New mountain jacket, new down, revamped Primaloft and some rather nice fleece from the NE.
We're just back from a sneak preview of Montane's latest kit including
stuff that won't be out until later in 2011 - more soon - but we also
caught up on what's new and hot from the range for this winter 2009
including a new eVent mountain shell and a very neat-looking down
jacket.
Evolution Jacket -
£200
The new for winter 2009 Evolution jacket is a lightweight
winter walking and climbing mountain shell made from eVent which weighs
in at a claimed 435 grammes. In a way it replaces the discontinued
Super-Fly, but actually it's more like a lighter alternative to the
bombproof Super-Fly XT.
The Evolution uses two different types of eVent, a rip-stop version on
the sleeves and shoulders and the same fabric as the XT on the body.
There's a big, helmet-compatible hood complete with wired peak, a storm
flap behind the water-resistant main zip, venting hand-warmer pockets
with double storm flap.
At first look it seems a lot more mountain-orientated than the
Super-Fly it notionally replaces and we're looking forward to trying
one shortly.
North Star Jacket -
£200
Another addition for this winter, the North Star is a down jacket
which, says Montane, uses some of the highest specification down out
there. It's European 93% - 7% goose down from the
Ukraine which is shipped pretty much uncompressed and rates around 800
fill power rating, which is pretty high. It's also very expensive
stuff...
The contruction is stitch-through with a square quilted-style pattern
and the outer fabric is - says Montane - 'slightly waterproof' with a
hydrostatic head of 800mm. That means that even once the DWR has worn
off, the fabric still has a thin PU coating to ward off light showers,
though of course it will eventually leak from the seams.
The jacket's hooded complete with a wired peak, has adjustable cuffs
and hood and hem along with a drop-tail and comes with a very
neat waterproof storage sac which is effectively both a dry bag and a
looser mesh bag in one. Neat.
It also - and this matters for a lot of down jacket buyers - looks
great with a flamboyant red lining fabric. Weight is claimed at 525
grammes.
Flux Jacket Revamped -
£120
The lightweight Primaloft Eco-filled, hooded, Flux Jacket
gets new colours and looks great. It uses a mix of 60-weight Primaloft
and 40-weight with the lighter version in less critical areas like
sleeves and hood sides, but some neat touches like pockets that have
Primaloft inside and out for efficient hand-warming.
The outer is windproof Pertex Microlight to minimise weight, so the
whole jacket weighs in at around 520 grammes. Looks great in the flesh
in the burnt orange colour shown above.
Bear Jacket -
£85
The new
Bear
Jacket is a simple fleece jacket made from a
very nice Polartec Thermal Pro fleece, in essence it's fluffy, so it
traps more air but remains light and packs down nice and small.
It also looks and feels great and weighs about 450 grammes. We like it
in a sort of unhealthy, lusting sort of way that seems at odds with the
'high void' fleece official definition. Oh, it has thumb loops as well,
if you like that sort of thing.
