Mountain Equipment 2009 - Part 2

We've already told you about Mountain Equipment's neat, new for spring 2009, lightweight waterproof jackets, but the company's also been busy working on its lightweight soft shells, reviving the classic Microtherm jacket, producing a new lightweight fleece and introducing new styles and sizes for legwear.

Soft Shells

One of our favourite things of last summe was ME's Astron Hooded jacket. It's a lightweight Polarte Powershield Lite jacket with sidepanels made from Powerstretch. It works an absolute treat, with the combination making the jacket breathable enough for warmer weather use, but still protective enough for high, tempo, cold weather acitivites.


It also works well layered under a lightweight waterproof shell. In fact the only real fault we can pick with it, is that the mostly black colour tends to make it impractical on really hot, sunny days in the Alps for example.


The good news is that the Astron is back for spring 2009 with a new yellow contrast zip instead of last year's red. There's a hooded version (£130), a hoodless one (£110) - black zip - and a vest.


The good news for the gurlz is that there's now a totally new women's version, the Astral Hooded Jacket - £130 - alongside the existed hoodless Astral jacket. And of course it's available in a very nice two-tone blue colour scheme... Grrrr...


And to complete the set, here's the vest. Should be ideal for fast-moving running and mountain biking-type stuff where you want your trunk protected but your arms free.

Return Of The Microtherm...

When ME asked their sponsored Plas y Brenin staff which bit of kit they liked most, there was an overwhelming thumbs up for the discontinued Microtherm Jacket. Microtherm was the brand's take on a lightweight fleece with a windproof shell outer.


It's the sort of garment that offers a great balance between insulation, weather protection and breathability. And now it's back in the form of the new Microtherm Alpine Jacket. It's had a complete overhaul with a new windproof He30 shell fabric that's very light, completely windproof and also more breathable than the original version because it's not coated.


The lining is a very lightweight, gridded microfleece for reduced weight and increased packability. There are two pack-friendly hand pockets, thumb loops and the jacket comes complete with a Clip 'n' Carry stuff sac. Choice of colous as well...

Claimed weight is 280 grammes and the Microtherm Alpine is set to retail for £80.

Windproof Relation...

Also new for this spring, is the Mistral Pull-On which uses the same shell fabric as the new Microtherm, but in a short zipped pull-on style to give a 90-gramme, ultra-lightweight windproof top complete with articulated arms, a single chest pocket, thumbloops and Lycra-bound cuffs.


Again it comes complete with a Clip 'n' Carry stuff sac, which is designed to be harness clip friendly. The Mistral Pull-On retails for £60.

New Pants

ME's legwear has had a bit of a going over - all their trousers are now available in regular or long inside leg, that's 31" or 33" respectively. Additionally, around one third of the styles now also come in a short, 29", inside leg version.


Brand new is the Civetta Pant which is a lightweight alpine trouser, or pant if you like, combining the fabrics from the popular Ibex and Stretchtlite Guide pants. The idea is that the four-way stretch soft shell fabric at seat and knees adds toughness and mobility, while the rest of the pant is made from Stretchlite, two-way stretch fabric for lightness.


The whole pant has a water-repellant treatment and weighs a claimed 395 grammes. Not bad if it's as tough and weather resistant as ME says. There's a diamond gusset for mobility, integrated side leg vents and expanding expansion gussets at the ankle so you can wear them tight and neat for rock climbing, or open them out to team with big-topped mountain boots - above. Price is £65.

New Lightweight Fleece

The men's and women's Shroud Jackets were available last year, but only through Cotswold Outdoor. This spring though, they go on general release and in an improved version.


The jacket combines Polartec 100 microfleece in the main body areas - generally ideal for layering under a shell - with Powerstretch to improve fit. There's also a Powerstretch hood designed to fit either over or under a helmet and twin handwarmer pockets.


Weight is a claimed 395 grammes and retail price £80 for both the men's and women's versions. Looks rather nice too...

More Information

We'll have a selection of the above on test shortly and they're due in the shops this month, March 2009. Thanks to Richard and Richard for their time and lunch :-)

You can find more about Mountain Equipment at www.mountain-equipment.co.uk