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Patagonia Stretch Speed Ascent
Jacket - First Look
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Price:
£225.00
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Weight: 894g (men's
medium)
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Features:
Encapsil-treated water-resistant windproof stetch fabric
outer, R2 fleece insulation on torso, lighter R1 insulation
in sleeves, water-resistant coated zippers, R2 insulated
hood, baffled main zip, drop tail, elasticated hem,
handwarmer pockets above harness line, crotch strap, close
rather sexy cut.
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Beautiful cut, construction, looks and feel - a posh
Buffalo?
Question marks over the hood when used with a helmet. Expensive, but replaces two layers
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Material Stuff You'll have to wait for some proper winter
climbing conditions for a full test of the Speed Ascent jacket, but
we thought you'd appreciate a quick run down of Patagonia's latest
technical climbing top, especially with 'soft shell' being this
year's buzz word.
The 'soft shell' concept's been around for a while - think
Buffalo's pile-Pertex system, but Patagonia have refined it in terms
of both material and cut and, as usual, the cut and detailing are
beautiful. Instead of Pertex, you get a stretchy Encapsil wind-proof
and highly water resistant shell, where the fibres have been coated
with a silicone polymer before weaving to resist water
penetration.
The big plus over full waterproof shells is much greater
breathability and combined with an additional Encapsil overshell, the
combination is, says Patagonia, waterproof. The pile role is played
by Regulator 2 fleece, the light, high-wicking furry stuff that
shares piles directional water transporting abilities. This being a
Patagonia garment, there's a thinner R1 fleece to maintain mobility
in the sleeves.
So it's sort of a posh Buffalo, with the same promise of warmth,
water-resistance and wicking - how well it works, we'll let you
know.
Cut and Features What the spec doesn't tell you is how
beautifully cut and featured this jacket is, with neat touches like
this year's favourite feature, water-resistant, coated zips. The cut,
for us, was wonderfully snug, with a close, streamlined fit.
The worry of course, is that it will restrict movement, so does
it?
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Water-resistand zips for both
main
and pocket openings
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Mobility is excellent even with a harness. The Buffalo-type
elasticated crotch strap helps to hold the hem in place and the
combination of a well-designed cut and some give in the outer makes
high reaches easy without sleeves pulling down. The handwarmer
pockets clear the harness too.
We're less impressed with the hood. With a Petzl Roc Ecrin - a
common helmet albeit a biggish one - it struggled to fit even at the
largest adjustment and it took some stretching to get the neck Velcro
fastening done up under the chin. When fastened it was secure, but
the hood had a drum-like tightness which verged on being
uncomfortable. Surprisingly upwards visibility was unhindered, but
sideways mobility was badly impaired. If you're in the market for one
of these and habitually wear a hood over your helmet, try before
buying.
It actually feels more natural and comfortable wearing the hood
under the helmet, which is feasible, albeit potentially a tad warm
due to the insulation. In fact it all feels a lot more natural
without a helmet.
Other points? Cuffs are quite narrow and may be a struggle to put
on over bulky gauntlets, the hood adjustment is quite basic and
fiddly with gloves on and we wonder how it will cope with the heat
build-up from frenzied winter walk-ins...
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Verdict: Early days yet, but this
is a mega-high quality jacket that takes the basic concept
from the likes of Buffalo and applies the latest materials
and features in a very technical, beautifully cut climbing
jacket. It feels fantastic on and the cut seems to offer a
rare combination of snugness and mobility, but we'll have to
wait and see how it performs in winter conditions. At just
under 900 grammes it's very light when you consider that it
takes the place of both an outer and mid-layer. We still
reckon there's a question mark over the hood though,
certainly for Scottish use, but we'll have to wait and see -
we certainly won't be wearing it over our helmet.
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