Backpack crowned the Fat Bear Week 2026 champion, beating out another former Fat Bear Week winner.
Voters were split between 910 and 89 Backpack bears in the final round of the week-long contest to see who is the tallest bear at Alaska’s Katmai National Park & Preserve. Backpack received 103,334 votes, while runner-up received 98,253 votes, according to Explore.org.
“Your votes, your posts, your favorite bear campaigns, and your shared love for Katmai’s wild places turned this week into a collective story shaped by thousands of voices. It’s a reminder that traditions are just like America’s 250th birthday, because people keep them alive,” said Katmai National Park & Preserve in a social media post.
“This year, we honored the sustainability of our bears and our country, recognizing the landscapes, communities, and shared stories that connect us.”
Sixteen bears in total against Fat Bear Week 2026, but Backpack stood out as the early favorite, beating other contestants in the first two rounds by more than 100,000 votes each.
The competition got tougher in the semi-finals, with Backpack nearly edging out Bucky’s 164 – while 910 easily edged out 132.
In the end, Backpack made his mother, Holly – also the 2019 Fat Bear Week champion – proud.
Explore.org/Katmai National Park and Preserve 
Holly introduced Backpack to the Brooks River at Katmai National Park and Preserve in 2006, according to park officials. The first year pup’s name was inspired by how he used to climb on Holly’s back when the two went through the river.
When he was about 2 years old, Backpack suffered a severe leg injury, and park rangers questioned his chances of survival. But eventually, he recovered and became independent in 2008, and has since grown into a giant adult worthy of entering the Fat Bear Week Hall of Champions.
How Fat Bear Week 2026 “broke the internet”
The playing field for this year’s competition expanded from last year 12 contestantsand the first round of votes was so popular, park officials said it “broke the internet.”
Voting, which began on Tuesday, September 22, had to be extended an extra day after bear lovers overran the website and some voters were unable to access the polls “because apparently the internet was not ready to handle this fat bear,” Katmai officials said on social media last week.
Voters had to enter an email address each time for their vote to be counted.
The contest, which began in 2014 as a one-day event to showcase southwest Alaska’s bears, in 2025 received more than 1.7 million votes from more than 100 countries, according to the National Park Service.
Past Fat Bear Week Winners
Over the past 12 years, there have been six champions, three of whom have repeated for Fat Bear Week.
480 Otis was the strongest competitor, winning the first ever Fat Bear event in 2014 and taking the crown again in 2016, 2017 and 2021. Otis is one of Brooks River’s oldest bears and has not been seen since the last year he won.
One of Otis’ biggest rivals was 409 Beadnose, a repeat winner in 2015 and 2018. She is also the mother of 910. She was thought to be in her 20s, and has not been seen since her last win. Brown bears can live up to 30 years in the wild.
After several years as the favorite, 435 Holly became the first winner in 2019 that was not Otis or Beadnose.
The other two repeat winners are 747 (2020, 2022) and 128 Grazer (2023, 2024), the mother of one of this year’s competitors.
Last year’s winner was 32 Chunkunfortunately he didn’t make it out of the first round of voting this year.