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Mountain Hardwear Aurora Parka
Price: £250
Weight: 600g
Features: Ergo hood, Napoleon pocket, two zipped chest
pockets, articulated elbow, waist and hem drawcords, waterproof
pit-zips, internal mesh water bottle pocket.
While the Berghaus PacLite is a short multi-activity jacket and
the TNF Ama Dablam has mountaineering aspirations, the Aurora is an
unashamed walking and trekking jacket that's extremely hard to fault.
It's as if every feature has been carefully considered and developed
from hood to hem with technology borrowed from MHW's high end
mountaineering garments.
The cut is excellent.I normally take a large size, but the MHW
manages to combine a slimness and unrestrictiveness. Like I said,
it's hard to fault. Being American, the hood has a stiffened peak
rather than a stiffer wired version, but the shape and fit are both
excellent as is the level of protection. The main zip is similarly
plush with a neat, fleece-lined beard guard up top and a double flap
for weather proofing. If you were going to quibble, you might object
to the reversed American-style zipper - the North Face jacket has it
too - but it's a minor thing and you get used to it.
PacLite breathability is, as usual, near the top of the league,
but MHW give you every chance of staying cool with the addition of
both chest pockets which, with their mesh liners act as vents - the
outer flaps are held open with Velcro - and generous pit zips. The
latter are MHW's 'Simplex' design which use overlapping strips of
fabric to avoid the need to external flaps. Neat, simple and they
work. There's also a 'Napoleon' pocket accessed from the main zip,
but it's a little small for map use with a 1:50,000 Land Ranger being
a close fit.
Other nice touches include an internal water bottle pocket in mesh
for fast summit dashes and a waist cord which runs in a Taslan
channel to reduce rucking and in turn wear to the main jacket fabric.
Neat.
The extra length compared to the Berghaus jacket makes this a
better walking jacket - put crudely, you have more chance of keeping
a dry crotch - but it's less versatile for running or biking. But if
walking's your passion, the Aurora's a pedigree chum.
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Verdict Not exactly cheap, but
almost impossible to fault as a light, small packing walking
and trekking jacket. Ultimately a three-ply garment will be
more durable, but you'll pay for that with extra weight.
Extremely nice even at this rareified price
level.
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Performance
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Value
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Take me ever so gently to the Mountain
Hardwear web emporium
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Pushed for
time
What more can you ask for. Masses
of carefully thought through features, an overall sheen of
quality from a carefully designed walking jacket. Not so
good for running or biking though. Splendid
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