Dakine Heli-Pro Girls Backpack
January 27, 2008
I read many raves about this pack. Its size, the features, the fit, the special padded pocket for goggles – sounded gimmicky. “It can’t be THAT good” I thought, and as I pulled it out of the delivery box I was a bit underwhelmed. “This is the uber pack that everyone’s talking about?” I thought. That feeling didn’t last though, and whelming took over as I started loading the pack up with all my stuff. The whole process can be summed up in this thought process: “This pocket is for what now? Oh, my goggles. They can’t possibly fit in that pocket, no way. See? Won’t fit. Wait, they do fit, and perfectly.” Substitute “probe” “shovel” and “other stuff” for “goggles” and you have a play-by-play of what it’s like to load this pack up. Everything somehow just fits just where it’s supposed to go, and juuuuuuust right. The pack carries well; it sucked right into my back and stayed put while skiing and skinning. I have a rather short-ish upper body and a small waist, so it’s hard to get packs that fit, but this one was great. It didn’t shift or flap, and the waist belt actually hit my waist instead of my hips. There was plenty of strap left to cinch down for those elfin types, and the excess straps tucked away so they didn’t flap in the skiing-induced breeze. The pack also features a cool-as-ice emergency whistle integrated into the chest strap, ice axe/shovel handle sleeve, diagonal ski carry, and an insulated reservoir sleeve. You can also carry a snowboard with this pack but I didn’t try that out.
A few minor quibbles: As I found out the hard way during an avalanche rescue training, the deployable avalanche gear pocket does fit probes and a shovel; but it fits so well that if the main compartment is loaded with other gear, it’s hard to get the shovel blade out. Luckily there were no video cameras present to catch the scene of me scrabbling at my pack, trying to get my shovel blade out of the front pocket. So be warned: if you need it fast and have a full pack, you might have to strew the rest of your gear out into the snow just to get your shovel out of the pack. Best to practice deploying your avalanche gear to make sure you can get it when you need it.
The pack also has a much-lauded hip belt padded camera pocket, which sounded and looked super cool until I found that I couldn’t reach it well enough when I was actually wearing the pack. I could get the camera out, but getting it back in and rezipping the pocket was a shoulder-torquing exercise in frustration. The pocket just sits too far to the side on the hip belt, and it can’t be shifted. Oh well; just a minor flaw in an otherwise incredibly well-designed and comfortable pack. The extra features are so well executed that when one doesn’t quite work out the way it was meant to, it just makes me sad that I’m not able to put that feature to use. I’ll expend my frustration by blowing the hell out of that super cool whistle, just to irritate my neighbor’s dog.
Comments
One Response to “Dakine Heli-Pro Girls Backpack”
I have been looking everywhere for this exact pack (I love the color!) but I can’t find it in stock anywhere. Where did you get it??
Thanks!
K