ProView – Thule RoundTrip 60L Review

Walking out the door for the ski hill, my hands are full. In one hand, my helmet serves as a makeshift basket, filled with mittens, goggles, and a beanie; in the other hand, my fingertips precariously grip my snowboard, hardboots, and a pocket snack with my finger. Sound familiar?

I’ll be honest. Before the Thule RoundTrip 60L Snowboard and Ski Boot Backpack, I thought ski boot backpacks were superfluous – why buy a backpack that’s just made to carry your boots to the ski hill and back? Can’t any old backpack or tote bag do the trick? I was proven wrong: the RoundTrip 60L solves the problems of getting out the door to the ski hill like no other. 

Best Use for This Pack

As an admin at an outdoor education company, guide, gear writer, and yoga teacher, my schedule is often jam-packed. Living in Mammoth Lakes, California – home to Mammoth Mountain – I also love nothing more than a midday ride break when I have an hour free in my work day. Getting out the door has never been easier than with the RoundTrip 60L. 

Having a single system for organizing my hardboots, helmet, goggles, sunglasses, beanie, snacks, earbuds, and layers has made the transition from curriculum-planning for outdoor education programs to an hour at the mountain more seamless than ever before.

The RoundTrip 60L Backpack is best used for keeping all your ski or snowboard gear together in one well-protected, well-organized location. The RoundTrip makes transporting gear to-and-from the ski hill a breeze. 

Features and Organization

Using this pack feels borderline glamorous – the Thule RoundTrip 60L Backpack is totally decked out with ski- and ride- specific features to keep all of your essentials in one place.

My boots are a size 23 (US 6), so the pack easily fits my boots in the main compartment with lots of extra room. I believe that this pack could fit much, much larger boots and still have plenty of room to spare. 

The goggle and helmet compartment is well-designed to protect your goggles and helmet. My only qualm was that I couldn’t easily store my goggles attached to my helmet in the pack. There is lots of padding to make sure that your goggles don’t get damaged when the bag is tossed into the car.

There was also plenty of space in the front pocket for layers. I used the side pockets for accessories and more clothing: gloves, a buff, hand warmers, snacks, etc. I appreciated the small, mesh interior pockets for organizing small items like a protein bar, gels, and squeeze-y applesauce packets.

Arguably, the most exciting feature of this pack is the integrated standing mat. When you unzip the main compartment, the flap can be put down on the ground to stand on while you change from slippers to ski boots. That said, I found that I was often unwilling to put my backpack down on the wet asphalt of the ski resort parking lot to use the mat.

Style, Vestatility, and Durability

This ski and snowboard boot bag is attractive and sleek. I loved the design – lots of clean lines, a simple color palette, and high-quality materials.

This bag is made for transporting ski and snowboard boots. I personally wouldn’t use it for anything else, since my ski gear will be living in it all the time, but it could also be used as a travel bag for other gear if your boots and helmet already have a home. While the versatility is low, this is a standout bag for its purpose.

Friendliness to the Earth

Thule is working to be an environmentally friendly company through durable design, sustainable material choice, and energy-efficient manufacturing. Thule set the goal of reducing CO2 emissions from their facilities by 65% in comparison to 2014, and to source 75% of their energy from renewable sources by 2025. Additionally, they committed to purchase electricity only from renewable sources, and by 2020, 99% of their energy originated from these sources. 

The Final Word

The RoundTrip 60L ski and snowboard boot backpack is a high-quality, well-featured pack. It’s well-organized with excellent ski- and board- specific features. Carrying the pack is a breeze thanks to the backpack straps, and the hard-sided construction makes me feel confident that my gear is well-protected. This pack is a must-buy for anyone working on the slopes to the weekend warriors needing a dedicated place to keep their ski or snowboard gear. This awesome pack has streamlined my resort lap lunch breaks to weekend travel. Stylish, streamlined, and effective, the Thule RoundTrip 60L ski and snowboard boot backpack has made its way into my quiver of gear favorites.

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