Review: Black Diamond Crag 40 Backpack
I’ve had the same Crag 40 backpack for about eight years now. I got this pack for free, in 2017, when I was an intern at Rock and Ice magazine. (Thanks Francis!)
Like the other gear I review here, I don’t really care to yap about something or take the time to post it if it’s not bomber. This is the best backpack I’ve ever owned. Zero question. Done.
crag 40 on my back (me, left) goofing around while hiking some peak in New zealand. 2019.
I get a lot of packs simply by nature of being an outdoor journalist who gets a lot of offers to test gear, but this pack has remained the pack. If you’ve done any trip with me in the past eight years, you’ve seen this thing on my back. It rocks. If it’s an international assignment, I’m bringing this pack. I fly with it, I hike with it, I climb with it, I ride motorcycles with it. I walk around cities with it. I take it with me to the coffee shop across the street from my apartment most days to work.
I took this exact pack up every 14,000-foot peak in Colorado and California—and many other peaks here and there—and on dozens of trips around the world, from New Zealand to Peru to India.
posing like an absolute goofball on Mexico’s third-highest peak, Iztaccihuatl (17,159ft), with the Crag 40 on my back in 2018. i remember thinking this pic was gonna look so badass at the time… christ.
At 40 liters, it’s big enough to carry my gear for a two-week assignment and—on occasion—I can get away with doing ultralight overnight camping trips with it. It fits my motorcycle helmet. It fits a 60m rope and then some. It fits a case of beer. It fits a (small) tent. It fits a dead body (jk).
It fits nearly 20 bushels of bananas, if you get creative. Ask me how I know that.
NOTE: Black Diamond seems to have updated it with these gray-orange colorways, my pack is just basic jet black all around, but the build looks the same. IDK.
walking through El Yunque rainforest in puerto rico with my crag 40, 2019.
Durability: 5/5 Off the Charts
I don’t really know how to quantify how durable the Crag 40 is, because it’s just obscene how long I’ve had this thing and how much weird shit it’s been through.
In 2018 I slid around 200 feet down an iced-up gully on Ecuadorian volcano with this pack on my back—basically acting like a sled—and the pack was fine. Fine! Some scuffs, not even a hole. Miraculously, my summit beer (which was in a glass bottle wrapped in my t-shirt) wasn’t even broken. I drank it once I reached the trailhead.
I crashed a motorcycle in Peru with this pack on my back and (aside from the mud) it was fine.
This pack is still fine today, sitting on top of the table in the coffee shop where I’m writing this. It has a ton of scrapes and some of the inside is starting to flake off, but I’m going to take it tomorrow up into the Palisades to traverse Thunderbolt to Sill.
I honestly believe (and I’m not being hyperbolic here) that I’ve hiked at least 3,000 miles with this pack on my back, if not more. It’s been everywhere — at least 25 different countries and pretty much every biome you can think of. Desert scrambles, glaciated peak climbs, rafting trips, jungle treks, beach camping… Name it. A rat got inside it once, but that was my fault for leaving the drawstring open. The rat ate my food but didn’t mess up the pack, luckily. Nice!
with the crag 40 , at my feet, in chile, torres del paine, in 2020. — hiked overnight / camped for several days w/ this thing and 40 liters was OK!
All the buckles still work, all the straps are fine. Part of one strap got burned on a Harley-Davidson exhaust in Macedonia, but that was my fault and the strap is OK.
Design: 5/5 (if you don’t mind minimalism)
This pack is pretty basic. It’s a giant compartment, with a small internal mesh pouch and a larger external pocket (both zippered). There are haul loops at front and back, and a buckle "flap" up top, so you can strap a rope or rain jacket or sleeping pad or whatever to the outside. There’s also a full-length side zipper so you can get at the inside of it easily.
When you put stuff inside it, it all kind of just jumbles together, so it’s not the “best” when it comes to keeping things organized, but I don’t really mind that. It sort of is calming to me, to just have all my stuff in one place. For my small essentials, like phone, wallet, keys, passport, headphones… the little mesh pocket works fine. Paperwork, notebooks, visas, etc go in the front pocket.
crag 40 on my back before crashing a honda CB500X in peru. 2022(3?) here’s a story about that if you want to read it: https://www.climbing.com/travel/peru-mine-threatens-climbing/
Not a lot of bells and whistles here, you pretty much just shove everything in it and go. But … it works. Zero complains. The straps and waistbelt aren’t padded at all, but they lock-in and offer really good support. I can carry a pretty heavy load (I’ve put upwards of 40-50 lbs in here probably) and it does the job. If you like padded hipbelts, don’t get this pack.
crag 40 on my back in colorado maybe 2022. some peak. i don’t remmeber. weird facial expression tho! hah.
Price: 5/5
Like I said, I got it for free, but hell I’d pay $150 for this easy. no question. How many packs do I have that have lasted eight years of almost daily use? None. Not even close. High marks! check it out - or don’t - IDC.
i’m not writing these to make money, just to share my favorite gearrrrrr!
crag 40 on my back (underneath the shitty gas station poncho) in Ireland.
