Mammut Lite 30 with RAS 3.0 is a true 30 liter rucksack when using smaller carbon cylinder. I rig mine with a carabiner on the leg strap and a small add-on camera pouch on the shoulder strap, no other mods, no razor blade action (which is amazing).
Carbon airbag gas cylinders (i.e., tanks, cartridges) are beautiful. About 327 grams (larger aluminum version is 666 grams). Smaller, so you don’t need as big a rucksack. These can’t be retailed in North America, but transport hacking them over here from the enlightened EU seems to work. What you end up with is a 30 liter capacity avalanche airbag backpack, Mammut Light 30, that weighs 2.1 kilos (4.6 pounds). That’s amazing, considering just a few years ago the “normal” weight for a similar sized airbag backpack was more along the lines of 3 kilos — a third more!
NOTE: This blog post contains guesswork and conjecture about transporting items that may not be allowed by TSA or other United States transportation system rules. We are by no means recommending any of this, only sharing what we’ve heard people have done. If you choose to use any methods of transporting goods, you do so at your own risk. We do not recommend the methods we communicate in this blog post. It’s also worth noting that these small cylinders filled with compressed air or inert gas are extremely safe when safety capped and packed inside checked baggage. There is virtually nothing of concern, which is why ITA allows them on commercial flights originating in Europe.
Indeed, if you carefully shop for the latest, the mass of an avalanche airbag system has become a non issue. My how things change.
Three little piggies, one came on a direct flight to the U.S., one was checked through on commercial flight from Munich to Aspen, and one was shipped from Spain (Snowinn etailer to be specific).
Downsized carbon cylinder if filled with nitrogen, about 327 grams. Larger cylinder, air filled, 666 grams — REFILLABLE BY AUTHORIZED PROVIDER, Snowpulse or Mammut..
Checked through to Aspen, I was eager to see if TSA had let my cylinder through. My ski bag always gets inspected, with the note left from TSA. This time was no different, but they didn’t seem to have a problem with the cylinder. I packed it in the retail box, inside the airbag pack, with safety cap installed. Perhaps they took sympathy, or perhaps under some kind of interpretation of their rules it’s ok to bring over from Europe, perhaps because it’s ok by the ITA rules starting from the origin airport. One thing I’ve learned, is don’t try to get an explanation from the TSA workers at the security lines, you’ll get different stories depending on who you talk to.
With all the fees you get stuck with flying commercial, isn’t there something on here for expedited airbag cylinder checkin?
From the back, in my opinion the Light 30 is over designed. The waist belt is overly complex, and I’d rather have a simple foam backpad that’s removable for use in first-aid or summit seating. The pack body is long from top to bottom, with vertical structure provided by a pair of aluminum frame rods-stays. Frame stays can be useful, they make random packing of odd objects much less consequential and help keep the pack from folding up when carrying skis, but they’re not essential. These are removable if you’d like to experiment.
Zippered goggle compartment could be slightly larger, but it works. Note how the compression straps are located so as not to hold the airbag balloon compartment closed, these are used for diagonal ski carry.
Rigged with skis. You can make it work, but I’m not impressed with most of the various brand’s airbag pack diagonal ski carry systems. They all tend to pull apart the ejection zipper. Thing is, what’s going to happen if you’re in an avalanche, deploy your airbag, and you’ve got a pair of skis lashed on there? Grim. What’s probably needed is a ski ejection combined with the airbag trigger. That’s so 2021.
Lower ski loop integration with compression, slick.
The balloon ejection zipper does tend to come apart, but it takes mere minutes to redo. This is the RAS (Removable Airbag System) 3.0, and it is high-end design. With practice, in ten minutes or less you can get it out of one pack and installed in another.
I like the simple trigger handle. In this photo, unlocked and ready to rip.
Folded up, safed, and can be stowed in the zipper compartment for total peace of mind.
Tool compartment worked for me, could be too small for larger shovel blades.
Smaller carbon cylinder leaves what feels like a true 30 liters of cargo space.
Conclusions I easily have dozens of days touring with the Light 30, as I made it my go-to airbag pack this season. It’s a bit large in volume for my normal day trip, and the long torso feels slightly odd. I found some of the dangling straps needed to be taped down, and the birthing zipper comes apart too easily. I use a carabiner on the leg strap to avoid the fiddly threading required by the stock configuration, but I’m not sure doing so is entirely safe; it probably needs to be a locking biner. Durability appears fine. For the most part, configured with the carbon cylinder, this is the airbag rucksack I’ve waited twenty years for.
Shopping? As always, the furious pace of airbag rucksack development makes it hard to know the sweet spot timing dictating the use of plastic payment instruments. In the case of Mammut Light 30, I don’t think you can go wrong if you find it on sale. Backcountry dot com is looking good.
To reiterate: Our experiments involved acquiring one cylinder from Snowinn. We also brought one back from Europe in checked baggage with a domestic connection — we’re uncertain if that was ok or simply overlooked by TSA. But bringing one back direct is entirely fine and legal as far as we know, since the European flight origination is covered by ITA (the European version of TSA), which allows airbag cylinders.
See our previous Mammut reviews.
I did stop by and visit Mammut at ISPO. Highlights:
The Light 30 backpack will be available in black for next season. That’s good news, as I’ve been heavily using my light colored version and it’s looking contaminated. In the beacon department, I went through their new Barryvox S beacon with an insider expert at the ISPO booth. We’d reviewed the Barryvox S from contact at the OR show but it was nice to get a run with the European perspective. Quite a nice unit, recommended. Favorite feature is the intelligent fine search, appears that will shave valuable seconds off your rescue.
European ski tourers like small packs. This 7 section Mammut ‘shorty’ probe follows.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
