Meet The 400 Quid Shell Jacket
And we bet you can't guess who makes it...
Posted: 25 February 2001
by Jon
Ever wondered what a 400 quid waterproof / breathable
mountaineering shell looks like? Well folks, you're looking at it.
Italian bootmakers Garmont are set to release their clothing range
over here for autumn this year and we've just had a sneak peak at the
spring outdoors trade show.
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'I'm no dummy' says OUTDOORSmagic
tester
Richard Gear as he models the £400 Garmont
Gasherbrum.
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The Garmont Gasherbrum uses Gore XCR with a difference, it
stretches for maximum mobility. Big panels of the elastic material in
the back, front and under the hood of the jacket promise the elusive
balance between mobility and close-fitting efficiency. And that's
just the start, big chest pockets use water-resistant zips with the
top of the zip covered for integrity, ditto the pit-zips which
unusually are sited at the back of the arms to reduce abrasion when
skiin gor ski-mountaineering plus there are strategic reinforcements
with a heavier grade XCR fabric.
More? The zip pulls are made from a weird 'sticky grippy
jelly-like stuff which also lines the inside of the hem to stop the
bottom of the jacket from pulling up, there's a close-fitting hood
with wired peak, shaped cuffs and the general feel of a top quality
garment.
We tried it in the hostile desert environment of the GMex Centre
and you really can feel that elasticity both in the body of the
jacket when stretching for a beer and at the base of the snug hood
when looking round. Undoubtedly a very nice, top quality technical
mountaineering jacket, but then at that price it damn well should be.
Available around October this year.
Discuss this story
For that kind of money I'd rather take the heated North Face jacket. It seems incredibly cosy. But then again I'm also a died-in-the-wool fan of electric underblankets. What I wonder is, how long will the jacket last before the heating threads break? Can I throw it in the washer? Will one crampon-aided misstep mean that I have a very, very expensive unheated jacket? Can any cat help but adore me when I offer it a heated lap? These are the important questions that I hope this site will be able to answer. --Mjausson
Posted: 06/03/2001 at 17:02
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