Osprey Mutant 52 Winter Backpack Review

The Osprey Mutant 52 is a winter backpack appropriate for four-season in a single day climbing, climbing, or backcountry ski journeys. It’s the massive brother to the Osprey Mutant 38 which I reviewed at first of the winter which has much less quantity and is oriented extra in the direction of day journeys. Like its little brother, the Mutant 52 is loaded with the entire options of a specialised winter backpack together with quite a lot of instrument holders, haul loops, ski straps, daisy chains, compression straps, and glove-friendly buckles.  If you head into the backcountry continuously in winter, it truly is value your whereas to get a backpack optimized for winter use. It makes life a lot simpler when you should use the precise instrument for the job.

Specs at a Glance

• Type: Internal Frame (detachable)
• Access: Top, Floating lid
• Pockets: 3
• Mfg Weight: (S/M: 51.6 oz/1462 g; M/L:  54.4 oz/1542 g)
• Actual examined weight: (M/L: 54.8 oz / 1544 g)
• Removable elements: Top lid (5.3 oz), framesheet (7.5 oz), aluminum body stays (3.2 oz), helmet carry internet (1.6 oz)
• Load lifters: Yes
• Helmet carry internet: Yes (high or entrance)
• 3 Point haul loops: Yes
• Reversible harness-compatible hipbelt: Yes
• Hipbelt gear loops: Yes
• Wand Pockets: 2
• Hydration suitable: Yes
• Ice instrument holders: 2
• Ski carry: Reinforced A-frame straps
• Torso vary: (S/M: 15-19 inches; M/L: 18-22 inches)
• Materials: Main: 210D high-tenacity recycled nylon; backside: 450D recycled polyester
• Max advisable load: 50 lbs (in response to Osprey) we predict 40 lb is extra life like.

Backpack Storage and Organization

The Mutant 52 is a streamlined top-loading backpack with a floating high lid and a foremost compartment that closes with a drawstring. While there are wand pockets on either side of the pack, the pack lacks aspect water bottle pockets or a entrance stuff pocket, in step with its minimalist winter character. While the dearth of exterior storage pockets makes the pack extra sturdy for hauling up cliffs, there isn’t any scarcity of locations on the pack to connect cumbersome gear with sharp factors. Since path situations can differ broadly in winter, you typically want to hold a number of traction or flotation choices since you don’t know what you’ll encounter. Unlike a three-season backpack, you’ll be able to’t retailer most of this gear (crampons, ice axe, snowshoes, microspikes) contained in the pack as a result of it can make every part moist and rip it to shreds.

The floating high lid is connected to the highest of the pack with plastic buckles and webbing straps, making it simple to take away if it’s not wanted. Floating lids are an excellent possibility on winter packs as a result of you’ll be able to sandwich cumbersome gear like ropes, tent our bodies, or foam pads between the lid and the principle compartment if it’s essential carry further gear on strategy hikes.

If you intend to make use of the Mutant 52 for backpacking, be sure you have a tent, tarp, or bivy sack that packs up small or which you could strap below the floating lid. The 52 liter quantity is on the small aspect for a winter backpack, which makes exterior gear storage and using extremely compressible gear paramount.

The high lid has two pockets. A cavernous, zippered foremost pocket (with a key fob) that’s large enough to retailer a number of pairs of gloves, hats, maps, and navigation tools. There’s additionally a second smaller pocket that accommodates a helmet carry internet with nook hooks that may be connected to the highest of the lid (if used) or connected to the daisy chains on the entrance of the pack. This small pocket can also be massive sufficient to carry a GPS or satellite tv for pc messenger, smartphone, or digicam and is a useful place to stash stuff.

If you don’t want the highest lid or need to cut back the burden of the pack you’ll be able to take away it and save near a half pound of substances weight. The Mutant 52 comes with a completely connected pace lid (Osprey calls these flap jackets) that covers the outlet over the principle compartment if the highest lid is eliminated and clips into the identical set of straps. A rope strap may also be used to safe coils or rope or different gear on high of the flap jacket with or with out the floating lid. Personally, I discover a high pocket indispensable in winter for spare gloves, hats, and map storage so I favor to maintain the floating lid connected.

