One Perfect Ski Bag (With an Attitude)

January 29th, 2014 • BY Brigid Mander

Could you learn to love a Douchebag? If avoiding political incorrectness or impolite words trump all else for you, stop reading now. But, if you’d like to check out a game-changing entry into the woeful world of miserable, unwieldy, uninspired ski bags, we’ve found something for you. A Douchebag ski bag ($229), as a matter of fact.

For anyone who has huffed and sweated and dragged their gear through airports and bus or train stations and foreign streets looking like an easy, exhausted, red-faced tourist target for muggers, change is in the air.

To be honest, at first the name was a stumbling block for me: would it be humorous or humiliating to haul this around the globe? But, after using it and loving it, I found I simply don’t care about the moniker. The no-frills, sleek design, tough materials and functionality thoughtfully, efficiently solved every frustrating aspect of traveling with skis that I’ve ever come across—and then some.

This is not by chance. In 2009, globetrotting Swedish professional skier Jon Olsson teamed up with Norwegian product engineer Truls Brataas to create a smarter ski bag. They took what they wanted in a bag, interviewed another 150 skiers and snowboarders—as well as airline baggage handlers—to find the best design ideas. They then teamed up with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and a military manufacturer to create the Douchebag. (Apparently they didn’t quite understand the connotation of the word in mainstream culture, but that’s what we’ve got.)

In performance, the bags are light: seven pounds as opposed to nearly 12 or 13 pounds for traditional, rolling double ski bags (translation: five or six pounds of additional gear you can stuff in there before you hit the 50-pound cutoff). They also have an adjustable height, so whether you have a tiny snowboard or 195cm skis, the bag becomes that length. The skis provide the bag structure, so there is no sagging and dragging (the main contributor to inefficiency and miserable handling when rolling).

The fabric is a tough, highly water- and tear-resistant 600D polyester, PVC45-coated fabric. There are durable handles on all sides. Not even one stitch has ripped on mine—which has taken on many heavy loads—as has happened, infuriatingly, with other ski bags I’ve traveled with. (Try dragging your ski bag across the streets of Santiago, Chile, with the severed pull handle in your pocket.)

The handle placements and tight package (when all cinched down) make for incredibly easy handling overall, and not just for me. I once had an airline baggage handler not even bother to weigh the bag.  She said, “This definitely feels under 50 pounds,” and tossed it on the conveyor belt. For the record, it weighed 55 pounds—a hefty sum in overweight baggage fees.  

For transit, there is also a hands-free shoulder strap, so you have two hands to clutch all your other gear. Dual zippers open the entire top of the ski bag for way easier access than my old bags. With strategic packing, all my gear fits in a neat, two-pair ski sandwich.

When it’s empty, the bag compresses into a ball slightly larger than a basketball for easy storage. The latest additions to the Douchebag line are Huggers, duffles that piggyback onto the ski bag—so when you arrive, you can attach your Hugger to the ski bag down by the wheels. Thanks to simple physics, you hardly feel the weight of the second bag as you roll smartly along.

For this season, however, even though you will know the name, everyone else won’t have to—Douchebag is offering ski bags with simply DB branding them on the side for the North American market.

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