GearFlogger

Sierra Designs Flex down jacket

You got to flex it if you want to sex it, baby! The beach is (flex bicep while pointing with thumb) thataway! Sierra Designs has been flexing it for some time now with their sleeping bags. Their 3-season bags use an elastic tape and their ultralight bags use an elastic thread, as does the Flex down jacket. Kudos up front: the Flex uses 100% recycled polyester fibers in the shell fabric.

The Flex isn't designed to be fancy: it's a big two-pound bag o' 750-fill down to keep your core happy, and we had no problem on walkabouts at sub-zero F temps. The Flex does have a few tricks up its sleeves, one of which is the sleeve itself, which uses what SD calls Condor Construction, a long fabric panel - basically no articulated cut - that minimizes hem rise when reaching overhead. The Flex elastic stitching helps with mobility as well, bestowing about 3-4 inches of give where you need it most around the holidays, the gut. Or as the SheFlogger calls it while pointing at me and laughing in front of her friends, the twins.

There are two tricot-lined zippered hand pockets, a tricot chin guard with requisite zipper garage, and a zippered inside left chest pocket with cord port. The left hand pocket has a handy little velcro-flapped credit-card sized pocket-in-a-pocket. The Flex is equipped for serious mountaineering with two large water bottle pockets on the inside down low; some big-mountain jackets only give you one, and you always wish you had another. The only adjustment on the jacket is the two-way adjustable hood, which brings up our only real nitpick, the lack of a hem adjustment. Even though it fits fairly snug by design a high wind is going to get in.

$249 at Sierra Designs (not yet available at retail at the time of this writing)

Mountain Hardwear Nitrous jacket

Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that you are a man and you are in the doghouse. I mean you really screwed the pooch this time, bro. Figuratively speaking, I hope. So what are you going to do? Here comes the SheFlogger, think fast!

I'll give you two choices: (a) engagement ring or (b) Mountain Hardwear Nitrous jacket. If you're married, no choice (a) for you, but take comfort: the Nitrous will assist you in undoing your head-ass inversion. It's eco-sensitive, made with recycled polyester blend, and beautifully minimalist: just two flapped hand pockets, a full-length zipper flap with chamois chin guard, elastic cuffs and a hem drawcord.

The cut is flattering with a curvy waist and nice, tall neck. The weight is nonexistent at 8oz for a small. The 800 fill down compacts down to nothing in the included stuff sack, and the downproof DWR nylon shell keeps the feathers on the inside. The women's Nitrous is overly quilted on the top front leaving lots of uninsulated seams, but guess what? She Doesn't Care! And you're Golden! The Nitrous is also available for men, sans paisley quilting, but since women are never in the doghouse that's not important right now.

$220.00 at REI

Sierra Designs BTU jacket

New from Sierra Designs is the SheFlogger-approved BTU jacket. BTU stands for "better than u" which is the attitude you will get when she puts this very chic piece on and stands next to you, just to remind you how crappy you look in your army-surplus fleece jacket.

The BTU is much more than just a pretty face, however. It's packed with 700-fill goose down inside a fully down-proof DWR shell. The adjustable hood is roomy enough for a low-profile helmet, so you might even be able to use the BTU as a belay jacket. The full length zipper flap has a garage at the top to protect your chin, and a soft tricot lining on the inside of the collar. The zippered chest pocket is also fleecy inside so you can throw your shades in there with no worries. There are two zippered hand pockets, an interior zippered mesh pocket and an interior open stretchy mesh pocket.

There are even zippered arm vents for when you're working it. The zippers are concealed with small pulls, so you won't be working them with your gloves on, but that's about the only compromise to style on the BTU: despite the haute-couture looks the BTU is not over-quilted like some insulated coats out there, so the down has plenty of room to loft and do its job to keep you toasty warm. And the cherry on top is the english-metric conversion chart stitched on the inside. As we're heading into the holiday season, all this adds up to a get-out-of-the-doghouse rating of 5 out of 5.

$249.95 at Summit Hut

Patagonia Down Sweater Vest

Vacation is over, and once again it's the time of the season. The time to find anything with a feather, shave it, and stuff the proceeds into a DWF polyester sack with holes for your arms and head.

Patagonia has made a damn fine start of it with the Down Sweater Vest, a minimalist 7oz wonder packed with 800 fill down from pampered European geese; you know the kind, they're fat and happy from their socialized medicine and extended vacations. The fit is slim enough to go under a shell or inside a sleeping bag, or you can layer it over a mid-weight top. The versatility of a fast and light down vest like this is hard to overstate.

Features include two zippered hand pockets, an interior zippered stash pocket with carabiner loop that doubles as a stuff sack, elastic arm holes, a drawcord waist and full length zipper flap with chin protector. The neck is just right, cozy without being too tight. The finish quality is quite high, and after weeks of daily wear we noticed not so much as a feather leaking out. Even better, the polyester shell is 50% recycled.

$150.00 at REI

Mammut Ambler jacket

I was born an amblin' man, and the Mammut Ambler down jacket is the way I do it. We're talking a Schoeller Nanosphere dirt-repellent soft shell plus 750-fill down insulation at about 3lb total weight.

