The ULA Catalyst Backpack is the biggest quantity backpack in ULA’s line of ultralight fashion packs with 75 liters of capability. Weighing 44.4 oz (1259 g), it’s a sturdy backpack that may carry an infinite quantity of drugs and meals, packed inside its predominant compartment or lashed to the outside. I affectionately check with it because the “U-Haul of the ULA product line as a result of it may carry a lot. That mentioned, the Catalyst is a superb light-weight pack possibility for individuals who plan to take prolonged journeys into the backcountry and wish a pack that may carry plenty of additional meals or water, a bear canister, cameras, fishing rods, and technical gear along with your regular backpacking gear. It’s additionally a superb pack for skilled guides who have to deliver additional gear.
Specs at a Look
- Complete Quantity: 4,600 cu in /75 liters (49 liters in predominant + extension collar)
- Rec’d Max Load: 40 lbs
- Pockets: 5 + Fundamental
- Load Lifters: Sure
- Hydration Appropriate: Sure (reservoir pocket bought individually)
- Bear canister compatibility: BV500, BV475, BV450, BV425 (all match horizontally and vertically)
- Cloth: 400d Robic nylon (a number of colours out there)
- Torso Lengths: 15-18″, 18-21″, 21-24″, 24″+
- Hip Belt Sizing: 26-30″, 30-34″, 34-38″, 38-40″, 42-47″, 47″+
- Gender: Males’s and Ladies’s-specific shoulder straps out there.
- See ULA’s Catalyst Product Web page for Full Specs
Backpack Pockets and Group
The ULA Catalyst is laid out like an ordinary ultralight backpack with a rear mesh pocket, facet water bottle pockets made with strong cloth, and a single tier of facet compression straps. It’s a roll-top pack (with none high snaps, velcro, or a stiffener) that may be secured to the edges of the pack with straps and buckled collectively on high. If the latter, the additional straps will be looped across the backpack to supply rear compression or act as an attachment level to lash gear to the skin of the entrance mesh pocket, which will be very helpful if you want to carry massive objects like snowshoes. There’s additionally a bit of webbing that runs over the roll high from between the shoulders to the highest of the rear mesh pocket, offering extra high compression for preserving the load below management.
Moderately than being sq., the underside of the pack rounds inward as a substitute of getting a sq. backside as a way to deliver the heaviest objects, sometimes positioned on the backside or center of your pack, near your lumbar again space the place they are often carried most effectively. Intelligent design.
The facet water bottle pockets are strong, not mesh, to guard them from abrasion and tearing. They’re additionally fairly massive and you’ll match 2 x 1-liter bottles in either side. Each water bottle pockets have drains at their base. The highest of every pocket has an elastic wire that may be cinched closed and secured with a wire lock to maintain objects from shifting or dropping out. Tall skinny bottles are simpler to succeed in and exchange than brief wider ones, like 1L Nalgenes.
The entrance of every facet pocket has a small gap you possibly can stick your hand into though that’s not the intention; it’s a part of the shoulder strap suspension system which terminates on the base of every pocket. However be forewarned, small objects can fall out of the facet water bottle pockets and shouldn’t be used for that kind of storage.
Like many ultralight fashion packs, the Catalyst has a full-length entrance mesh pocket that’s supreme for storing moist gear or layers you need quick entry to in the course of the day with out having to open up the pack’s predominant compartment. The mesh could be very wonderful and heavy-duty so it gained’t snag on protruding objects or tear. I sometimes retailer my rain gear, water filter, and an empty moist reservoir within the mesh pocket after I hike, or a moist rain fly, so I can pull it out simply to dry throughout relaxation stops and hold it away from my dry clothes inside the primary compartment.
Lastly, there are two massive zippered pockets on the outside of the hip belt, massive sufficient to retailer a hat and gloves, a smartphone, a digital camera, snacks, Aquamira bottles, bug dope, and such. The fronts of each pockets are hard-faced to stop tearing with heavy-duty zippers for sturdiness.
Backpack Body and Suspension System
The body, shoulder strap, and hip belt customization choices on the Catalyst and ULA’s different packs are what units their packs aside from most off-the-shelf backpacks you should buy at retail shops. Along with 4 torso sizes starting from 15″ to 24″ and 6 hip belt lengths starting from 26″ to 47+”, you possibly can additional refine the sizing and match of the Catalyst in a number of essential methods to get an much more customized match.
Body
The ULA Catalyst has a reasonably beefy body as ultralight fashion packs go, with two foam pads which can be glued collectively and two aluminum stays oriented in a V-shape that terminate in entrance of the hip belt. The pads and stays are tucked away in a zippered inside pocket and are accessible, however they’ll’t be used conveniently for a number of functions, like as a sit pad, and I’d go away them alone.
The aluminum stays are pre-shaped once you obtain the pack and can work as-is for most individuals, however will be eliminated and bent additional for a customized match. You may’t do that with most off-the-shelf backpacks or ones that don’t use a keep system. Bending body stays can considerably improve the match of a hip belt should you discover that it slips continuously or give your head extra clearance if it touches the highest of your pack. (See additionally: The way to bend backpack body stays).
