When you’re traveling in the winter, a good ski bag is more than a piece of luggage – it’s peace of mind while your precious powder boards make their way across thousands of miles of travel.
You shouldn’t trust your investment in winter adventure – good powder skis are expensive – to a bargain bag or case. We discovered Norwegian brand Db Equipment, and their Douchebag Ski Bag earlier this season. Once we stopped giggling at the name (yes, they’re completely serious), we discovered that it is one of the most functional, well thought out ski haulers in the business.
The Douchebag $249
It used to be that with a ski bag you had to choose between protection and lightweight. Hard cases were the most practical for cross-continent hauls, but are incredibly unwieldy and heavy. Likewise, soft cloth cases are easy to use and store, but can leave your precious ski touring kit in pieces if you encounter the wrong layover. The Douchebag solves this with their Rib Cage construction. A series of alternating foam and hard plastic reinforcements gives the bag enough padding and structure to protect skis, without adding extra weight.
The Douchebag further adds to the pack body with an innovative hook and ladder-lock closure. Essentially, you can roll the top of the bag down from 200cm fully extended (long enough for all but extreme lengths of downhill racing skis) to a completely compressed roll. For skis shorter than the maximum, this rolled top adds padding for one end of your skis, while the reinforced, hard bottom securely holds the other end. The padding and length customization effectively keep your skis from rattling around, which is when most damage could be done.
Access to the bag is easy, as two three-quarter length zippers open the top panel for easy loading and unloading of your skis and gear. We easily fit two pairs of skis and all our outerwear in the bag with no problems. If you’re traveling alone, with one pair of skis we even fit our boots and helmet (although we prefer to never check our ski boots). In short, the Douchebag is the easiest to use, and most well thought-out ski bag we’ve ever come across.
The Hugger $159
We regularly travel with camera gear (GoPros, DSLR, tripod, and lights), avalanche safety gear, and of course all our après ski luxuries. At thirty liters, the Hugger pack is the perfect add-on for the Douchebag. Built with the same Rib Cage constuction (without the plastic for carrying comfort), and sleek lines, it docks on the back of the larger ski bag for easy maneuvering through crowded airports. It swallows all our essentials from packable snow shovels and camera bags, to all our clothes for off-snow, after hours adventures. It also has a top pouch for travel documents and electronics, and a padded laptop case that will fit up a fifteen-inch Macbook with ease. The shoulder straps are padded well, making for easy carry around an airport or town. We’ve found it invaluable for more than just travel, as it fits our padded camera organizers well, and has full panel opening like the larger Douchebag.
Whether you’re hauling your skis for a long weekend road trip, or a week long bucket list ski trip, the Douchebag should be first on your list of essential winter travel gear.
