carry a 0-degree sleeping bag, avalanche probe and shovel, and 4-season tent, so I chose the 60-liter option. The perfect winter backpack has external lashing points, like an Alpine pack, but most Alpine packs are too small or too heavy. The Shadowlight lacks the external lashing points I need to secure snowshoes and a closed-cell pad, but with 2 small wire carabiners, some utility cord, and two small straps I was able to attach both snowshoes and closed-cell pad to the pack. It would be preferable if they would add six lash points (small loops would do), but making this adaptation was not difficult.

Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight pack modification
Originally, I attached the mini-carabiner to the plastic loop but this interfered with the cinch cord and risked breaking the plastic loop. Here, I have attached the carabiner to the nylon strap instead.
Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight sidepockets
This photo shows the mini-wire carabiner that holds the snowshoe strap and the utility cord holding the closed-cell pad. Notice the side pockets are a bit tight (tighter than any other packs I have used). The side pocket is holding a flask and 20 oz fuel bottle.
Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight backpack
Strap looped around the top cinch strap to hold on the snowshoes


To test the Shadowlight, I loaded the pack up with my full winter gear and set off on an 8-mile day hike with 3,100 feet of elevation gain. Total pack weight, base weight, and consumables (including two days of food) came to around 29 lbs. My overall experience is that the gear fits well and the pack is comfortable.

Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight loaded winter pack weight
This is the total weight (base weight with consumables for two days)

The side pockets allow for all fluids to be stored on the outside. The pockets are a bit tight, but okay. I added a Granite Gear water bottle holder to the hip belt for easy access. The Shadowlight pack comes with a water bladder holder and I appreciate the ease with which I could remove it because it is not something I would use for winter backpacking. Every other pack I’ve used has had extra material sewn into the pack to hold a pack bladder and this extra weight cannot be removed.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  1. Comfortable fit
  2. Lighter weight: 1.99 lbs. (nearly 5 oz. ounces lighter than my Granite Gear Crown3)
  3. Durable materials: 100D Robic Nylon w/ 200D Spectra Ripstop, 210D Robic Nylon w/ 400D Spectra Ripstop.
  4. Easy to use: The roll-top lid and front zipper that allows access to some gear without unloading the pack
  5. Cinch cords for securing gear in the side pockets—an important feature for hiking in deep snow where such items can fall out and get lost in the snow.
  6. Gear loop for ice ax
  7. A stretch mesh front pocket with a wide top opening is useful when managing layers in the cold
  8. Easy to remove pack bladder pouch
  9. Lowest cost 60L backpack under 2 lbs. I’m not completely sure about this point, but I haven’t seen any. Let me know if I’m wrong.
Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight backpack weight
This is gold. According to my scale, the pack weighs 1.99 lbs or 0.905 kilos.

Cons*

The cons for this pack are mostly minor. I can work around them, but they are problems Outdoor Vitals could fix in future editions.

  1.  No external lashing points to allow snowshoes or closed-cell pad to be attached. Although there are solutions, purpose-made external lashing points would be preferable. Four lashing points on the front of the pack (two on each side) for the snowshoes and two on the bottom for the closed cell pad would be perfect. A daisy chain on the bottom would also work and allow for crampons or micro-spikes. This is the biggest problem with the pack for winter use.
  2.  Front center zip provides only limited utility. The access will not create an opening large enough to remove a winter sleeping bag, so it is still necessary to unload the pack to take out the sleeping bag. This is a minor issue because most Alpine-style packs don’t have a front zip anyway. I’m not sold on the necessity of this zipper and if there is to be a zipper, it might make more sense to have it on the bottom so the sleeping bag can be removed.
  3.  Color options: Bright colors add safety to winter gear. The Shadowlight comes only in dark blue and Arctic green. We hike in hunting season, in whiteouts, and we have to find our way back to camp in cloudy weather and snowstorms. Having easy-to-see gear is an important safety feature for winter travel. An orange rain cover will help, but a red, orange or yellow pack is the easiest solution.

*2024 Followup

Lashing points: The pack uses lashing cords for the side pockets. On the down side, one of these cords came off and got lost while hiking. On the positive side the attachment hoops are sown into the pack and cords or mini wire-carabiners can be attached to these and used for lashing on snowshoes.

Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight backpack

Overall impression

Despite the lack of purpose-made lashing points for essential winter gear, this limitation can be overcome with relative ease and for that reason, I do recommend this pack. If Outdoor Vitals would add external lashing points and maybe eliminate the front zipper and top side pockets, this might be the perfect winter backpack. Since perfection is not available, I will make due. If you don’t want to workaround Shadowlight’s lack of purpose-made external lashing points for snowshoes, you could still use this pack for winter conditions that don’t require attaching the snowshoes to the back. That is, routes where you will be putting on your snowshoes at the beginning of the trip or when no snowshoes are needed because the snowpack is too firm to require flotation.

