Stache Ice 50 Pack

Love the pack, perfect size for long approach ice cragging (particularly if you are packing in boots) light overnight situations. Carries great, climbs great, super light. Dont understand why all packs dont have stretchy mesh hipbelt pockets. All of us need food and sunscreen, and they are so low profile i cant imagine they would significantly impact chimney groveling, which one probably would have stowed the hipbelt anyway.

A couple design flaws in my opinion:
If the pack is overloaded - at all - the top will not close and remains open. This is noticeable in the Blue Ice markerting materials. That means spindrift, snow, rain or waterever is getting caught by your pack and soaking into it. As such, consider this thing a ~40-45 litre pack, with no room for sloppy stuffing. I think this is a design flaw, as most packs have a additional closure pull and fabric to avoid this.

Need to add a couple more attachment points for compression straps, very limiting for strapping on bulky items to the side.

Blue ice buckles are below market standard, clog with snow incredibly easily. I replace them.

Has attachment points for blue ice skimo carry, which is awesome. Needs them on both sides so one can choose though.

This is a preference on my part, but incorporating a side mesh pocket similiar to the dragonfly or firecrest would be great. Those are awesome for stashing big gloves or probes.

I still like the pack overall but hate the buckles. Blue Ice likes to use "unique" or maybe "proprietary" plastic buckles that are hard to close with a few specks of snow inside, open when you don't want them to, and break easily.

On my Firecrest 28, I broke and quickly replaced the waist buckle with a better $5 one from REI but the strenum strap buckle was another story because of the way it's sewn in. The first time I broke it, 4 emails, 3 phone calls and 6 weeks later I got a replacement from Blue Ice NA. It's broke again and I will cut the webbing and replace with a normal fastec buckle rather than dealing with warranty again.

When I got the Stache 50, I initially thought that the buckles were improved over the Firecrest, but not really. The waist buckle works OK until wearing with harness. The harness buckle pushes up on the pack waist band buckle and releases it in the middle a pitch.

Too many words in attempt to shame BI to improve their buckles. To add a little value to this review, I'm 5'10" and have sized all my other BI packs M/L but I got the Stache in a S/M to ride above the harness the way I like and it is definitely not too small.

Another Blue Ice home run. Great pack for its intended design (ice cragging, ice climbing) but is also a nice larger capacity ski pack.

Very light but with lots of nice features. I forgot how nice it is to have a dedicated crampon pouch and this one is extremely streamlined. Carries weight surprisingly well for such a light pack (padded hip belt is appreciated) and climbs well. Has one internal pocket (thank you), compartments for shovel and probe but it's not intended for large, old school avy gear.

In my mind, this is a more featured, more comfortable, but probably less durable Alpha FL 40. I far prefer the Stache 50 for ice missions but I doubt it will last anywhere near as long as an Alpha FL.

If you do max out this pack, the top wouldn't fully close and your gear will be exposed (unlike the FLs huge expansion collar) but I'm ok with this design decision because the Stache is simply easier to use.