CamelBak Skyline LR 10 Hydration Pack Review

The CamelBak Men’s Skyline 10 LR and Women’s Solstice LR 10 are lumbar All Mountain oriented packs and include new upgrades and features. The lumbar design’s lower center of gravity means more stability on bumpy trails and free upper body movement.

The innovative new dual-wing hip belt system offers amazing load-carrying stability, comfort, and ventilation. The packs feature a 10-liter capacity, a 3-liter Crux lumbar reservoir, a tool organizer roll, and functional pockets and storage compartments. The Skyline and Solstice LR (Low Rider) packs are light, rugged, comfortable, and carry the water and content weight securely down on the lumbar.

The Skyline comes in Black and Burnt Olive Kelp colors, while the Solstice comes in Black/Silver and Gunmetal/Blue Haze, and they both retail for $135.

Backpanel and Harness System

The backpanel utilizes a thin plastic stiffener sheet and has two raised vertical foam pads with a center airflow slot for improved breathability and conformability around the back. The foam pads also have additional horizontal ridges to further aid in ventilation. It utilizes an innovative dual-wing belt system, in which the inner belt transfers weight to hips, and the outer belt compresses the cargo. The inner ventilated hip belt is lightweight and breathable, while the outer has a foam stiffener and zippered pockets to offer quick access to items.

It features a 3D ventilated mesh harness that is lightweight and breathable and an adjustable sternum strap for a custom fit and increased stability. The reservoirs drink tube can be routed down either side, depending on preference.

Storage

It has quite a few useful pockets and compartments, including a large main compartment, a small top pocket, a front compartment, and two zippered hip pockets.

The top zippered pocket is ideal for small items, such as keys, chapstick, sunscreen, skull cap, etc. The front zippered pocket was useful for a wallet, small tools, wipes, gloves, and other smaller sundry items. It had one sleeve at the back for organizing flatter things. The hip belt has decently large zippered pockets on each side, optimal for a phone, a small camera, and snacks.

The main compartment has a nice long zipper and opens in clamshell-style for easy access, and it’s the central location I’d stick larger items, such as apparel, first aid kit, the tool roll, bulky things, and jackets. The back of the main has a large deep sleeve for the hydration reservoir, which keeps the bladder stable and secure.

All the pockets and compartments combine to give the pack 7-liters of storage space.

Reservoir

The 100 oz/3-liter Crux lumbar reservoir has an easy open/close cap system, a larger diameter hose for faster water flow, a leak-proof on/off lever, and a one-handed handle for easy holding.

The cap system is simple to take on and off without any binding issues or gasket sealing problems. The elongated ergonomic handle is easy to hold with one hand and ensures the reservoir stays wide open for a filling, and provides for a spill-free closing. Simultaneously, the cap flops away from the handle and stays completely out of the way to simplify filling and cleaning. A baffle runs down the middle of the interior to create a lower profile for improved packing and storage and prevent unwanted water sloshing. The Big Bite Valve is mounted at a 45-degree angle to an on-off lever that creates a simple and ergonomic way to shut off the water with one hand for an entirely leak-proof system. The tube connects to the reservoir with its Quick Link system, and it allows the drink tube to be easily disconnected and remain routed through the pack.

The magnetic tube trap system lets you stow your drinking tube in one easy click while riding. The drinking hose has a male clip with an embedded magnet, and that then mates with the female magnetic on the shoulder strap located by the sternum strap. It also prevents it from flopping around when you are bouncing along on rough terrain.

Impressions

The Skyline 10 LR carries over some basic designs from its predecessors, such as the functional lumbar attributes and shoulder yoke harness. They went back to the drawing board with this new model and totally redefined the hip carrying system, the pack’s shape, and storage characteristics. The lumbar design pulls the weight off the shoulders. It moves it to the lumbar and lower back and hips, offering increased stability and weight carrying characteristics, and draws the center of gravity close into the torso.

The back panel uses a flexible plastic stiffener for improved stability and load carrying attributes along with two raised 1/2″ thick vertical foam pads that are covered with a soft mesh, which offered plenty of plushness and comfort. Between the raised foam pads is a wide channel that facilitates air throughput for improved breathability and additional pack conformability around the back. The foam pads also have additional horizontal ridges along their length to aid in further ventilation, but it’s tough to tell how much difference they make. Even with the stiffener on the back panel, it still conformed well to the contours of your back, and it carried the weight in a balanced manner. Since most of the weight gets isolated and pushed down low on the back, the pack can sometimes get damp in that location from perspiration build-up.

