Brautigam Expedition Works Titanium Pack Shovel

The coolest piece of gear you didn't know you needed! A lightweight titanium pack shovel with many uses.

The coolest piece of gear you didn't know you needed! Brautigam Expedition Works (BEW) Titanium Pack Shovel

I know what you're thinking—a pack shovel..? Isn't this just a niche item for people doing hardcore winter hiking and need to carry the extra weight..? And for almost $200..? I thought this too before looking into this unique item.

First, it's clearly well crafted by someone who takes pride in their work and it will last longer than I'm around to use it, so considering that, the price is actually reasonable. Also this isn't going to be for the ultralight thru hiker trying to shave every gram... but they're usually doing 20+ miles a day and don't care about having a fire and probably won't be reading this review anyway.

But if you're a hiker who craves a fire at the end of a long day this shovel is well worth the price and weight in titanium. And honestly it's not that heavy for what you get, weighing in under 13 oz with the shovel cover ("optional" cover purchased separately, though I would definitely suggest purchasing that to protect your gear from the shovel's edge). When you think of its versatility that's not too much weight, because it eliminates the need for a spade, and I would argue a stove, because it's way easier to build and safely tend a good cooking fire with this—a nice secondary benefit you can use the shovel as a frying pan!

It has a sharpened edge and can be used for light chopping, and... digging of course. Considering a stove and full fuel canister and poop trowel combined weigh roughly similar to this shovel you're not carrying much extra weight with more potential uses. It's slightly bulky, but honestly not too bad if you put it on the outside of your pack—it fits perfectly in the front stretch pocket of my backpack.

BEW makes a bunch of other cool gear, it's worth checking them out, and their customer service is excellent—shipped it to me overnight when I told them I had a winter backpacking trip coming up and wanted to try it out!

Background

I've used it for backpacking