Mountain Equipment Morpheus - First Look

Mountain Equipment Morpheus Jacket - First Look

Mountain Equipment says that the Morpheus jacket 'is designed as a lightweight but full spec mountain walking and climbing jacket.' In other words, full protection, but in a lightweight package that's easy to carry when not needed.

Previously a Gore-Tex jacket at this sort of weight would mostly likely have been made from PacLite and have an emphasis on light weight at the expense of robustness. New Pro Shell fabrics mean the company's been able to priduce a lightweight jacket that should still be reasonably tough.

The new Gore-Tex Pro Shell fabrics have three big advantages over the old XCR material. The woven backer that forms the inner surface of the fabric is bother lighter and more durable than the old knitted version, but also nicer to wear as it slides more easily over inner layers giving appreciably improved mobility and comfort. Used here with a lightweight face fabric, it means you can have the pros of PacLite without the cons.

The rest of the jacket isn't really ground breaking, but builds on ME's traditionally capable features, in particular the effective Stealth hood.

The key to Mountain Equipment's reputation as arguably the definitive British mountain shell jacket brand has been getting the basic functionality right. ME's jackets may not always look as sexy as some of its rivals, but you can bet your waterproof pocket zip that the hood will work well, the hem will stay put when you reach up for a hold and the cut will fall nicely into the happy zone between contour hugging and baggy.

So it's no surprise that the Morpheus ticks all those boxes. The cut is generous enough for us to fit a fleece underneath, but not really loose, stuff like the cuff adjustment works well and the pockets are arranged so as not to interfere with pack belts and harness. There's an external map pocket that'll take a 1:25,000 OS at a pinch and means you don't have to open the main zip's double storm flap every time you want to get your map out.

Length is kind of medium - not quite as long as a traditional mountain jacket, but not as short and boxy as the short-cut climbing jackets intended to be used with shell pants. We found it about right for general mountain use, though that will depend a little on your own proportions so try before buying.

You also get the latest incarnation of ME's effective Stealth hood complete with laminated and wired peak. With bare head or hat it works excellently with the adjuster cord gripping the top of your head so the hood moves seamlessly as you turn your head sideways. It will also accommodate a helmet, but we found the helmet peak sat a little high and the chin piece was too tight in lidded mode, so again, try before buying if you intend to use it in climbing mode.

The Pro Shell fabric generally works well and is the key to the Morpheus's light weight and packability - it'll fit easily inside a climbing helmet for example. Breathability isn't quite at eVent levels - we used main zip and easily rolled up cuffs for venting - but the smooth inner face slides easily over lower layers giving a silky smooth, mobile comfortable feel in use.

We're not sure how tough the lightish face fabric would be in really brutal use, but we'd definitely take it over Paclite for general durability and effective waterproofing too.

Quibbles? The chinguard is a bit tight across the point of the chin, we didn't really use the half drawcord at the waist and it would be a nice touch if the two hem cords - one front, one back - used either colour coding or different shaped toggles so you could tell easily which is which. That's it really.

We would suggest you check the chin area of the hood for fit, particularly if you intend to use a helmet occasionally, but other than that, you're getting a great jacket. The only open question is over durability and with that, only time will tell. For really aggressive use with big packs you may be better off with a jacket featuring reinforcement on shoulders and hips.

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