The 3D ventilated mesh shoulder straps and the yoke harness helped stabilize the system and prevented any undue cross movement. The design allows more air to your upper back and shoulders.

The pack has a somewhat square internal shape though it’s still highly functional, making gear placement simple and easy. The shape means you organize items more horizontally. The main compartment had a convenient 2/3 length zipper, which opened along most of the pack’s length, allowing efficient access to everything without digging around for hidden items. However, I found it tough to restart the zippers when fully opened.  The main offered plenty of room, though it didn’t have any smaller sleeves or pockets within the compartment for further arrangement of things, and I placed larger bulky items in it, including apparel, a first aid kit, the tool roll, and jackets. The upper pocket was useful for small items that you didn’t want to lose in the large compartments, such as keys, chapstick, sunscreen, skull cap, lighter, a nightlight, etc. The front compartment is where I keep my wallet, tools, hand warmers, wipes, gloves, and other smaller, flatter items. The hip belt pockets were quite useful and decently larger, and though you could easily reach them, it was tough to see the contents sometimes. I placed my phone in one pocket and my point-and-shoot camera in the other.

You can clip a helmet onto the back yoke’s straps, but there isn’t anything on the main pack for attaching other gear. I squeezed my chinguard into the space between the dual-wing belt and then snagged the top parts to one of the hydration tube routing straps, which was quite useful. I would also attach my knee guards across the top pocket and use the same routing straps. Although you could attach things on the yoke, I would have preferred something on the main pack itself.

The real highlight of the Skyline 10 LR was the innovative and highly functional dual-wing belt system. The inner ventilated mesh belt wraps around the lumbar and hips and transfers weight to the hips to maximize stability. The outer belt trims in and compresses the pack’s load and pulls the center of gravity into the lumbar. The outer has stiffening foam for stability and zippered pockets to offer quick access to items. This dual-wing belt system keeps the pack stable and secured likes it Velcroed to your back, and it doesn’t bump around, even on gnarly terrain. Although the system has two belts, they are attached to the same main strap system, so when you trim in the load by pulling the outer belt, it makes a minor alteration to the inner belt’s snugness. The inner belt strap freely moves through the front buckle, while the actual adjustment comes back on the outers buckle by the pockets. As the water drains from the reservoir or you take out apparel, you can pull in the outer strap to trim the load to keep the pack stable and centered on the back.

The Crux lumbar reservoir worked extremely well, and the cap system was simple to take on and off without any binding or sealing issues, and the large opening is easy to pour into and clean. The large 3-liter/100 oz capacity was nice to have, as it made longer rides tolerable without resorting to carrying an extra water bottle. It was easy to take the reservoir in and out of the sleeve in the back of the main compartment, and the Quick Link made removing the hose effortless. The Big Bite Valve offered a smooth and quick draw of water, and the on-off lever was easy to use even on the fly. The magnetic tube trap system lets you stow your drinking tube in one quick click while riding, though I found the locations on the shoulder straps hard to use, so I ended up locating it on the sternum strap or I tucked it under the sternum strap and would forgo the system entirely.

Although the Skyline is a minimalist pack, I wish it came with a rain cover for use in inclement weather. I was usually able to toss the back of my rain jacket to cover it from the rainstorms’ brunt, though fortunately, the packs material seemed to shed most of the moisture. The pack has been durable and hasn’t shown any excess signs of wear, likely due to the rugged materials and excellent construction.

Photo courtesy of CamelBak

Bottom Line

I’ve been using the CamelBak Skyline LR 10 for almost a year now, and I love the innovative wraparound dual-wing hip belt with its hammock-like pull system. It keeps the pack stable and secure, and it doesn’t bump around on your back, no matter how rugged the terrain gets. The inner belt transfers weight to the hips to maximize stability, while the outer belt trims in and compresses the pack’s load and pulls the center of gravity into the lumbar. By pulling the water and gear down into your lumbar and not on your shoulders, it maintains a low center of gravity, so the pack seems to disappear on your back and adheres in a Velcro-like manner. The load trimming capabilities were handy when the reservoir started to shrink in size, and it was useful for doing customized load and fit trimming. With 7-liters of storage capacity, it offered plenty of room for most forays, and the 3-liter Crux lumbar reservoir performed admirably. I wish it came with a rain cover and offered some useful attachment points for armor and apparel.

The CamelBak Skyline 10 LR is an excellent All Mountain pack that is extremely stable and comfortable due to the synergy of the lumbar design, low slung reservoir, conformable back panel, harness, and extremely functional dual-wing hip belt system. It has become my go-to pack for the season.

Click here to purchase the CamelBak Skyline LR 10