Women-specific Design

So much of the outdoor industry’s spin on women-specific gear feels like a pervasive marketing gimmick to “reach women” and “engage them in the outdoors”. Apparently, swirls, pastel colors and cute graphics are thought to be the clincher that seals the deal. Wrong!

When it comes to backpacks (and bike saddles), there is some validity. Compared to men, women tend have narrower shoulders, shorter torso lengths, and different hips (for some archaic, barbaric, biological practice called “child bearing”). It makes sense that backpack design is sensitive to that. But are narrow shoulders, shorter torsos and hip size limited to only a woman’s body type? No. There are lots of scrawny dudes and broad-built women out there. That being said, the Osprey Tempest 40 looks unisex in its design (until you put it on) and is mercifully devoid of swirls, pastel colors and floral graphics.

40 Liters Holds more than you Think

Until recently, I’ve been using the Osprey Tempest 40 as a long dayhike pack and summit pack. Let me tell you that it works amazingly well for that. However, it’s like owning a Porsche 911 and never exceeding 55 mph. It can do so much more! Like when I took it on a two-day solo hike on the Superior Hiking Trail for a 19-mile hike between Lutsen and Grand Marais.

Could I really carry enough gear in the 40 liters that make up the Osprey Tempest 40?

Weight

Fully empty, the Osprey Tempest 40 weighs 2.4 lbs. When it’s all packed for a two-day solo hike, with the basic necessities, it weighs in at…

Top-loading design

Front-loading vs top-loading will almost always be a subject for debate, even among the best of friends. There’s merit to each depending on the objective of the mission. But top-loading design, at least for me, means lighter weight and fewer failure points. We’re not talking five pounds of weight, more like mere ounces. But when you’re on an all-day hike or a multi-day thru hike, and you’re carrying a sleeping bag, tent, food, water, camp stove, etc, the extra ounces add up.

Zippers can also break. Should that happen when you’re days from civilization, whaddya do when all your gear tumbles out? Or the zipper jams to the point where you need the jaws of life and you don’t have a pair? For the record, the pro-front-loaders dis the pro-top-loaders because front-loaders are easy to organize and access that dry pair of socks smushed at the bottom of the pack without unpacking the entire pack to find. But us top-loaders mitigate this by packing with intent: Dry socks are packed at the very top.

Outstanding Organization

Floating Removable Top Lid

Like its bigger multi-day, top-loading sisters, the Osprey Aura AG 65 and Osprey Xena 85 (of which I have older versions), the Osprey Tempest has a floating removable top lid with exterior and interior zippered pockets. This where I stashed the items that I would need quick access to, like first aid kit, dry socks, phone, trail snacks, sunblock, rain jacket, rain pants, bug spray, etc.

Stretch Side Pockets

Another hold-over from the big sisters Aura and Xena are two stretch side pockets. I rely on these for holding a trail map, smartphone and, like any reasonable human hiker, a flask of brandy.

For a pack’s side pockets to be of value to a hiker relies on their position and depth. If they’re positioned in a way that you can’t easily access them while wearing your pack, or they’re so shallow that your contents fall out, they’re of limited use on a hike.

The Osprey Tempest kills it with the depth of the pockets. They’re deep, cavernous and my map and smartphone have no way of escaping unaided. I liked this. However, the angle of those deep pockets is straight up/down making it harder to access my map and phone while wearing the pack. I can do it, I just don’t always get it on the first try and it’s never pretty.

Main Compartment

The Tempest has a 40L main compartment. For an overnight hike on the Superior Hiking Trail, it held food for four meals, pillow, sleeping pad, change of skivvies, long-sleeve pullover, sleeping shirt/shorts, small ditty bag, fire-making supplies, camp stove, bowl, fork, spoon, trashbag, water purifier, biodegradable soap, camp towel, bear line, headlamp, book in addition to a handful of other trail necessities.

A convenient zipper located at the bottom of the pack allows you to gain access to items stashed in the pack first. In my case, it was the bear line and my sleeping bag. Osprey calls this zipper access the “sleeping bag compartment” but it isn’t an isolated compartment. Personally, I’d be happy to see this zipper go because it just adds extra weight.

Hip Belt Pockets

The Osprey Tempest 40 has two zippered mesh pockets on the hip belt. What I carry in these are items like lip balm, Swiss Army Knife and, like any conscientious person these days, a face mask. I encountered a few other hikers on the Superior Hiking Trail and that always invites opportunity for light conversation: Where did you start? Where are you hiking to? Are you from the Cities? Wow, love those colorful hiking socks! Because I’m not 100% certain I’m COVID19-free, I wear a mask to protect others.

Shoulder Straps

This is one of the spots where a women’s-specific design is appreciated. The Tempest 40’s straps are made with a soft foam that is not too thick, not to thin and are curved to create a nice and comfortable fit for a woman’s shoulder and chest. They’re also perforated to allow for ventilation.

Backpanel

The Airscape backpanel is unique in that it is comprised of a lightweight mesh attached to a backpanel of raised foam ridges in the design of an “accordion”. The shape of the ridges, coupled with the mesh, ensure good airflow between the pack and your back.

Hip Belt

The hipbelt is made with a soft foam that conforms to hipbones and allows for a comfortable load transfer. After four months of hiking with this pack carry varying weights, the hike that I noticed the comfort the most was on my two-day solo trek on the Superior Hiking Trail when the Tempest was loaded with 22.8lbs of gear and a full bladder of water. As with any pack it takes some finagling and tweaking of the shoulder straps and load balancer straps to find the sweet spot of comfort. Once I found it, the pack’s load was always well-dispersed and comfortable to carry for 8-10 mile days.

