Best CamelBak I have owned. keeps water cold. excellent size for all day biking or skiing. The storage area fits whatever you need. (first aid kit, rain jacket,...)

This thing is perfect for a day of skiing at the resorts. The 2L reservoir is enough to keep my hydrated for a day and there's enough room in the pack to keep an extra layer or two. At the end of the day, it expands to contain my helmet, goggles, and gloves and extra crap on the way home. As with all winter Camelbaks, the Therminator harness (zip up shoulder strap) and insulated tube work well to keep your water from freezing, a long, cold day will require you to shove a hand warmer by the tube to keep things moving.

Wore it out in a snowstorm and it froze. You could see ice in the bite valve. To be fair, it was below freezing. Also, the leak proof bite valve won't leak when you have it on, but on several occasions the little shut off valve on it has come loose and it drained on the floor.

These are small beans, and easily avoided, but I expect more when these features are touted so readily.

This is the perfect pack for daytrips. You get your hydration w/ sleeve so the H20 doesn't freeze, it's slim enough if you want so it's not a pain to have on your back, but expandable if you want it to be for travel so you can stuff a buncha things in there. Only bad thing is the zipper pulls are minuscule so it takes some effort to get them but not enough for me to drop it to 4 stars.

I've had a chance to use this pack a few times now snowshoeing. Temperatures have ranged from the teens to thirties.

So far the valve hasn't iced up as some have claimed, but I'm sure it will if it's cold enough. I really like that the bite valve tucks into the shoulder strap. This will come in handy in the summer too. I've used camelbaks in desert environments and when the valve gets dirty I had to waste a mouthful of water to clean it off before drinking. This won't be a problem with it tucked away! It's very easy to refill while it's loaded with gear too since the access panel for the water bladder rests against your back and is separate from the main cargo pocket.

It's a very comfortable pack and when the sternum and waist straps are buckled it's very stable. With my other winter gear on I don't even notice the weight of it. The straps that Camelbak says are for skis or a snowboard also work with snowshoes, although it probably wouldn't work with traditional wooden ones or any others that are more than 10 or 11 inches wide.

The only downfall is that it's smaller than I had thought it would be. With it expanded I can fit the outer shell of my jacket, an extra pair of gloves and hat, some snacks, my camera and that's about it. If I had thought to look, I would have ordered the larger Hellion.

That said, it does the job it was made for quite well. It's perfect for throwing a couple things into if you're going on an afternoon snowshoe trek or day on the slopes with some room for an extra layer or two.

Great pack have not used it in cold temp yet but used it to bike and rock climb with and it was very comfortable to wear. Lots of room for extras. outside strap for helmet left room for other stuff when hiking out. only neg. a tab on a zipper pull came off the first time I used it but went right back on.

This is a great pack for a one day ski trip. It's a great size bag to hold everything you'll need before you make it back to your car at the end of the day. Holds plenty of water and an extra layer. If you're like me and tend to stray out of bounds at the edge of the resort you'll be happy you had room for your lunch in there too while you try to figure out how to get back inbounds. The ski loops work pretty well too so you don't have to carry your sticks "bundle o' wood syle." If you need more gear just expand the bag. Great piece of gear!

I've been using this pack for a while now, for hiking, MTB, skiing and just about everyday to bring my stuff into work. Unexpanded - it fits a decent amount of stuff. Within seconds its just about double the size. They need to make an Outlaw-Snowblast. :o)