A typical day of resort skiing along the Front Range in Colorado usually starts off with an early morning start, two hour drive, parking anywhere from a few feet from the base of the mountain to over a mile away and sometimes dressing in the car. The rush of getting to the slope sometimes means that your gear is strewed all over the car, which inevitably means that something will be left behind. At the 2012 SIA show in Denver, the Massachusetts company, Kulkea, is debuting a new backpack to help transport your all of your Alpine gear from the car to the slope in one backpack. The new Ski Trekker is designed to not only hold your boots, helmet and gloves, but also your skis.
The unique feature of the Ski Trekker is how balanced the pack is when loaded. The boots each fit in separate pockets, one on each side; while the skis slide down through the center of the pack. The skis are held in place by straps and a ski ‘boot’ similar to those seen in some automobiles. This ‘boot’ or sleeve keeps the skis from slamming the back of the legs while walking with a loaded pack. If the weather turns damps, a sleeve fits over the skis covering the top opening of the backpack.
It may seem that the ski sleeve design would make the loading of this pack difficult, but that is not the case. Stand the Ski Trekker on the ground, place the skis in the opening of the pack, lift the pack up around the skis and secure them in place. As easy as it sounds, the loading procedure is best demonstrated in the video. Video after the jump