Budget-Friendly Ski Pack Offers Fast Tool Access: Pingora Vivid 27 Review

Backcountry ski packs aren’t just useful pieces of gear; they’re essential. Skiers and boarders venturing into the backcountry need to carry an avalanche shovel and probe and have quick access to them. Any pack that makes it easier and faster to access those tools is a winner.

The Pingora Vivid 27 was designed specifically around avalanche tool access and prioritizes that function. It’s also versatile enough to be used by skiers or split boarders. I received a testing sample of this pack earlier in the ski season and have brought it on day trips into the backcountry on numerous occasions.

My favorite part about it? Pingora is challenging the way packs are manufactured. It designs its entire lineup of packs with high-end deadstock textiles to reduce the environmental footprint of its gear. 

In short: The Pingora Vivid 27 L Backcountry Ski Pack ($190) was designed around fast avalanche tool access. It has useful internal pockets and a unique ice tool carry system. It can be used for both ski carry and splitboard carry. Backcountry users who want a budget-friendly daypack for strike missions in the backcountry will appreciate Pingora’s design despite some shortcomings with its external pockets.

Check out GearJunkie’s guide to the Best Ski Backpacks.

Pingora Vivid 27L Backpack Review

To start off, the Vivid 27 is a fairly straightforward backcountry ski daypack following a classic design but with some notable improvements. The features that I would consider standard on a backcountry pack are a dedicated avalanche tool pocket, zipper-opening back panel, and some form of ski carry and technical tool carry.

The Pingora Vivid 27 covers all these bases nicely and has a few extras that I really liked.

Avalanche Tool Compartment

A subtle but nice feature of the avi tool pocket on the Vivid 27L is the straight-down zipper design. It is possibly the fastest and simplest avi tool pocket I have used in terms of the speed of accessing gear.

The zipper has a bright red tab that stands out from other zippers on the pack. When you grab it and pull it down, it exposes the shovel and probe compartment for quick entry.

There are no bends for the zipper to get caught on. As soon as you pull the zipper down, your probe is angled out for quick deployment. That’s a great feature, considering your probe is the first tool you need to grab during a rescue scenario. 

The fast access to the avi tool compartment earns this pack high marks. That is far and away the most important function of a backcountry pack, and Pingora nailed it here.

Full-Zip Back Panel

A full-zip back panel has become relatively standard on backcountry ski packs in recent years — and for good reason. When you’re on the skin track and want to pull something out of the bottom of your pack, it’s far easier to spin the pack around, unzip the panel, and grab what you need. You don’t have to take the pack off, nor do you have to dig around blindly for what you’re looking for.

The oversized YKK luggage-style zipper on the Pingora Vivid 27 operates very smoothly and consistently without snagging. A tidy zipper storage pocket is tucked on the inside of the back panel, which is a perfect spot to keep a ski repair or first-aid kit handy. I have no complaints on this front. The back panel access is simple, and it works!

The 27L pack size is just about perfect for a single touring day, where I typically carry a small first-aid kit, extra gloves, a small puffy, a hot tea flask, and a lightweight shell. 

Ski Carry

Similar to many other ski packs, the Vivid 27L accommodates both A-frame and diagonal ski carry. The lower slot for A-frame style carry has a large oversized loop of durable fabric sewn in instead of a simple small piece of webbing. While it will certainly protect your pack and straps from wear and tear, it does mean you have to slide your skis in to secure them in the A-frame.

The upper strap is standard 3/4-inch webbing, with a webbing lock built into the buckle so that it won’t loosen over time with the heavy weight of skis.

It is also worth mentioning the A-frame carry straps can also be oriented to carry a fully assembled splitboard for bootpacking, which is a nice touch for the single-plank crowd. 

The diagonal carry is a slight improvement from the standard design. The Pingora Vivid 27’s straps for diagonal carry tuck neatly away in the pack and behind a zipper on the shoulder. That keeps them out of the way when you don’t need them and makes them available for use and easy to deploy when you do.