As usual, Mammut nails the details. Two large inner mesh pockets accomodate quart bottles, an external zipper chest pocket holds small items ready to hand, velcro cuffs keep the draft out and the isulated hood fits comfortably over a helmet.

This jacket shines on belay duty, with a zipper that goes both ways (like... oh, never mind!) and a rear hem cut long to cover your ass. I used it exclusively as my ice climbing belay jacket this spring, and my partner sucks so I stood around a lot in it. It's plenty warm by itself to -10F, and with good base layers could go farther.

Mammut and Schoeller are both Swiss companies, so in the European fashion the zipper is off-handed for Americans. That's honestly the closest I can come to a fault. This jacket is as perfect as gear gets.

$369.00 at Mountain Tools

Mountain Hardwear Phantom Vest

I am too stupid to live. I made the mistake of (1) opening a Mountain Hardwear product box in the presence of the SheFlogger and (2) observing that the enclosed men's Phantom vest was a size small and I, unfortunately, am a medium. The only things left in the air after the SheFlogger pounced were a tuft of 800-fill down and my creative but ultimately useless epithets.

It doesn't look like I'll be getting it back either. She raves about how warm it is, how light it is (12 oz.) and how the fleece-lined pockets are completely under the down so she can walk around without unsightly gloves on her prissy little hands. She likes the outer zip chest pocket for her sunglasses and the inner zip pocket for her wallet.

I think what really screwed me was the fact that it has two drawcords, one for the bottommost hem and one that conveniently brings in the lower back for added contouring (i.e. warmth) that just happens to flatter the SheFlogger's figure. She also likes the chamois neck lining that protects her delicate little chin from the mean old zipper. That's OK, I'll get even. I'll wear her favorite underwear on my next week-long mountain slogfest.

$149.00 at Mountain Gear

REI Davos jacket

Ah, Davos! First, host to the annual world economic forum, now namesake to 18oz. of DWR-covered 700-fill down goodness for women. How proud the denizens of this humble Swiss burgh must be.

The REI Davos jacket is stylish without being overly quilted, which is good since too much stitching = less down = more cold spots. It has a tailored fit, integral hood, and the inside pocket features the now-requisite "headphone portal," also known as a "hole." The jacket has less insulation under the arms and on the sides, and in practice this piece layers well under a slightly oversized shell.

Overall our female tested loved the Davos. She wore it from mountain to bubble-filled all-night dance party - oops, wait, private fantasy! The only complaint is the zipper pull, which instead of being flat is more chunky for easier grabbability. It works great, but the plastic pull broke off under normal use. The zipper itself was still usable, however it would be nice to see that component refined for durability.

$109.83 (on sale from $149) at REI

Outdoor Research Ergo jacket

At some point in the recent past women's outdoor gear makers successfully merged stylish with functional. Exhibit A in this trend is the women's Ergo down jacket from Outdoor Research, complete with funky-cool flower on the shoulder.

Filled with superlofty 700 down the Ergo shines as a layering piece, and at only 13oz and a teeny-tiny stuffed size it works well as a just-in-case piece for nippy weather.

The light weight and lack of a hood make this an above-freezing piece of gear, but one that is equally at home in the backcountry or about town, with its quilted good looks.

A nice touch is the extra large pockets inside, formed by the stitching of the exterior handwarmer pockets. OR didn't skimp on the finishing either, with tricot-lined pockets, elastic cuffs and a full-length zipper flap and chin protector. If she's just plain mad, get flowers. If she's nonlinear, haul out the Ergo. Stuff sack included.

$168.95 at Backcountry.com

MontBell U.L. Down Inner Snap Neck Vest

Vests are great for keeping the core warm while venting well, but for some reason vendors seem to think of down vests as an outer layer and make them too bulky. The MontBell U.L. Down Inner series turns this on its head with the Snap Neck Vest, an ultralight (4.5oz!!!) piece that fits just perfectly under a shell.

The vest has no front zipper to compromise the insulation, just a small opening at the top with a couple of snaps. It goes on and off like a t-shirt quite handily. The cut of the DWR nylon shell is a tad boxy and there's no collar or pockets, but overall it's a brilliant alternative to fleece, adding a lot more insulation for less space and weight: it compresses to smaller than a 20oz Nalgene.

I was belaying ice climbs from a crevasse in Alaska this past weekend. When the sun disappeared over the lip the temperature dropped accordingly, but I just threw the Snap Neck vest on under my soft shell and all was toasty.

$99.00 at MontBell

Patagonia Down Sweater

Cool chillin' at the mall belay station, lookin' for some (tr)action. If all those damn hippies at Woodstock had put their free love into one little 11oz package, this is what it would look like.

It's pricey, but it's harder than it should be to find well-made, low-profile down gear like this. It's got a ripstop shell and small outer pocket for heating up those jawbreaker energy bars.

An excellent fleece replacement, plus it stows the size of a nerf football so you can huck it at your partner when she's snoring too loudly.

$175.00 at Patagonia