Mountain Hardwear UL 20 Ultralight Daypack

A few of the staff members here at the store have this backpack by now and use it regularly, so we thought we better share our thoughts with the world! Here what we think:

What is This Pack Made For?

What's special about the Mountain Hardwear UL 20 day pack is that it's an ultralight pack that can be packaged into its little outside pocket, however it's not a flimsy travel pack like the Ultra-Sil Daypack by Sea to Summit. The Mountain Hardwear UL 20 is still a sturdy backpack made out of Cordura fabric and with an ice axe attachment, an outside bottle pouch, and a sternum strap, that can even get adjusted in its height.

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The Mountain Hardwear UL 20 in the wild

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This pack is made for all those who travel or backpack with larger luggage, and then need a sturdy day pack at their destination. The ideal application is hiking and/or climbing, but who says you can't take it to the beach?

For travel or storage, the Mountain Hardwear UL 20 is folded up into its front pocket. We were surprised at how easy it was to turn the pocket inside out and stuff the backpack back into it. Knowing other ultralight travel packs, we expected a wrestling match, but it never came to that.

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The UL 20 when packed up inside its front pocket

Ascending the Mountaineer's Route of Mount Whitney with the Mountain Hardwear UL 20

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The top of the pack has a flap and a sturdy handle, so you can use this pack to carry a rope. As mentioned initially, there are attachment points for an ice axe, too. 

There is an outside pouch on the left side with an adjustment strap for bottles, snacks or whatever else you choose to keep at hand. Unlike many other day packs' outside pouches, this one is not made of stretchy material, but the same Cordura fabric. The adjustment strap will make up for that, though. After getting used to the different design, we actually appreciated it, since the stretchy netting of many packs' side pockets tends to get holes really fast.

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The UL 20 fits snugly, works with hydration systems, and has an adjustable sternum strap

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The straps of the pack are measured very generously, so it will fit a petite female user as well as a fairly bulky male user. The sternum strap is adjustable and also removable if you wanted to save some extra weight.

How We Tested the Mountain Hardwear UL 20

We went on two trips where we backpacked to a base camp, then peak bagged from there. 

The first trip went into the Mt Whitney Zone, where we took our large backpacks up the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek and set up camp at Upper Boyscout Lake. From there, we took the UL 20 up Mount Russell via the East Ridge, and then up Mount Whitney via the Mountaineer's Route.

For the second trip, we hiked up the South Fork of Big Pine, camped at Brainerd Lake and then scrambled up Middle Palisade from there.

We packed the following items into the UL 20 for each mountain:

• 2 fleece sweaters
• 1 rain jacket
• gloves, beanie, neck warmer
• emergency sat messenger
• phone
• sunscreen, chap stick, hand sanitizer
• 2 liters water
• water filter with dirt-water bottle
• lunch & lots of snacks
• first aid kit, athletic tape
• helmet

With the helmet, we still had a little extra room left, but we could have also attached the helmet to the little loops on the pack's outside and gained so much more room for gear.

Durability

This is probably the most important point, since the Sierra Nevada's granite is infamous for literally shredding gear.

Mountain Hardwear is known for making durable stuff, and the UL 20 is no exception to that. The side walls are made of 210D Cordura, and the bottom consists of an even thicker 500D Cordura, so you get some extra protection when butt-sliding down 3rd class terrain.

This came in handy on Middle Palisade. The gullies of the Northeast Face consists of almost 2,000 vertical feet of 3rd class terrain, a lot of which were descended on our butts. The pack held up perfectly without even getting a scratch.

The Pros

• Very packable, it becomes the size of a freeze-dried dinner
• Lightweight
• Still fully functional pack: comes with water bladder compartment (and hole for the hose), 1 ice axe attachment point, 2 large webbing loops plus several tiny loops for more gear attachments
• Sternum strap, fully adjustable
• Side pouch can get cinched down and is also made of Cordura, not flimsy netting
• Easily folds back into its pouch

The Cons

• No back padding - your water bladder can make your back cold. We solved this by stuffing the rain jacket between water and back panel
• Not great for carrying a rope coil, since it's soft

The Bottom Line

The Mountain Hardwear UL 20 is a great "Jack of all Trades" pack for backpacking, traveling and any other place where you need a day pack in addition to some bigger luggage that you already brought with you. It has a surprising amount of features while still being very minimal. It's not going to replace our regular day packs, but we look forward to many more peak bagging adventures with our UL 20.

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Wearing the Mountain Hardwear UL 20 on the summit of Mount Russell

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