If you want to carry the biggest Bear Vault 500 bear canister, it’s going to match horizontally within the Catalyst and the body stays and foam pad of the body will shield you from feeling its laborious edges. That mentioned, I discover it way more comfy to hold a BV500 vertically and to pack my gear round its sides. When positioned horizontally, the BV500 causes the edges of the pack bag to stretch tightly, pulling the shoulder straps aside which might trigger discomfort. When you can carry the canister horizontally in a pinch, it’s simply not terribly comfy regardless of the foam-padded body.
Shoulder Straps
Like ULA’s different backpacks, the Catalyst is on the market with conventional male (J-shaped) or female-friendly (S-shaped) shoulder straps…though plenty of males desire these S-shaped straps as nicely. I requested them on this pack to point out you what they seem like. The S-Form is sweet for folks with sloping shoulders or well-developed chests and may also help make the sternum strap (which slides up and down on a webbing strap) extra comfy. ULA packs are very talked-about with ladies backpackers for that reason.
Along with load lifters, the shoulder straps have entrance load lifter changes, which slide down the entrance of the shoulder pad to allow you to regulate the angle of your load lifters in the event that they’re too flat (a 45-degree angle is good). Most of those shoulder pad choices are often solely discovered on a high-end expedition or customized packs costing way more than the Catalyst.
Hip belt
The hip belt is on the market in a number of lengths impartial of the torso size of the backpack, making it doable to get a close to customized match. The hip belt is held in place with velcro on the back and front the place it runs by way of the pack body.
If you wish to fine-tune the torso size of your Catalyst, you possibly can elevate or decrease the hip belt by about 2″ by unsticking the velcro and transferring it up or down, adjusting the torso size within the course of. Reconnect the velcro – it holds solidly – offering yet one more strategy to actually dial in a private match with the ULA Catalyst. I by no means actually appreciated this characteristic on ULA packs till I used it on the Catalyst. It made an enormous distinction in load-to-hip switch after I needed to carry plenty of heavy gear and getting the best torso size was vital.
The Catalyst hip belt is sort of large and has two interlocking straps on either side that allow you to stress the highest and backside half of the belt to suit your exact physique dimensions The highest and backside straps on the hip belt are literally one strap (should you make the highest longer, the underside will get shorter). I often make the highest strap tighter than the underside, to stop the hip belt from slipping down over my hip bones. I believe the ULA Catalyst backpack has the perfect hip guess out there immediately amongst ultralight pack makers on this weight class by way of match, consolation, and cargo switch. It rides securely and comfortably over your iliac crest and gained’t slip even when you have a closely loaded pack. Observe: The Catalyst hipbelt is similar on the ULA Circuit and ULA Ohm backpacks.
The perimeters of the hip belt even have what are known as hip management straps that pull the bottom of the pack bag nearer to your again and assist dampen lateral sway when scrambling. That is essential for a high-capacity backpack just like the Catalyst to assist scale back momentum that may make you lose your footing and tumble when carrying a heavy load.
Exterior Attachment and Compression System
The Catalyst has two major mechanisms for compression, the roll high w/ high webbing strap for squishing your load down vertically, and a single tier of facet compression straps for pulling gear in the primary compartment nearer to your again and core muscle mass. When absolutely loaded, rigorously balancing the load contained in the pack and pulling the facet compression straps tighter leads to a better carry. At 75L, the Catalyst has a bigger capability than most ultralight fashion packs, and pack compression turns into extra essential than on smaller quantity packs.
In apply, I’ve additionally discovered it simple to retailer lengthy objects equivalent to fishing rod tubes and umbrellas within the facet water bottle pockets along with a water bottle, utilizing the one compression strap to maintain the longer objects secured towards the facet of the pack. However the facet pockets are so massive, you can retailer a lot bulkier objects in them like a one-person tent rolled up (held in place with the highest compression strap), though I’d advocate balancing the load on the opposite facet of the pack with one thing that’s equal in weight.
One space the place the Catalyst could be very sturdy is the flexibility to connect gear to its shoulder straps. That is nice on wilderness journeys the place you need to hold digital units or map instances inside simple attain. The shoulder straps include two plastic rings you can clip objects to and there are some daisy chain loops under the sternum strap on each side.
As well as, there are trekking pole holders (high and backside) on each side of the entrance mesh pocket that can be used to hold an ice ax.
Advice
The 75L ULA Catalyst is without doubt one of the largest ultralight fashion backpacks you can purchase that weighs lower than 3 lbs. It’s supreme for backpackers who want a high-capacity backpack to hold plenty of additional gear or provides into the backcountry however desire a minimalist-style backpack that’s all-function with little extraneous fluff. Like ULA’s different packs, the Catalyst is on the market with all kinds of torso lengths and hip belt sizes, so you may get an excellent match, with extra capabilities that allow you to tune the match to your private dimensions – actually a necessary when carrying heavier hundreds. The Catalyst can be a sturdy and confirmed pack for robust journeys, one which’s earned close to legendary standing amongst guides and backcountry adventurers. ULA additionally affords an enormous variety of customization choices on the Catalyst from colours and materials to additional straps to connect gear to the skin of the backpack. An much more abrasion resistant XPac or Extremely 24 Catalyst can be out there.
See additionally:
Disclosure: ULA loaned the writer a Catalyst backpack for this evaluation.
SectionHiker is reader-supported. We independently analysis, take a look at, and charge the perfect merchandise. We solely generate profits if you are going to buy a product by way of our affiliate hyperlinks. Assist us proceed to check and write unsponsored and impartial gear critiques, newbie FAQs, and free climbing guides.
