There are two major issues that make me want to stamp on my
cornflakes box and bang my head gently against a small and reasonably
pliable tree, but by an extraordinary and miraculous coincidence,
both have been sorted in a single day. Or so it appears.
My first great gear bug-bear is why so few softshells have hoods.
Now, stick with me here. Soft shells are designed to replace
conventional and waterproof 'hard shells' - whatever they are - in 90
per-cent of conditions. They're supposed to be more breathable and
very weather resistant, if not entirely waterproof.
It's mathematically proven...
Now,
by my reckoning, in about 30-40 per cent of UK conditions, you need
to wear a hood for, well, head protection. Which leaves an
overlapping 20-30 per cent of conditions where you need a hood, but
hey, your softshell doesn't have one because it's cut like a simple
fleece jacket.
At that point you either put a hat on or give up and stick your
hardshell over the top. Stoopid, stoopid, stoopid...
The manufacturers have all sorts of excuses, but the main one, I
think, is that it's cheaper to produce softshells without hoods and
more commercial too for general use.
Rant over.
Hood heaven
Then, as if by magic, the nice man in the van turned up with not
one, but two hooded softshell jackets and very nice they seem too.
The first is GoLite's Evade Jacket - above. It's a windproof,
water-resistant and rather neat-looking thing which uses GoLite's
high-wicking C-Thru fabric as a liner and Cynchronicity windproof
laminate as a main fabric.
It also mimics Montane's - hoodless - eVENT Soft Shell jacket by
using non windproof panels along the underside of the sleeves to up
breathability without compromising protection too far. But, on top of
that, wonder of wonders, it also has a hood. A hood with gussetted
gills, it says here, but hey, a hood. More soon.
And as if that wasn't enough excitement, Swedish brand
Haglöfs chipped in with a Sharkfin Hood, the
clue's in the name. It's a close-fitting uber-technical Windstopper
Soft Shell top with, glory be, a proper, multi-adjustable hood
attached. It's a mad blue colour, is cut nice and neat and, I reckon
has real potential.
I
add both to my softshell hoody roll of honour, which also includes
the Arc'Teryx MX Gamma Hoody and, new this season from The North
Face, the rather lovely Apex
Valkyrie Jacket which again features a handy hood plus
TNF's neat Apex stretch fabric.
Trouble down t'trousers...
And if that wasn't enough, Haglofs looks to have solved my outdoor
pants problem. As someone pointed out to Richard Gear this week, most
outdoor trews seem to be cut with a very high waist. That's not all
though, some have enormous arses, others feature strange stick man
legs while others still are cut like your dad's slacks...
So just pulling on the Haglofs Rabot Fjell Pant had me
dancing around in ecstacy. No really. Made from a near windproof
softshell-type fabric, the Rabot actually fits normally. There's a
normal level waist, a neat, 'normal' leg fit, a snug butt plus double
thickness knees and adjustable ankle cuffs.
I think I'm in love and the Rabots join my fave Macpac Mission
Pants and ME's G2 Ultimate Pants in the pantheon of legwear fame.
It's all a bit too much. I think I need to lie down for a minute.
Full tests to follow, just watch this space. Or maybe the one above
it...
Tormod Osen