The foremost compartment has a hydration pocket inside with a hook to hold a bladder and twin hydration ports situated between the shoulder pads. There’s additionally an inner body pocket contained in the pack with a detachable body (a plastic sheet and w/ 2 aluminum stays) which you can substitute with a bivy pad, though it can cut back the pack’s load-carrying capability.

Compression and External Attachment Points

The Mutant 52 has two tiers of aspect compression webbing straps, which may also be used to safe gear to the edges of the pack. Both shut with glove-compatible buckles. The backside buckle is new on this model of the Mutant 52. The earlier mannequin didn’t have it and it makes strapping snowshoes to the edges of the pack a lot simpler. In comparability, many three-season packs have changed aspect webbing straps with cords, ostensibly to avoid wasting weight, nevertheless it makes their packs a lot much less appropriate for winter use as a result of the lineloc tensioners used to tug the aspect cords jam with ice, the cords soak up water and freeze, and they’re unusable whereas sporting gloves.

There are bolstered ski loops positioned below the underside compression strap, making it doable to configure an A-Frame ski carry collectively aspect compression straps. There are additionally shallow wand pockets on the pack sides that may also be used to carry tent poles in place below the compression straps.

The Mutant comes with a common ice instrument holder system, together with two shaft holders. A pair of daisy chains and webbing straps on the pack’s entrance permits you to connect a pair of crampons with out a crampon bag. Alternatively, you’ll be able to connect a helmet right here or on the highest of the floating lid which additionally has daisy chains out there for that goal. The Mutant’s climbing and mountaineering pedigree are additionally evidenced by a three-point haul system, good for winching gear up cliffs and to portaledges.

Backpack Frame and Suspension

The Mutant 52 is an inner body backpack with a stiff plastic sheet and two detachable aluminum body stays, so you’ll be able to modify the diploma of stiffness you need. The aluminum stays may also be custom-shaped to suit your physique form if desired. The pack additionally has load lifters, that are significantly helpful on packs designed to haul heavy gear. The complete body system is detachable if you wish to save gear weight. Tightly packed gear can typically compensate for the dearth of a body, a minimum of when it comes to pack bag stiffness, or you’ll be able to drop a foam pad into the principle compartment and pack your gear inside it (like a donut) to create the identical impact.

The shoulder pads, again of the pack, and hip belt wings are calmly padded with foam and supply minimal cushioning to assist hold the pack weight down. The shoulder pads are minimally outfitted with two hydration hose keeper loops and an adjustable sternum strap with a daisy chain height-adjustment system. The latter is useful for attaching exterior pockets to the shoulder straps. Gone is the froth bivy pad in earlier variations, so I prefer to insert a cut-down foam Zlite pad behind the shoulder straps (in the principle compartment) for emergencies and to additional insulate my again from the recent water bottles I carry in winter.

The hip belt comes with gear loops as a substitute of pockets to rack gear with carabiners. It may also be folded again across the entrance of the pack when you’re sporting a climbing harness. The hip belt closes with a single beefy buckle, utilizing pull-forward straps for mechanical benefit. The heart buckle can also be glove suitable and huge, so it received’t jam up with snow, which is an enormous drawback on packs that use small buckles. Gone are also the hip belt management straps of the earlier mannequin, which on stability is an organizational enchancment as a result of it reduces the variety of straps on the pack.

More Recommended Winter Backpacks

Recommendation

The Osprey Mutant 52 is a light-weight inner body winter backpack optimized for climbing, backcountry snowboarding, and streamlined winter backpacking use. Weighing simply over 3 lbs, this 52-liter quantity is on the small aspect if it’s essential pack a winter tent and cold-weather sleeping bag, though fairly doable when you’ve refined your winter gear record to be as compact as doable. Strippable elements allow you to considerably cut back the pack weight if that’s essential, albeit with some lack of performance. While the Mutant 52 has an excellent exterior attachment system, the pack’s body and load-carrying capabilities are the place it actually shines. The mixture plastic body sheet and pair of aluminum stays make it doable to hold 40-pound hundreds with ease, whereas the minimal shoulder strap and hip belt padding make the pack extremely responsive when snowboarding, climbing, and snowshoeing. This is a extremely wonderful winter backpack.

Disclosure: Osprey donated a backpack for this evaluation.

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