Mystery Ranch Blackjack Airbag Backpack

Airbag System The Blackjack uses the WARY Airbag System, air bag manufacturers which uses a single airbag system (similar to the BCA packs) instead of the dual, slightly higher-volume ABS system (150 L for BCA, Snowpulse, and WARY vs. 170 L for ABS), or the head protection style bag of the Snowpulse 2.0 packs. But the system is simple and intuitive. Pulling large T-handle (that stores neatly in it’s own pocket) on left shoulder strap deploys the airbag. After reading the manual once, I could rebuild the system after detonation in about 10 minutes.

I should note that last winter some Blackjacks had delay issues when deploying the airbag for the first time, because of some kind of O-ring issue from WARY. I do not know the technical details, but Mystery Ranch sent e-mails to all Blackjack owners with instructions to detonate packs immediately. I did, and my pack had a delay of about 15 minutes. Not cool. At that point, I had toured with it quite a bit, which was a little disconcerting.

To their credit, the guys at Mystery Ranch rapidly identified the issue and pre-tested subsequent packs after fixing the problem. I’m told that there Air Bag have been zero delays on second detonations and on new packs.

I’ve fired mine four times since that first delayed event (to test the system and to depressurize for travel), and the bag release has been instantaneous, as it should be. Four other friends of mine also own this pack, and I was the only one with a delay on first opening. My understanding is that all packs since that initial run no longer have issues and are extensively tested.

When it comes to refills, I’ve had good luck at any location that refills BCA or Snowpulse packs, including while skiing in Chile and Argentina. It is also easy to remove the regulator portion of the bottle so that you can travel with an empty tank. In the TSA monitors, it then looks like a water bottle, and agents seem reassured when they can look into the empty bottle.

The airbag system is easily removable, and I’ve air pillow bagsread rumors on Internet forums that additional packs might be built to which the WARY system can be transferred.