With winter coming, a good
waterproof shell jacket made from a breathable fabric is a must and the
good news is that there's a lot of choice out there. Our Buyers Guide which will be updated
shortly, tells you what to look for, but here are five of our
favourites in no particular order and a quick explanation of why we
like them.
If you're in the market for a waterproof jacket, here are a few points
to look for:
• Breathability If your jacket doesn't
breathe, you'll simply get wet from your own sweat when working hard.
The hotter you run, the more you shoud proritise breathabilitty
•
Cut For
climbing use a shorter cut jacket will minimise interference with
movement and your harness. For more general use, a longer cut will give
more protection to your nether regions.
•
Reach
Make sure you can reach up above your head and also forward in front of
you without the hem pulling up.
•
Hood You
should be able to fasten and adjust the hood with gloved hands, cinch
things down for maximum protection and the hood should move with your
head when you turn it.
•
Pockets
For harness or pack use, look for main pockets sited above waist level
or they'll be fouled by your equipment.
•
Vents
Venting can make a big difference to cooling. Check you can use your
vents easily even with a pack on. Rolling up sleeves helps cooling as
well.
|
Haglofs Spitz Jacket
Beautifully cut and designed Gore-Tex Pro Shell lightweight
mountaineering jacket that works brilliantly with an effective hood
plus strategic reinforcement to minimise pack and abrasion damage.
|
|
Berghaus Temperance Jacket
New last winter, the Temperance is another lightweight mountaineering
jacket, but has an ace in its hand in the form of the excellent Raptor
hood which is the best helmet-compatible hood we've used. Great for
helmeted climbing. |
|
Mountain Equipment Ogre Jacket
The Ogre is a no-nonsense, all-round mountain shell jacket with ME's
award-winning Stealth hood, but a longer cut than pure climbing jackets
making it an excellent choice for all-round hill use. |
|
Rab Momentum Jacket
Rab uses eVent, the most breathable conventional waterproof fabric
we've found and the Momentum is their latest lightweight alpine shell
weighing just 330 grammes. Ideal if you want to move fast, light and,
erm, sweaty. |
|
Paramo Aspira Smock
Paramo's Nikwax Aanlogy fabric is comfortable, very, very breathable
and quite warm making it fantastic cold weather kit. The Aspira isn't
light, but makes up for it in cold weather performance value. |
|
Crux Flack Jacket
Hardcore, tough, no-nonsense mountaineering jacket made from eVent
fabric with a slim cut for active climbers. The newer Torq
Jacket is also making waves in the OM
wardrobe. |
Fore more information, you can read our full
Shell
Jacket Buyers' Guide and see the
Waterproof
Jacket section of our User Reviews.
Spíder
