Maybe my best jacket. Possibly better than my Patagonia Nano-Air. The wind goes through it just enough to keep me cool all the time. Very little sweating. If you run hot, this is the jacket for you.
Insulation: Polartec Alpha
Category: Clothes
Marmot Outland Fleece Jacket
Polyester / Elastine
Marmot Red Star Jacket
NanoPro 3L soft shell. Haven’t had a chance to use it in wet weather yet.
Patagonia Nano-Air Insulated Jacket
So far this jacket is perfect for ~50F weather. It’s very light, mildly water resistant since it’s not down, and comfortable.
The only problem is the sleeves are too long. Considering getting it tailored.
Update: ended up returning it and getting a size smaller. Now it’s slightly too snug, but the sleeves are much better.
Mountain Hardwear Phantom Down Hooded Jacket
Super warm down jacket.
Update: This thing is crazy hot. I put it on to go for a walk in 50F weather and within five minutes I was sweating. There is absolutely no reason to wear this above 40F, maybe even 30F.
In retrospect, I would have been better off with the lighter version of this to wear over my Nano-Air, but oh well. Now I just have to swap them as I get warmer or colder.
Outdoor Research Skyward II Ski Jacket and Pants
Outdoor Research Skyward II Jacket and Pants.
Uses AscentShell 3L instead of Gore-Tex Pro. Perfect for me since it supposedly lets more air through.
Going skiing tomorrow with this. We’ll see how it goes.
Outdoor Research Bolin Jacket
Fabric:
- AscentShell™ 3L
- 100% nylon 20D ripstop with 100% polyester backer Upper: AscentShell™ 3L
- 100% nylon 70D plain weave with 100% polyester backer
So this jacket is sized rather strangely. It’s arm length is good, but it’s even tighter than the Nano-Air around the gut. It’s an XL, but every other XL I own is far larger. If this wasn’t 75% off, I would return it. I’ll just see if I can lose a few pounds to fit in it better.
Mountain Hardwear Absolute Zero mittens
Picked up some Mountain Hardwear Absolute Zero mittens.
Slept with these on my hands when I slept in the bed of the truck in Tahoe. Hands warmed up in about 3 minutes. Glad I had them, but haven’t had a chance to use them throughout the day.
Black Diamond Women’s Liquid Point GTX Shell
So my wife just bought this. It’s rained every day since. So far so good. I know a few days doesn’t make a solid review, but we’ll see after a few downpours.
Basic technical data:
- GORE-TEX Paclite 2.5L
- 75d plain-weave face
- DWR finish (125gsm, 100% polyester)
- Two-way armpit zip vents
- Weight : 350 g (12.3 oz)
It fits nicely over her Mountain Hardwear StretchDown DS jack.
Winter boots
We don’t get any snow in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I only need winter snow boots when I go winter camping. For that reason, I didn’t do a ton of research and just picked out the Columbia Men’s Bugaboot Plus IV Omni-Heat Mid Calf Boot.
We’ll see how well it holds up.
Update: These were fantastic in 18 inches of snow at 25 degrees. I wasn’t working up much of a sweat, mostly standing around, and my feet were quite warm in wool socks and these boots.
We’ll see how they hold up in wet conditions.
Project Hemingway 