Berghaus New Clothes Scoop!

We've already filled you in on the new spring / summer 2006 packs and boots from the guys at Berghaus, but they've also got some new ideas coming your way on the clothing front.

We won't go into excruciating detail as this is stuff that won't be out until next year, but we thought you'd appreciate a peek into the future, so here it is...

We thought we'd seen it all with hoods, but we were wrong - Berghaus's new Retract Hood System is completely unlike anything else we've used of a hood nature. Whether there's actually any point to it remains to be seen, but it's certainly different.

It works like this. You pull what look like the two front tensioners before putting the hood on and instead of tightening, it actually gets looser. Then, once the hood is over your head, you press two red buttons and the whole ensemble tightens around your face and head.

It works by using pre-tensioned cables which also form the peak of the hood, so pressing the buttons allows them to pull everything tight. It's definitely an odd sensation, but it seems to work in the showroom environment anyway. Pulling down on the cords loosens the hood again.

The system will be used on two jackets, one made from Gore-Tex XCR and called the XCR Retract Jacket the other made from Gore-Tex Paclite and called, you guessed it, the paclite Retract Jacket. Both are available in men's and women's versions and are designed for all round mountain use. The Paclite version will be £175 and the XCR one £200, so it's not a cheap hood...

We really liked the look of this. Although it's dubed fleece, it has a woven outer face that isn't fleecy. lots of stretch and is thin enough to suggest that it'll work well for fast-movers in cold conditions without causing overheating.

Available in men's and women's versions, it should be close fitting and is made from Spectrum Stretch Fleece. Weight should be around the 300 gramme mark, so good and light with it.

Yep, it's another softshell. This time it's made from Berghaus's own Mistral softshell fabric and looks to be a relatively simple, close-cut, active use sort of fella with four-way stretch, a brushed inner surface and Teflon treated outer for water repellancy.

The time-honoured 'blow through the fabric test' suggests that it should be wind resistant but not wind proof, so we'd expect pretty good breathability at a cost of £80.

Following on from their Tech T tops, Berghaus decided to aim for the bottom with a new range of Tech Base underwear. Using the same wicking polyester fabric as the Tech T range, there are men's briefs and boxers plus women's briefs and a base vest. Better than a soggy bottom is what we say, priced from £12 to £15. We'll reserve judgement on the aesthetics for now....