New for review, The North Face's new UK-friendly, stiff peaked, waterproof mountain shell.
We've just got our paws on the brand new for winter 2009
The North Face Point Five
Gore-Tex Pro Shell jacket, which we've already previewed
and looks to have been designed with UK conditions in mind. So how does
it stack up on first acquaintance.
The North Face's hood and more specificially the peak, has been a deal
breaker for many UK mountaineers for about as long as we can recall.
The company stubbornly insisted on a series of minimal, barely
stiffened hoods for year after year. The good news is that the Point
Five's hood is much, much better. The peak is seriously stiffened with
lamination and finished off with what looks like a wired brim, but we
think is actually a plastic-ish rod, since it can't be bent to change
the shape of the brim.
Overall though, it's a massive improvement on previous TNF hoods and
feels like it should cope fine with UK conditions. Overall the
helmet-compatible hood works well too, it takes a helmet happily and
without, can be snugged down to move easily with your head.
The rest of the jacket is a medium length, reasonably close-cut affair
with minimal features - no pit-zips for example - in three-ply Gore-Tex
Pro Shell fabric. There are two big map-compatible Napoleon pockets
with some venting potential too and adjustable hem and waist cords.
The adjustments are a tad fiddly with pullers inside the pockets that
are hard to tell apart, so you're never quite sure which cord you're
pulling on. The waist cord cord-grips are hard to locate as well and it
would all be a real faff with gloves on. That said, you should be able
to adjust at the start of the day and then leave well alone, so we
don't think it's a huge issue.
There's no reflective either - it's sometimes helpful to be able to see
each other on long Scottish walk-ins or outs in the dark, but again,
it's not a deal breaker.
Weight of our medium test jacket is bang on 500 grammes, so right in
the ballpark, helped by extensive use of very narrow microtape.
Overall we're cautiously optimistic about the Point Five. We like Pro
Shell for its lightness, toughness and mobility, the cut is decent,
there's little unnecessary faff about it and, most importantly, at last
the hood feels like it should provide enough protection to cope with
our evil winter conditions. Price is
£250, more
feedback once we've had a chance to use it properly. British name,
British friendly? We'll see...
More information at
www.thenorthface.com
