A bit of a snoopy scoop here from the guys at Mountain Equipment.
We popped over to their Mancunian nerve centre earlier this week for
a sneak preview of what's in the pipeline for the autumn / winter
2004 season - that's the kit that'll be in the shops at the end of
this summer, so don't go pestering innocent retailers just yet.
So what's coming your way? Well, it's a mix of subtle
modifications to tried and trusted ME favourites, plus a couple of
new bits and bobs including a hybrid Paclite / XCR jacket and
salopettes aimed at lightweight alpinists and intended to give a
compromise between lightness and durability.
Insulated Clothing
Nowt dramatic in the insulated clothing line, but some neat
cleaning up. The hardcore, super warm Annapurna down jacket
has taken a leaf out of the sleeping bag book and now gets a double
baffling behind the main zip fastener, just like a sleeping bag in
fact.
Completely new though is the Helium Jacket (below). It's a
down-filled jacket, also available in vest form, aimed squarely at
lightweight minimalist types. With 215 grammes and simple
stitch-through construction, it weighs in at under 400 grammes and
packs away into its own internal stuff pocket, so no mesh sac to go
missing with this one. the Dewline and the Lightline also have
internal stuff pockets this year. The Helium Vest is, erm, a
vest, again it's simple with just two handwarmer pockets and no hood
and weighs in at 310 grammes. Price will be £120 for the jacket
and £90 for the vest. Ideal for mountain marathons and
lightweight alpinism we reckon.
Other developments are a women's version of the Lightline
Jacket based on the established men's version complete with hood
and a new double baffle over the front zip. Price is £150,
weight around 730 grammes.
Last but not least, the Snowline Parka is a synthetic-filled
jacket with a taped and waterproof Drilite Plus Taslan Outer designed
to laugh in the face of damp, cold Scottish winter conditions.
Curiously though, it sports a comedy artificial fur-trimmed hood,
apparently because retailers wanted one... Hmmm... going at £160
with added fur :-)
Waterproof Shell Jackets
Mountain Equipment's current range of technical shells is one of
the best around and the stuff for next season sees mainly tweaks
rather than revolution. The top of the range Changabang Jacket
has been rationalised. First, like other ME jackets, it gets a
new 'Stealth Hood'. Basically that means the front tension adjusters
are hidden, with the cord grips slotted away behind. Next, the
water-resistant zips, which contributed to the current version being
slightly stiff at the front - see
OM test - have been narrowed down to 5mm width for neatness and
flexibility and the pit-zips are back instead of core vents. These
are now proper pockets with a half mesh, half waterproof lining to
hold wet things more comfortably. P Price is down slightly to
£270 as well.
Totally new is the Matrix Jacket also available as a
women's specific version, the Trinity Jacket - nice, who's
been to the pictures then? It's a new hybrid Paclite / XCR top which
uses lightweight Paclite for most of the jacket, but with tougher XCR
reinforcement panels in key areas - see picture below
That means the shoulders, tail, front of the hood and forearms
should be more capable to coping with abrasion than a pure Paclite
fabric. There's also a full Stealth mountain hood, an external map
pocket, sleeve pocket and concealed draw cords at waist and hem. The
weight is 474 grammes, which is light for an alpine jacket, and just
80 grammes more than the pure Paclite Firefly, which is unchanged.
The price is £200.
To match the jacket, ME also has Matrix Salopettes made
along the same lines. At 590 grammes, they're heavier than the jacket
but fully specced with XCR in high wear areas, stretch XCR knee
panels for mobility, braces, internal snow gaiters and crampon kick
strips. Priced, like the jacket at £200 and a serious bit of
kit.
Both are aimed primarily at technical climbers, but the
reinforcements, should also appeal to weight-aware backpackers.
Interesting stuff, the only other hybrid Paclite jacket we've seen is
from Arc'Teryx.
Soft Shell
When we first tested ME's Gore Windstopper-based G2 Alpine
Jacket, we liked the idea, especially for alpine use, but whinged
at the lack of a hood. For this season ME introduced the G2 Teclite,
a shorter cut version complete with, you guessed it, a hood. The
original however continued unchanged.
So, for autumn winter '04, the longer G2 Alpine Jacket has nicked
little brother's Gore-Tex Pongee hood and stabbed it in the back
before chucking it bodily out of the range, so if you want a shorter
G2, now's the time to buy it... Price of the G2 Alpine stays the same
at £160 even with the hood fitted.
Baselayers Get Xstatic
ME's Comfort Zone baselayer fabric isn't bad at the moment, but
for the autumn, they're climbing aboard the X-static bandwagon.
Xstatic is the fabric which uses silver fibres to prevent odours. The
antimicrobacteriologicalo or something effect, stops the nasties
growing and causing bad smells. It'll come in two versions - a
standard weight for general use and a heavier, expedition version
for, erm, cold weather, expedition types. Men's and women's items.
Looks nice too. See below.
Gloves
We won't go into the gloves in detail, but we particularly liked
the look of the Modular Guide glove. It's only a fiver more than the
standard Guide glove, but the pull-out Powerfleece inner makes for
quicker and easier drying when things meet the moist side, plus it
feels like a great fit. The Pittard-leather version aimed at, er,
guides feels lovely too, very soft and supple. Mmm... Fully
waterproof too. Below
Next year's ME gloves also get a cunning carabiner hang loop on
the finger. The clever bit is that if you use it to hang them from a
harness, the glove is inverted, so there's far less chance of
spindrift getting into the glove.
Ronhill Bargain Jacket
Last but not least, we couldn't help noticing that the Ronhill
range has had some serious attention. It used to look like it had
been beaten around the head with the ugly stick, but its now much
nicer, particularly colour-wise, with Patagonia-like burnt orange and
the like dragging it into the 21st Century.
Most of the range is aimed at runners and bikers, but one
interesting discovery was the 70-quid Summit Jacket - below.
It's a lightweight waterproof jacket in a coated two-ply Storm fabric
rather like Drilite. The hood has a full volume adjuster arrangement,
pockets get water-resistant zips and it looks like a lot of jacket
for your money. A few of the ME boys have been using them for
climbing and really rate them as a budget buy. My word, there's even
a map pocket...
More info
See the Mountain
Equipment web site. Thanks to Mark at ME for his time and
patience.
Ian Brookes