Size is Accurate

I have a 17.25 inch torso so I went with the S/M size per the Tempest’s official sizing for S/M (17”-20″). It was the right size. That means I have plenty of room to grow! If you ever wonder how to measure your torso length, check out this neat little vid from Backpacker mag.

What Could be Improved

As with most Osprey products, there isn’t much to improve upon. But I did find two things!

Kill the “Sleeping Bag Compartment”

It’s not a separate compartment so why add the extra weight and potential failure point of a zipper?

Add an Integrated Raincover

C’mon, Osprey. You’re really going to make me carry an extra rain cover??

Conclusion/Final Thoughts

To summarize the Osprey Tempest 40 in one word is easy: Amazing! It’s small enough to be a solid day pack for short or day-long hikes but it’s big enough for a two-day, self-supported solo hike, carrying everything you need, including tent, sleeping bag, camp pad, water and food. It’s a pack for a slow, meandering hike. It’s a pack for fast-hiking.

All the features are thoughtful, purposeful. There is nothing on the pack that is superfluous. In addition to the biggies that I listed earlier in this review, it also has stow-on-the-go trekking pole attachment system, a total of eight pockets situated in the most useful places, ice attachment loops (if you’re into that), emergency whistle on the sternum strap and the most wonderful feature of all? Osprey’s Lifetime Warranty.  

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What I Liked

Comfortable

First and foremost, I’ve never — ever — hiked with a pack this comfortable under a heavy load before. I truly used every last bit of the extended 70-liter capacity, carrying my gear, group gear, and, at times, three full bear canisters and clients’ gear. The extra padding around the lumbar spine meant that my lower back was protected from pressure points. The luxuriously padded hip belt kept my hips from bruising, and the similarly padded shoulder straps remained comfortable under 65+ pounds of gear, which is no small feat.

Mobility

Though parts of the Superior Hiking Trail are Midwest-style flat, the sections we covered in this clinic were some of the most rugged: ascents and descents, roots and rocks, and narrow trails on bluff edges required grace and balance. The weight distribution design kept the load secure where it should be, which is crucial with a bad SI joint, poor weight distribution can lay me out for days. It also meant that the pack never knocked me off balance while I was high-stepping up stone stairs or swinging over fallen logs.

Nothing inspires confidence on your first time in the backcountry like your guide wobbling under the weight of an ill-fitting, poorly-balanced pack before taking a digger on a root everyone else managed to gracefully step right over. The X-style aluminum internal frame is sturdy but flexible enough to never inhibit my movement, which is key when climbing over boulders and navigating roots and rocks.

Adjustability

The Variquick system ensures that the suspension system will work the way it’s intended, as a poor fit will negate any benefit. Take the time to make your pack fit correctly because with no fewer than 5 points for fine-tuning the fit of the pack, the Aircontact Lite is built to dial in the fit just right for your build. The long hip belt straps mean that you can have bodacious hips and still comfortably fit into the pack. The chest strap slides up and down with ease to accommodate bigger-chested backpackers. The SL women’s specific pack is already built with a shorter torso, but then it comes with the ability to adjust the torso length down to the inch, making this pack the traveling pants of the backpack world, magically fitting any woman who wears it. This also makes it a great option for a teen, as the length of the pack can grow with her.

What I didn’t Like

Access

With a top-loading pack this big, a side-access zipper would have turned the pack from Santa’s bottomless sack of presents into Mary Poppins’s bag: expansive yet well-organized storage[mm3] . With a sleeping bag in the bottom pocket, bottom access is impossible on the trail. Top access means dragging everything out of your pack and laying out a yard sale on the trail until you find what you need.

A side zipper would have stopped the unpacking and repacking. This means that accessing the medical kit to tend to clients involved sprawling bear cannisters, water filters, mess kits, and clothes onto the narrow trail in the dense forests of northern Minnesota. My apologies to anyone who had to hop-scotch around my belongings. At snack time or the beginnings of a rain storm, it’s important to have this bag packed very intentionally.

Hydration Pocket

Though I enjoyed having the hydration pocket and hose slot, the X frame arched into the pocket, meaning that fitting a full 3-liter bladder into the pack became an awkward game of Tetris I often lost. Stopping to refill and reposition the bladder meant emptying my pack and repacking it again.

Buckles & Straps

I am a big fan of side release buckles. I want to be able to easily remove and reattach the lid or straps to secure things to the outside of my pack. I missed having a sleeping pad compression strap and actually left my foam pad at home in favor of a more packable inflatable pad because I couldn’t attach my tent and my pad to the pack. I like using the lid as a rodent hang for items that don’t need to go in a bear canister, but even though the pack advertises a removable lid, I’m so clumsy with threaded buckles that it wasn’t even worth it to remove the lid from the pack. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I just really, really need to get better at threading buckles properly. Maybe this isn’t a problem for you. Please teach me how to thread buckles properly!

Final Thoughts

This pack addresses one of the biggest issues I have with the outdoor gear industry: actually designing gear for women’s bodies. It’s highly adjustable and incredibly comfortable. It’s simple enough to be a great introductory pack for a beginner or a no-frills and streamlined pack for a more experienced trekker. It will easily handle 4 – 7 days on the trail with its roomy body and pockets, and the first few days of heavy weight are easily managed with the comfortable design of the pack. At 4 lbs 3 oz, it’s not for the ultralight backpacker, but it’s actually quite light considering all the padding and the size of it. I’m looking forward to taking this pack on my upcoming mountaineering trips (it even has ice pick loops). I know it can handle the extra gear.

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