Technical Tool Carry

I didn’t have a chance to test the technical tool carry while I was booting up spring couloirs. But the Vivid 27L can carry two technical Petzl Gully-style tools. It uses small metal pieces that pass through the heads of your tools and leverages the A-frame strap to secure the handles. 

Useful Additions

Let’s start with the good and discuss a couple of nice additions that improve the Pingora Vivid 27’s usability.

First, the uppermost pocket of the pack contains a lined zipper pocket meant for carrying goggles or sunglasses. I found it works nicely for that or as a simple organizer for easy-to-grab items. You can keep your radio, ski straps, car keys, or snacks together instead of throwing them loosely in the rest of the pack. 

Additionally, the helmet carry system integrates nicely with the pack. It is a detachable net bungee with an oversized carabiner for easy clipping and unclipping. In practice, I found it easier to forego unclipping the carabiner and just shove the helmet onto the pack. Overall, these features are still relatively standard but improve the Pingora Vivid 27’s usability.

Pingora Vivid 27 Comfort

Ski packs, like climbing packs, demand a lot of attention to ergonomics for the optimal experience. I found the Pingora Vivid 27 to be middle-of-the-road as far as wearability. It wasn’t uncomfortable by any means, but it wasn’t particularly better than anything else I’ve worn either.

It has a very narrow shape and bulges a bit uncomfortably when packed full. That’s something I haven’t experienced with other specific ski packs, but again, it is a relatively minor gripe. At 27 L, this is also essentially a daypack for quick strike missions in the mountains. Stuffing it to the gills with equipment makes it deform a little, as any pack would.

Room for Improvement: Pockets

One of the main features I was looking forward to with this pack was the chest strap pockets. It’s a design borrowed from trail-running vests and one that’s becoming more across a variety of backpacks. However, I unfortunately found them relatively useless for a few reasons. 

There are two shoulder strap pockets. One is a full zip with a non-stretch fabric, and the other is an open stretch pocket designed for soft flasks. The zipper pocket has a small pouch inside, just big enough to fit a Garmin inReach mini or your trash from snack bars, but not much space otherwise. With an iPhone 16 Pro-max, I could barely zip my phone into the pocket, although a smaller phone would probably work.

The non-stretch fabric is the real killer here, though. With the shoulder strap bent, it will not fit more than a bar or two (or your small phone). 

The stretch pocket is a similar story. The shape of the stretch material sometimes lets the soft flask flop out of the pocket rather than cupping it nicely with ample room at the bottom and a tight top to hold the lid in. This happened to me during testing. I eventually stopped using this pocket because I was going to lose my soft flask. 

The final pocket that’s too small is the single hip belt pocket. Again, this pocket is made of a non-stretch material and is too small. I can only fit a tiny tube of sunscreen and skin wax in there, much less a few bars or a pocketable camera as I do with my other packs’ hip pockets. It’s a good try on Pingora’s part, but it’s just not as usable as I would like.

Pingora Vivid 27: The Final Word

Perhaps the biggest selling point for the Pingora Vivid 27 is its value. At just $190, it is a really good choice and better than its closest competitor, the Black Diamond Patrol 25L. Compared to other packs on GearJunkie’s guide to the Best Ski Backpacks, only three out of 14 packs are cheaper.

Pingora’s commitment to sustainable design using deadstock (recycled) technical fabric is also a great trend. I would like to see more of that from other brands in the outdoor industry to minimize the environmental impact of the gear we buy. It doesn’t improve the pack’s performance but adds to its value and makes a statement about the brand’s environmental ethos.

I’m sincerely eager to see Pingora grow as a company and hopefully create some innovative products in good fashion. The Vivid 27 Backcountry Ski Pack is a feature-rich pack for a good price. Despite my minor gripes about pocket sizes, this is still an exceptional backcountry pack that’s well worth checking out.