Not for everyone - Granite Gear Virga 2 Backpack

This backpack weighs a pound. The next lightest here (with similar capacity) is two pounds. It achieves this by using lightweight materials and by not having a frame, external or internal. For comfort it depends on having a sleeping pad flat in the interior against your back. If you load it with heavy equipment it will break. It probably has a weight limit, but if your pack is going to weigh more than 20lbs loaded, you should get a stronger pack.

With a tent like Fly Creek UL1, and a bag like Western Mountaineering HighLite, and a pad like Z Lite Sol, and some carbon poles, and some trail runners, no stove, and fat-rich foods you can hike ultra-light and still be comfortable. REI doesn't sell this pack anymore, or any other like it, because people bought it without understanding it and were disappointed.

I bought this pack as a replacement for the same model that arrived defective. The shoulder straps had been threaded wrong thought the ladder-lock adjustment and could not be re-threaded. The manufacturer's customer support was poor. The second one was fine.

This review was written in the old system and had content requirements that are different than reviews written today.