Cotswold Gets New ME Jacket Early

The women's version of the Mountain Equipment Bastion Jacket sighted earlier this year at ME's showrooms. Hood is not helmet compatible by the way.

And the very sensible black men's version...

A couple of months back we previewed the new winter 2012 range from Mountain Equipment which includes a  neat-looking, lightly-insulated. hooded soft shell called the Bastion Jacket, which as we told you back then, is now available exclusively from Cotswold Outdoor.

It's a neat-looking bit kit which combines a lighweight Gore Windstopper Active Shell windproof outer fabric with a PolarLoft Micro Insulation fill, so you get a combination of weather resistance and a bit of extra warmth. It's also zoned in the sense that the under-arm areas have no insulation and are made from a lighter version of Windstopper called X-Fast.

Alpine Layer

When we first saw the jacket, we had this to say about it: 'The jacket's been designed as an alpine layer for gnarly but not wet days. It should cope with wind and snow all day long and put in a shift for long days mountaineering or ski touring.

'Or just going down the pub when it's cold. It's pretty light too, 490g in a men's large and around 30g less in the women's version and will retail for £180.'

Tried By Tom

We haven't had a chance to try a Bastion yet, but Tom Parkin of Cotswold has and he's blogged a bit about it on the Cotswold community web site. He reckons 'this jacket fits the bill as a completely windproof softshell with a degree of insulation that you can wear straight over your baselayer'.

He's been highly impressed with its level of water repellency and even uses it as a sort of lightweight belay jacket for walk outs when needed. Full blog at: community.cotswoldoutdoor.com.

Priced at £180, it'll be available from Cotswold Outdoor stores nationwide from tomorrow, 18 July, well before any of the other retailers start to stock it. More details at www.cotswoldoutdoor.com.