Advice for a 2-3 day pack?

Deuter has not been mentioned. Wonder if anyone tours with one?

I used the Deuter Pace 30 over two plus seasons. It's very tight for overnighting but works well as a side country or daypack. The weight is right too.

The Pace 30 has a strange suspension system that uses a pencil-thin piece of plastic bent in an arc. eventually the ends wore through the pack material. It's still usable but lacks any semblance of a frame. That said I would probably buy Deuter again, and definitely for use in a capacity that would expose it to less abuse.

I'm now in the Mountain Hardware Direttissima 46. This bag seems ideal, but I have had one minor stitching blowout after a couple months. I'm still pleased with it, and very impressed with its versatility.

Step up and get a McHale

I wondered when you would weigh in with that advice

+1 on the BD Anarchist with avalung.
Great pack, ski specific...good shovel/probe pocket in front....good ski carry mode.

IMHO a ski specific pack is the way to go....I come from a mountaineering background and used mountaineering packs initially.... they were good but hard to beat a pack that has been specifically designed for avy gear storage and ski carry...these things become very important during a long tour and for efficiency.

Plus built in avylung does afford you some safety measures that other packs can't.

my 2 cents.

My current multi-day pack is the Deuter ACT 65. It's been fantastic. It's really held up even with skis and boots on it. The ACT Lite just uses lighter/less durable fabric, which I've found to be incredibly worthless on several other packs. Besides seams failing, the lightweight fabrics just puncture or tear a lot more frequently.

There's a few companies that provide recommended weights for their bags, that's a nice place to start. It's really uncomfortable (and trendy!) to squeeze a multi-day trip into a 30-40L pack. If that's not your deal then there really aren't many packs that provide 60-70L and a designed ski carry. But many of the bigger packs can be rigged to carry skis AND they cinch down really well.

I find it helpful to lay out all the stuff for a day trip (avy/skinning stuff), then add winter camping for 3 days, then think about adding 10-30lb of skis & boots. Maybe 40L is all you need, congratulations!

It's really uncomfortable (and trendy!) to squeeze a multi-day trip into a 30-40L pack. If that's not your deal then there really aren't many packs that provide 60-70L and a designed ski carry. But many of the bigger packs can be rigged to carry skis AND they cinch down really well.

I would love to only need a 30-40L Pack, but honestly, I've never been able to figure out how everyone goes so small safely, I must need more practice. I have a Dakine Guide pack that I had dreams of going lightweight overnight with. My Mountain Hardware 0 degree synthetic bag with a compression stuff sack practically fills it by itself (3000 Cu inches, 45+ L)! The small pack crowd must be using less bulky sleeping arrangment and know more tricks than I . . . I certainly don't carry coffee grinders or anything that I consider nonessential.

I use a Cilo 30:30 "GS" as an everyday to 2-3 day wintertime pack. For overnights in the winter, attention to minimalism is requisite,  perhaps with a willingness to shiver. I used a 60L for everything from daypack to multiday pack 2008-2011, and it worked well (~200 days to worn out). To do it again, I'd go with the 45L instead of the 60. Good packs.  I love the reconfigurable straps; not everyone does.

Chat with Graham about fit if you're uncertain between sizes. Email response from Cilogear isn't fast, but it's thorough.

I haven't used one, but they offer an avy-tools thing that attaches to the D-clips. For ski carry, check out their set of youtube videos.

I own and use the shovel pocket, it's super durable and makes me feel a lot better about using a 60l bag as a ski pack (i don't like the thought of fishing through a huge tube to find the probe at the bottom).

As for avilung packs, i've been zip tying my avilung onto my shoulder straps for three seasons now w/o issue. It's the best of both worlds, you get the avilung, and the pack you actually wanted. I doubt BD get's behind my modificaiton, but I was finding that I wasn't wearing the avilung 2 very much because of the on and off hassle, and zip-tying it on resolved that issue.

re: diagonal carry - It's pretty easy to rig up a diagonal carry system with just the straps that come with the packs.