Millet Trilogy 30

The Millet Trilogy 30 brings a touch of French flair and eighties nostalgia to the world of alpine rucsacs

Millet are a name that remains relatively unfamiliar to many climbers outside Europe despite a serious pedigree and quality product range. In the UK there has unfortunately even been confusion between Millets, the budget high street camping/rambling supplier and Millet the purveyor of specialist alpine equipment from la belle France which is tragic!

The Trilogy 30 is a special edition of their standard Prolighter Alpine sac. The Chamonix mountain guides are outfitted by Millet and apparently had input into the sac’s design . The trilogy in the name references the classic Alpine north faces that became a winter challenge for Eric Escoffier. Using kit developed by Millet in 1987 he enchained the Eiger, Matterhorn and Grand Jorasses in 24hours.

The Trilogy is a 30 litre alpine sac built for single day or overnight alpine adventures but also well suited to Scottish winter action. Design wise it is a full featured but still very neat sac that looks stunning in its eighties blue, red and flouro green livery – break out your one piece ski suit, white Vaurnets and headband  and pretend you’ve gone ‘Back to the Future’! Make no mistake though this is a thoroughly modern alpine sac. The design encourages you to get your gear inside the sac rather than fastening things externally (though there are attachment points if you so wish) and there is ample room to do so for normal Scottish winter or alpine loads. You get twin technical axe holders with a functional retention system that is adjustable in width for different shaft designs – see photo. The axe holders were probably the best I’ve used, set them up once and they remained dialled in so it was just a quick snap to affix the axes for a rattle free carry. Double compression straps together with ski holders allow you to compress the sac and carry a bivi pad or skis effectively. The lid has two pockets, a moderately sized external one and an under lid pocket including key clip for your wallet/phone or other valuables. I’d have preferred the main lid pocket to be a bit larger as with a full sac it became a little ‘tight’ access wise. The lid itself fastened with two fairly short straps fixed high on the front of the sac. This strap configuration aided the neat style of the sac but did limit the ability to overstuff things especially if carrying a rope under the lid (a rope strap is included) and with the sac half full you couldn’t really cinch the lid down but it was easy enough to tuck the lid inside the sac for a neat carry. Two small haul loops and a standard rear haul/belay loop allow a stable three point haul attachment to be rigged. A simple non-detachable hip belt (with two gear loops) and the x-lighter back system with two removable composite stays provides an exceptionally comfortable carry which didn’t suffer at all when I removed the stays as per personal preference for climbing. With the stays in place the sac was capable of hauling a significant load very comfortably.

At 30 litres the Trilogy is at the upper limit of what I would normally carry for Scottish winter or alpine use and weight wise it doesn’t compare with the lighter sacs out there, though it is by no means heavy at 1040 grams. However it is well built, comfortable, streamlined and likely to outlast many of the more ‘flyweight’ sacs. In use it proved very comfortable and stable whilst scrambling or climbing. The hip belt could be tucked through the ice tool slot to get it out the way and although personally I’d prefer a removable hip belt I can see that it helps with heavier loads especially if toting skis. Build quality is excellent and after a winter’s use it shows no signs of wear and an extraordinary ability to shrug off dirt so it still looks stunning. Overall I found it a great sac with just a couple of niggles; I’d like the ability to remove the hip belt, the external lid pocket could be bigger and the lid itself need to be able to extend higher to accommodate a rope more easily when fully loaded. If you want a good sized 30 litre sac for alpine work, especially if you need to carry heavier loads such as skis, the Millet Trilogy 30 makes an excellent choice. RRP £100

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