I know some winter backpackers are carrying loads exceeding Shadowlight’s 35 lb limit, but I strongly recommend dialing in your kit weight to stay below 35 lbs and preferably below 30 lbs. If you can do that, and it is possible, this is an excellent ultra-light pack. Winter gear is heavier and every ounce one can trim off the backpack itself adds comfort and speed. Most of the hikers I know who are carrying 40 lb packs are using backpacks that are 1–4 lbs heavier than necessary. Most of the needless weight is either the pack or tent or both.

The slightly less than 2 lb weight and comfort of the Shadowlight will motivate me to use this pack whenever I can. Although winter is about to officially end for 2023, I’ll still be snowshoeing and hiking on snow high in the Cascade Mountains well into June. Check back for updates as I continue to test the utility and durability of this pack.

If you have comments or suggestions or thoughts about winter backpacks, please share your comments below.

Hiking with the Outdoor Vitals ShadowLight 60L pack
On my way to find some snow. Photo courtesy of Sara Zhang.

I’m not a paid reviewer or brand representative for any company. My reviews are solely my opinions. If I think a particular gear might be useful for winter backpacking I will review it. Sometimes companies reach out to me and send gear and sometimes I reach out to companies. In this case, I reached out to Outdoor Vitals.

Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight backpack

7 replies on “Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight™ Ultralight Backpack Review”

Thanks for another great review. This pack comes in at a reasonable price point and definitely has a decent weight overall. But as you stated, it is missing some wel needed additions. Especially, the extra lashing pints on the exterior. Nit sure why these are not added as they would not come at a noticeable additional weight. The pockets definitely were too tight on this model

I will continue to use my HMG Windrider 3400 until you find something better 😁

I agree, if you already have the 3400 windrider and find it to be comfortable, there’s no weight advantage to justify switching to the Shadowlight. But, for hikers with heavier packs looking for options the Shadowlight does have a price advantage. Unless there is something I don’t know, the Shadowlight is the lowest pack under 2 lbs. My hope is that Outdoor Vitals will make modifications to the Shadowlight. It would not take much effort to turn it into a better winter pack — slightly larger bottom side pockets, a bigger front pocket (no zip dividing it), and most important, adding the lashing points. I suspect that if they eliminate the upper side pockets and the zip, they can add the lashing points without gaining any weight.

Agreed! Upper pockets on a non external frame pack just seem odd to me. At the degree of experience needed to venture out in the snow, many will have fueled in their gear s as bud would ultimately not require upper external pockets. And as for the divided zippered pocket, that just does not bake sense! My first UL pack had no exterior pockets but 2 lengthwise pockets on the front that also actual made no sense either. Everything would fall out when unzipped and you had to fully unzip to get whatever was at the bottom! Hopefully they catch your review and consider the changes. Thanks again and look forward to your next review.

Great review. Related to the other comments I thought it was worth chiming in that the top side pockets, back zipper pocket, and divided back pockets are some the *the* reasons I moved to this pack after I borrowed a friends to test out for a trip.

I don’t often winter backpack, so the reasons for the feedback connected to that make sense, but since the pack isn’t designed just for that I figured it was worth mentioning.

Maybe we’ll all get lucky and they’ll release a separate version that leans into these concerns.

Thanks. I really like the comfort of this pack. It is a tight fit for winter gear, but it will do the job easily for 3-season snow camping. I used it for some July snow camping recently in Glacier Wilderness and now I am planning a 7 day hike on the PCT and I am going to use it for that.

Great review! Been looking for a larger pack. Looking between this and the hyperlight which is water proof. This says water resistant. How water resistant compared to the hyperlight?

I think Dyneema is waterproof setting aside the issue of seams. On the Hyperlite website, they include this upsell note with the pack “Pair with our Stuff Sacks for a buttoned up,
nearly waterproof kit.” So, I’m not sure Hyperlite packs are totally waterproof. Outdoor Vitals sells pack liners, which are fine, but my own approach it not to rely on one liner. Keeping my gear dry in winter is critically important. I put my gear in multiple dry sacks or plastic bags. All my night base layers and down pants are compressed in the same sack with the sleeping bag and my gloves and parka in another. There are many ways to get wet, such as high elevation mist and sublimation, falling in a stream, low-elevation persistent rain, and snow melt. I don’t want to rely solely on the pack itself to secure my gear from moisture. I have reached out to Hyperlite to request gear to test and review and they declined. The most direct experience I have with their packs is one of the regulars in our group acquired one and later switched it out for a Granite Gear pack because he said the Hyperlite was too uncomfortable for winter gear loads (probably around 28–32 lbs). I have used the Outdoor Vitals pack many times and found it comfortable with 32 pounds. The ShadowLight weighs in at 31.5 ounces and only costs $209.97 whereas the Hyperlite is 31.7–34.6 ounces and $350–425. For those reasons, the Shadowlight is preferable in my opinion. My only issue with the ShadowLight is 60L includes all the pockets. It is tight for colder winter trips when I need a bulky zero-degree sleeping bag. However, in shoulder season snow and summer it works well.

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