Mountain Hardwear Gets Paclite For 2005

If you're a Mountain Hardwear fan and were wondering when the company would bring out a jacket in the latest Paclite fabric, then relax, your waiting is almost over. No pics yet, but we'll bring them to you as soon as we have them.

The new Swift Jacket and Swift Pant in both men's and women's versions are in the Spring 2005 line-up and should be in the shops early next year. Weight is quoted at a very competitive 380 grammes and the jacket features the sort of refinements you'd expect from MHW.

That means Gore's micro seam tape for increased breathability - yep, the A4 paper thing again - superlight welded pit-zips and a stow-away hood with laminated brim. The Swift Pant weighs a claimed 270 grammes and includes nice touches like a watertight fly with double slider zip for those outdoor emergencies and 3-ply Gore-Tex XCR reinforcement in the knee area.

Both look good for general lightweight mountain use and will run alongside the Conduit Silk Epic jacket that we found disappointingly sweaty when we tested it last year.

And a Paclite Bivvy Too

There's also a brand new bivvy, the Rock Sack Bivvy which also uses Gore-Tex Paclite fabric with microtape construction, features a UVX window on the hood to reduce that familiar claustrophobic feeling and has an overlapping hood with drawcord closure. It's aimed at climbers and has two tie-in points at the waist. Claimed weight is just 510 grammes or just over a pound.

Also new...

Also new in the range are a pair of new softshell jackets - the Griffin which combines Conduit softshell laminate fabric for a wind and waterproof front panel with highly breathable Air-Perm sides and back for a combination of protection and breathability.

The Leviathan jacket is aimed at cool weather active use and is a box fleece-lined Air-Perm piece that should combine insulation with a degree of wind resistance and a DWR water-resistant finish. Looks interesting.

Looks like Transition is getting a total makeover too with new 'Transition Featherweight' garments hitting the stores. The original Transition used Gore's Windstopper N2S fabric and really worked best when it was cold and dry. The new stuff uses an Endeavour windproof face fabric with a Dryline wicking scrim against the skin. Basically the same concept then, but hopefully more breathable.

New Sleeping Bags

The company also has a complete new range of tne, we think, synthetic-filled sleeping bags to complement the existing well-regarded down range. The two expedition bags which also use a waterproof/breathable Conduit shell fabric have Polarguard Delta fillings and a welded construction which should make for a totally waterproof bag. The All Mountain variations use conventional nylong fabrics and slightly downgraded filling materials, but also look good.