The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Halka 55 is a durable mountaineering and winter hiking backpack made with Dyneema Composite Fabrics. It’s outfitted as a gear hauler capable of hauling bulky winter and  mountaineering gear that is too bulky to store inside a backpack such as ice axes and crampons, foam sleeping pads and snowshoes. Unlike Hyperlite’s three season rolltop backpacks, the Halka has a floating top lid with a top lid pocket, a necessity for winter sports when fast access to extra gloves, hats, and navigation aids is essential.

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• Weight: 45 oz
• Gender: Unisex
• Size Tested: Large
• Type: Framed (two frame stays)
• Access: Top (Floating Lid Pocket)
• Pockets: 1 (just the lid, there are none inside)
• Waterproof: Yes
• Seam-taped: Yes
• Hydration-ready: No
• Materials: Woven Dyneema, DCH150, 210d Nylon
• MSRP: $425

Design and Construction

The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Halka 55 (a 70L version is also available) was first introduced at the end of 2024. It was developed in conjunction with Nepalese guides and is purpose-built for high elevation summit attempts but is easily adapted to winter backpacking and mountaineering.

Materials

The base of the Halka 55 is made with woven Dyneema

The Halka is made with a combination of Dyneema fabrics for enhanced durability and light weight. The base is made with woven Dyneema which is extra tough for resisting ground abrasion and punctures. rest of the pack body and lid are made with DCH150 which is a burly ultralight laminate made with Dyneema fibers, glue, and polyester, while the hipbelt, shoulder straps, and crampon holders are made with heavy-duty 210 nylon gridstop. While the interior of the pack is fully seam taped and the material is waterproof, I still recommend using it with a pack liner, if only because you’ll have some place to put wet and frozen gear instead of mixing it with your dry clothing and sleep system.

Backpack Frame

The Halka 55 has two pre-bent aluminum framestays which give it a maximum recommended load of 40-50 lbs. However, the pack does not have load lifters, a trait shared by Hyperlite’s other backpacks. The company has taken a lot of flack about this over the years, much of which is warranted. Load lifters become increasingly important as pack volume increases and can help bring a heavy pack closer to your torso and hips for a more efficient carry.

The back of the pack is padded so you don’t feel the framestays.

The back of the Halka 55 is lightly padded, a trait of Hyperlite’s higher volume packs. The pack has a removable hipbelt with a gear loop on the right for racking carabiners/climbing gear and a large zippered pocket on the left. The hipbelt can also be replaced with one that has two pockets or two gear loops depending on your preferences and needs.

I’ve found that the pack carries exceptionally well with a wide variety of loads, but Hyperlite’s packs have always fit me marvelously well in terms of torso length. All of Hyperlite’s packs have fixed length torsos so that might not be the case for you. if you find that you’re torso length is on the boundary between two sizes, my advice would be to size up. For example, I have a 18.5″ torso and always size up to their 19-21″ torso length (size large).

Compression Straps/Side Daisy Chains

Dual side compression straps make it easy to carry snowshoes and other bulky gear,

There are two tiers of side compression straps on the Halka 55 that are long enough to strap snowshoes or a foam pad to the sides of the pack, as well as four daisy chains running its length along its sides. I prefer carrying snowshoes along the side of my pack, closer to my torso, and these compression straps work well for that purpose.

Crampon/Ice Tool Holder

It’s difficult to secure crampons with the bungie cord and near impossible to do while wearing gloves.

The Halka has a crampon holder, ice pick sleeves, buckles, and shaft holders to carry a pair of ice tools or axes. Crampons are secured using a bungie cord which is permanently attached to the pack and quite difficult to use with bare hands, let alone when wearing gloves. I think the Halka would be better if Hyperlite had used an open crampon pocket here, which is a feature found on other mountaineering packs like the Black Diamond Mission, Cold Cold World Chaos, and Cilogear Worksack. The advantage of a crampon pocket is that it can be used when wearing gloves and can store other gear, such as microspikes. I’ve even stuffed a tent body in one to save internal space inside my winter backpack!

Extension Collar

The top of the pack has an extension collar for overloads.

The Halka also has a floating top lid pocket which sits on top of conventional drawstring extension collar. The extension collar is cinches tight on top and around its circumference with cord locks, which unfortunately are incorrectly sized and slide open when the pack is overstuffed. They’re easily replaced though. A Y-strap runs over the extension collar and can be used to hold a rope, pad, or bear canister if you use the pack during warmer months. One end is sewn to the front of the pack while the other two ends are attached to the pack bag just above the shoulder straps. It makes the top of the pack a little busy, but can be useful.

A Y-strap can be used to hold rope or other bulky objects under the floating lid.

Floating Lid

The floating lid/top pocket is a little bit more problematic. First off the pocket is really quite small and it is difficult to get more than an extra pair of thick fleece gloves and a hat into it. The pocket is anchored to the front of the pack with webbing straps that can be repositioned up and down the pack’s daisy chains. But the other side is anchored to the daisy chains on the top if the shoulder straps, which is a bizarre place to anchor a floating lid because it interferes with the fit of the shoulder straps, pulling them off the shoulders when you tighten the lid. The normal place to anchor a floating lid is on the pack bag above or to the sides of the shoulder straps, not on them.

The floating lid is attached to the top of the shoulder straps, which is kind of bizarre.

The straps that attach the floating lid to the pack are removable. Unfortunately, they can also fall off and get lost, which I’ve already experienced. Luckily the buckles are fairly standard, so you can replace them with webbing you have lying around fairly easily, but losing one of the straps on a trip where you don’t have access to a spare would really suck. I think sewing the straps to the pack and making them longer would probably have been a better design choice.

Winter Backpacks Comparison Table

Recommendation

The Hyperlite Mountain Hear Halka 55 is a waterproof mountaineering and winter backpack made with Dyneema Composite Fabrics with a floating top lid. It has a few quirks that are important to know about if you plan on carrying crampons or you’re prone to losing straps, but on the whole it’s a competent gear hauler with lots of external attachment points for hauling bulky winter equipment. Most of these are easy workarounds that you can MacGyver around with a little ingenuity, extra buckles and cordlocks. Still, the Halka 55 could use another iteration of refinements to debug these issues and make it more of a contender compared to the other tried and true winter packs that it competes with.

Likes:

• Daisy chains on pack and shoulder straps
• Multiple waist belt options
• Stiff carry w/ good load transfer to hips
• Waterproof material and seam-taped

Dislikes:

• Crampon holder is awkward to use
• Cordlocks slip on extension collar
• Floating lid straps are easy to lose

Disclosure: HMG donated a pack for review

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