Soft-hearted heavyweight ‘Backpack’ wins Fat Bear Week after surviving debilitating leg injury as a cub, proving this gentle giant can beat the odds and remain Katmai's sweetest soul

Blake Seidel • Managing Editor & Brand Manager

Oct 1, 2026 6:45 AM EDT

Crossing the finish line at 1,200 pounds, 'Backpack' is your 2026 winner for Katmai's Fat Bear Week. But, there's a lot more to Backpack than meets the eye. He's not just your heavyweight champ, he also happens to be one of Katmai's sweetest bears that faced more adversity than most, and he still came out on top.

Fat Bear Week isn't just about body pawsitivity, it's about education. In a cute and entertaining way, it gets people interested in the animals and natural ecosystems that make up the great United States. It also helps that fat bears are ridiculously cute. Fat Bear Week started all the way back in 2014 as just one day, but because it was a major success, it expanded into a whole week of bear shenanigans the following year. Over the years, it has evolved into a March-madness-style tournament between the bears at Katmai National Park in Alaska, prepping for their winter hibernation. Needless to say, it's one of our favorite weeks of the year.

You might think that it's always the biggest and strongest bears that win Fat Bear Week, right? Wrong! There have been a myriad of different types of bears that have won FBW over the years.

Otis, also known as 'Bear 480' has won 4 times and is known as the 'zen master'. He sits and waits patiently for the salmon to swim right to him, conserving energy instead of fighting other bears for better hunting spots. Another winner was Bear 435, AKA Holly, the supermom. She adopted an orphaned cub and worked relentlessly to fatten up all summer and fall to win her spot.

This year's champion is actually Holly's son! His name is Backpack, also known as Bear 89. Some might call him a "nepo baby," but we call him a gentle giant. He's known for his sweet, soft spirit and quiet determination. But where did this pawsonality come from?

Well, I think it has something to do with his terrible injury as a cub. Read more about it below!

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"Backpack" wins Fat Bear week at a staggering 1,200lbs ● THE FAT BEAR CHAMPION HAS BEEN CROWNED!

41 explaining Follow • Bee Gees Stayin' Alive A new heavyweight champion has been crowned in Alaska. Bear 89, better known as Backpack, won Fat Bear Week 2026 at Katmai National Park after receiving 103,334 votes in the final, narrowly beating Bear 910 with 98,253 votes.

June 27, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg September 8, 2026 Courtesy of explore.org 89 Backpack 89 Backpack

Winner, winner, salmon dinner

Backpack got his unusual nickname as a cub because he would climb onto his mother's back while she swam through Brooks River. His mother is Bear 435 Holly, who later became the 2019 Fat Bear Week champion herself.

Backpack as a cub

Teenage Backpack

His story is also one of survival. In 2007, Backpack returned with a serious leg injury and could barely put weight on it, leading park staff to question whether he would survive. With no human intervention and help from his mother, he recovered and eventually grew into the massive adult bear seen at Brooks Falls today.

When faced with adversity, you have two choices - you give up, or you figure out how to survive and learn from it. This is why it's so important to let your kids fail, because if you don't, they'll never learn how to deal with adversity and solve their own problems.

Backpack faced a huge challenge as a cub with his leg injury. Rangers weren't even sure if he was going to survive. But, with a little help from his mom, he learned the skills he needed to not only make it through, but also thrive. Injuries are our body's way of forcing us to slow down and do things differently. Those problem-solving skills he learned while healing probably shaped how Backpack would deal with things in the future. Because Backpack knows what it's like to be vulnerable, it turned him into the gentle giant he is today.

It's not always the biggest, meanest person in the room who is the strongest. Strength can be fueled by kindness as much as anger.

He's not fat, he's just big boned

Catching salmon is hard work!

One must be patient

I never knew bears were so wet all the time

Fat Bear Week celebrates the enormous amount of weight Katmai's brown bears gain before hibernation. Bears can lose as much as one-third of their body weight over winter, so packing on hundreds of pounds by eating salmon is not just impressive, it is essential for survival.

What a champion

"Backpack" wins Fat Bear week at a staggering 1,200lbs ●

Extra fluffy

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