Good pack for on the hill skiing!Just enough room to fit your backcountry gear,lunch,and a small water bottle.
A light sturdy pack for short backcountry ski tours.
I used it for free ride mountain biking to!

I've used to pack for skiing for a couple of seasons now and have been quite happy with it. The sleeve for the hydration is bladder is excellent as it is a separate compartment that that unzips (2 zippers) on the side through the entire length of the pack and the shoulder straps to allow you to easily to insert your bladder and tube. It also allows you to zip up the entire tube inside the shoulder strap to prevent the water inside the tube from freezing over. To reach for a drink you can easily unzip part of the shoulder strap to pull the tube out. The pack is large enough for daily ski accessories - goggles, spare gloves, light fleece, food, etc - but retains a low profile, so it's comfortable on the chairlift.

There are a couple of issues however. First, the skis need to be attached diagonally across the back of the pack - at the top, the strap securing the skis can sometimes slip, causing the skis to drop to a more horizontal position .... not great when walking through crowds in the village. Second, the straps are too long - this problem is exacerbated by having different straps for snowboard and skis.

Overall, I would recommend this pack, but it is more suited to a snowboarder than a skier due to the first issue mentioned above.

The Chugach is a decent bag with some pretty nice features. Hydration sleeve is well designed and the pack is decently comfortable even on a chairlift, but it is only very good on-piste or in the sidecountry.

Unfortunately, the ski carrying is system (and everything else) is limited by size. Any ski wider than 90mm or so will not fit in the ski carrying system. I have Volkl Mantras and they don't even come close to fitting. Also, snowboard straps will piss off most skiers as they get in the way of fully opening the bag. Also, expect to fit only goggles, gloves, a midlayer, hydration, and some personal items. This bag is very small.

The Chugach is a great day pack. It won't hold much gear but it will hold it securely and in style.
Needless to say, The North Face has paid attention to the smallest detail and the construction is sturdy and functional.
I would definitely recommend.

this bag has so many pull straps its ridiculous. it's not the straps that's the problem, but the length of them. they are all so long. even when i have stuff in this pack the bottom is still dangling like an octopus. u cant tell this in the picture because they tie them off with a rubber band. i think i am going to return mine..

Well it's still too early in the season to discuss how The North Face Off Chute's little brother holds up but here goes on my preliminary thoughts:

Plusses: size and comfort are both great. The ski sling, board sling, zippers and buckles and hydration compartments show the typical TNF attention to quality. Easy to get in and out of and not too uncomfortable to sit in even on a chairlift.

Minusses: Weight. It's heavier than it needs to be, especially as it has both a ski and board sling. I don't board and I'll probably razor the board sling off. Too bad.

It's a pretty decent pack, nothing special. I'm not a very big fan of the top snowboard strap because you have to unbuckle it every time you want to get into the pack. Also I will probably end up cutting most of the straps shorter because they are all pretty long. It fit's pretty well to my back and has a low profile which is nice for me. Seems like it would work well for carrying a laptop as well.

It is a great pack, I use it for school and for snowboarding even though I am yet to take it up snowboarding it does hold my board securely and it works great for carrying a laptop. Doesn't hold too much stuff but it does get the job done for a day pack. Very versatile and if you want to score some hotties get this backpack!