Gear Review: Osprey Mutant 38l

Mutant 38l 9.5/10

This is the ideal lightweight climbing pack, with 3 back lengths, it can be stripped down to the bare essentials to 950g.  Osprey have put a lot of thought into this pack, their grippy reinforced patch is great if you're carrying crampons/ ice axe and which appears to have been ripped off by their competition, the ice axe/ poles are held in place by excellent rubber loops and shock-corded upper loops moulded so are dead easy to use with gloves and in cold conditions.  Also the shoulder straps are decent for carrying anything up to 15kg.  The gear loops on the hip-belt are pretty cool too (they're a bit stiff at first with bunging a karabiner through.  There are many-a grab loops on the pack so you can haul it around from 3 different angles.  The fabric is a hardy ripstop which is tough and does the job against craggy rocks.  There's a 3x folded bivvy pad on the back that can be removed and the frame sheet can be chucked as well (if you're going ultralight) .  The lid floats (removable as well) which was useful for packing in my wet rope. The buckles are reinforce with metal, and quick-release so that you really like nothing will break on this pack.    The backs a simple foam which means when I dropped it in snow it didn't gain 2kg through scooping up ice like a air-system pack with mesh!  For me that's the 'icing' on the cake...It's got all the mod cons for storage, and an endless supply of features, it's a cool customer this mutant, the X-men of packs, and for £90 who can complain?

 SPEC:

• Mutant 38 Features
• 'Reverse Wrap' ErgoPull Hipbelt
• 3-Point Haul System
• Axe Loops and Gorilla Grip Patch
• Floating/Removable Lid 
• Hydration System Compatible
• Hypalon Racking Loops
• Lid Pockets and Spindrift Collar 
• Mutant backpanel
• Removable 3-fold Bivi Pad
• Thermoformed EVA backpanel
• Z-Compression