Osprey Firn 18 Review

Compact backpack for skiing.

Lake Tahoe’s ski terrain ranges from 6,000 to 10,000 feet. Over the span of one day, temperatures can vary from 10 degrees F in the morning to the high 40’s by the afternoon. Ridge-top winds regularly exceed 65mph. A morning’s blizzard might give way to infinite blue skies and intense sun at noon, followed by more clouds, snow flurries, and flat light as another storm approaches in the evening. When skiing in these conditions I need a pack that helps me carry my ski gear and my essentials (including my wallet, phone, keys) and keep it all organized so I can avoid making multiple trips to the locker room or to my car throughout the day if I need dry gloves or different goggle lenses. At the same time, I don’t want to wear a heavy or bulky pack. Enter Osprey’s Firn 18 pack.

Sustainable and Functional

Made out of bluesign® approved, 100% recycled 210D nylon and lined with bluesign® approved, 100% recycled 70D nylon, this tough little pack looked so small and simple at first glance that I wasn’t sure it would work for multi-layer, multi-temperature skinning up and skiing down. I soon learned it was worth a longer look.

The Osprey Firn 18 pack is designed to fit like a vest, with wide, padded shoulder straps, a close-to-body fit, and a minimalist size. It’s an effective design. The straps do a good job of balancing the weight of a day’s worth of gear, and the pockets on the fronts of the straps provide easy access to important items, such as a beacon or phone on one side and snacks on the other side. 

I didn’t notice the Osprey Firn 18 pack at all while skiing or have any issues fitting into the chair lifts. I’m 6’2” and 200 pounds, so when I use a thicker, 30- or 40-liter pack, I take it off or rotate it to the front of my body on the lift to take up less room. I don’t need to do that with the Osprey Firn 18 pack. Even with a liter-sized thermos and a full backcountry kit, it didn’t feel like the pack was hitting the back of the chair and pushing me off the bench while riding on the ski lifts. Better for me, better for anyone who shares the lift with me.

Thoughtfully Organized

I’m impressed by the Osprey’s Firn 18 pack’s organization options. In addition to the pockets on the straps, the pack has three storage sections: a main compartment with full length zipper, where I stash most of my gear; a bottom compartment with side zip access for skins, crampons, or wet gear (accessible without removing the pack); and a full-length top compartment with a top zip that sits close to the framesheet (which is easy to remove if I want to reduce stiffness) and contains organizing sleeves for a shovel and probe pole, as well as an innovative ski leash (more on this below).

These are some of the essentials I take with me on early morning weekday ski tours and for weekend coaching: a one-liter thermos of Café Bombón (double espresso and condensed milk), extra mittens and glove liners, SPF 50 sunblock, a multi-tool, meat sticks, coaching notes, an insulated puffy jacket, a Gore-Tex shell, goggles and goggle lenses, my helmet, skin wax and scraper, a shovel, an SPF 50 balaclava, an avalanche beacon, a first aid kit, climbing skins, and a probe pole. Amazingly, it all fits into the Osprey Firn 18 pack!

Easy To Use

The Osprey Firn 18 pack has an easy-to-use ski carry system that I appreciate because it makes skin transitions more efficient. I don’t even have to remove the pack to store my skis.

The ski leash strap works by using a ski tie to bind the skis together at the tips and then dropping the tails through one of the two ski loops (which can be stashed out of the way into slots built into the bottom corners of the pack), then wrapping the ski leash strap around the top of the skis and clipping the ski leash strap into one of the shoulder straps. This was easy to do one-handed and offered a stable, balanced carry for touring/backcountry-weight skis. There are clips on both sides so it doesn’t matter if you are left- or right-handed. 

Sheds Moisture

I give the Osprey Firn 18 pack an excellent rating for durability. It has held up well over several weeks of skiing, with minimal wear visible. 

The pack material has a bluesign® approved DWR coating and a “snowshedding” back panel that was effective at keeping the pack’s contents dry during storms. Zipper tabs were easy to use with gloves on, the minimalist waist belt was easy to attach and detach over my bulky ski shell and insulation layers (and it easily snugs up out of the way when not needed), and the compression straps and helmet carrier were intuitive and easy to secure.

Bottom Line

You may not know that the word “firn” describes snow that’s been tempered and compacted through periods of melting and freezing for at least one full season on a glacier, on its way toward becoming a permanent, strong, icy part of the glacier. It’s not quite ice, but it’s more granular, harder, and more compacted than snow. Like its namesake, Osprey’s Firn 18 pack has been tempered and compacted, offering key features important to skiers without adding a lot of weight and hassles.

I think of the Osprey Firn 18 as my “go to” pack for fast half days on the climbing skin track or for keeping the day’s gear organized and close at hand when riding out storm conditions on the local chair lift. It’s a fantastic short trip/skimo pack. Wearing the Osprey Firn 18 pack is like bringing a little ski locker with me that is ideal for storing essentials and keeping them organized and accessible. To borrow E.B. White’s p.r. from Charlotte’s Web: it’s some pack!

Other features include: whistle attached to sternum strap, top compression strap that can be used as an axe stabilizer. 

Details

Sizes: S/M or M/L

Dimensions/Weight: S/M: 19.3H X 11.4W X 9.4D IN. 18 liters, 2.2 lb. M/L: 20.1H X 11.4W X 9.4D IN. 20 liters. 2.4 lb.

Colors: Elderberry Purple/Peppermint Green or Sandy Grey/Tequila Orange

$150 available for $129.61 at Amazon.