Mammut is a Swiss brand that falls into the category of high-end performance wear, and caters to the needs of the extreme-use customers, such as mountain guides and other outdoor professionals. The Mammut Nordwand Jacket is exemplary of Mammut’s commitment to performance. The Nordwand is a hard shell featuring GORE-TEX’s top-of-the-line Pro Shell 3-Layer fabric. [...]
Sierra Designs has a fashion-forward hoody for female outdoor adventurists; the Instigator Hoody is a stylish-yet-technical piece that any woman would be happy to add to her wardrobe. With the weather this winter fluctuating from 60 degrees to 0 degrees (and back again), I have been able to test the Instigator Hoody in [...]
With the Odin line, Helly Hansen has taken its considerable experience in the technical outerwear industry, and created a collection of products that is perfect for the outdoor professional and demanding consumer. Featuring Helly’s highest-end fabric, Helly Tech Professional, the Odin Guiding Light jacket offers extreme weather protection in a very lightweight and breathable package. [...]
The Thermarator Fleece from Columbia Sportswear is a great, all-purpose jacket for most Spring and Fall days, and should work for most on milder winter days as well. Whether hitting the trail for a light hike or bike ride, or out running errands around town, this jacket will keep you comfortable and warm. It also [...]
The go anywhere, do anything ”hoodie” you’ve all been dreaming of. If you’re anything like me, you can’t stand having a closet full of coats for “every” occasion. I want one coat to wear rain or shine - end of Summer through end of Spring. I need it to be wind proof, water proof, and warm in cold [...]
Coming in as one of my favorite jackets for the spring/summer season, I introduce to you the Eddie Bauer First Ascent Sandstone Soft Shell Jacket. With a few years under its belt and a number of professional athletes and experts helping design the First Ascent product lines, Eddie Bauer has struck gold with the [...]
If you live in Colorado right now, you know how important a good outdoor hard shell can be! The Spring season has been a mix of snow in the mountains and lots of rain in the Denver metro area. And while the rain and snow keeps a lot of people inside, I was happy to [...]
With snow starting to turn to rain in many parts of the US, it’s nice to have a rain jacket that can handle the elements whether you’re hiking the Appalachian Trail or hiking up one of Colorado’s 14′ers. I’ve been testing out the Columbia Peak 2 Peak Jacket over the past few months to see how [...]
Patagonia thinks of everything. I didn’t know that I needed or even wanted a softshell vest until I started testing Patagonia’s Hooded Guide Vest. The vest is a spin-off from Patagonia’s most successful, aka popular, softshell the Guide Jacket. Since I received the vest, it has been easy to put the vest to good use: [...]
The Obsidian Jacket is Mountain Hardwear’s answer to the technical backcountry shell. The jacket is highly breathable and waterproof, making it a great outer piece in inclement weather. It is also cut with room for adding layers underneath, which is essential for any shell. I tested the jacket as both a ski shell and a [...]
The Mantra Jacket, by Sherpa Adventure Gear, is designed to keep you warm during all of your cold weather aerobic pursuits, without bothersome bulk. Cross country skiing, skinning and skiing, climbing and running, it’s meant to perform. The sleek, fun design looks like a wool hoodie under a puffy vest and functions equally well on [...]
Eddie Bauer has a long and impressive heritage of equipping some famous expeditions but has lost a lot of its prestige over the last decade. With the 2009 introduction of the First Ascent line, I believe they have made a phenomenal return to high-quality expedition-ready apparel. They have worked with mountain guides and professionals to [...]
Columbia’s new line of thermodynamic items looked a little, well… spacey. It looked as if it could be turned inside out and used as a halloween costume much more so than as any type of active wear. We are happy to report that we were ENTIRELY wrong. While the interior may just be a little [...]
The Miwa Down Jacket by Mammut is packed with 750 fill goose down. This translates into extreme warmth that is highly compressible. We have been wearing the jacket by itself in temps well below freezing and have been pleased thus far and are excited to see how the Miwa performs when winter really starts to [...]
When the temperatures drop below freezing and you have to get in your workout, it’s important to the have the proper gear to keep you warm while not impeding your movement. I’ve been testing out the Craft Storm Jacket which is a performance fleece jacket that works great in outdoor aerobic activities in colder temps. When [...]
If you haven’t been out to the stores yet this season, I have news for you, flannels are back! As I love to stay up with the trends, I’m finding the Patagonia Reversible Flannel Jacket to be one of my favorite pieces of the season. Although I’m not using it for trail running, skiing, hiking, [...]
If you loved your Mountain Hardwear Phantom jacket, you are going to love the Nitrous Jacket. The Nitrous Jacket, available for men and women, packs the same amount of great warmth as my ‘ole favorite, but weighs even less and packs down even smaller. Plus, the Nitrous has some style to it with a subtle [...]
I have been testing out Patagonia’s newly designed R3® Hi-Loft Hoody in the ever fashionable purple hue. The R3 Hi-Loft Hoody has quickly become a personal and family favorite. I say this because we now refer to the purple R3 as “Grimace”. For instance, one might say, “the weather may turn a bit chilly, why [...]
If the whole going green craze has your number but you don’t want to sacrafice on quality and performance, the Helly Hansen Ekolab Recycler Jacket might just be for you. The Ekolab Recycler is a 3-layer waterproof breathable shell that is made of 100% recycled bottles. It comes with water resistant pit zips, taped seems, [...]
A few years ago, the words waterproof-breathable-and stretchy, were not listed as features in one single jacket. Rather, the jacket was waterproof OR breathable, not both. These days, manufacturers, such as Helly Hansen, have found a way to make a jacket that touts all three qualities. Helly Hansen’s Barrier Stretch 3L XP utilizes Helly Tech®XP [...]
April showers might bring you May flowers, and the Marmot Super Mica Jacket offers you protection from April showers so that you hike on to enjoy May flowers. This super light waterproof rain jacket is the perfect piece of gear for those of you that like to go ultra light, but don’t want to sacrifice [...]
This spring I had the opportunity to test 2 jackets that utilized the latest and greatest fabric technology, GORE-TEX® Paclite®. So what is GORE-TEX® Paclite®? Well, simply put it is a fully waterproof and breathable 3-layer fabric that weighs 15% less than other 3 layer constructions. Products featuring Paclite® are designed to endure extreme wet [...]
If you are an outdoor enthusiast that is looking for an ultra light-do-everything shell, then the Meru Jacket by The North Face might just be the jacket for you. The Meru incorporates GORE-TEX® PACLITE technology and many other note-worthy features to make this jacket one of my favorite pieces this spring. First and foremost, the [...]
