GearFlogger

Sierra Designs women's Lunatic Hoody jacket

"The lunatic is on the grass..." Well sure, but that's just California, and that vote legalizing pot would have passed if any of them had remembered to vote. Anyway, if you're heading to the dark side of the moon and need a little soft shell company, check out the Lunatic Hoody from Sierra Designs.

The Lunatic is a shapely little number that comes ready to climb from the top down, starting with a spacious helmet-compatible hood that provides excellent rotation for your brain bucket and a generous brim to keep the nasty off. The Barricade soft shell material sheds light precipitation effortlessly and provides just enough stretch to move with you.

One zippered chest and two zipped hand pockets are complemented by two interior stretchy tight-weave mesh pockets, a small right side zipped pocket and a larger open top inside lower left pocket, perfectly sized for a pair of bulky gloves, a hat or a 20oz water bottle. Dual sided pull cords snug the hood and hem, and rip and stick tabs big enough to be operated with gloves on take care of the cuffs. The Lunatic is a lot of jacket for the money, and the feel is top-notch, especially the interior which is velveteen soft. Men looking for a gift take note, it's a perfect ten on the get-out-of-the-doghouse scale.

$168.95 at Amazon

Sierra Designs Jive jacket

Sierra Designs has decided that carbon based life forms deserve carbon based clothing. They've partnered with Cocona to produce what you could call either a hard soft shell or a soft hard shell, depending on how you see your glass. The very wearable Jive jacket uses Cocona's xCellerator fabric, which is derived from coconut husks and has a very soft hand while providing highly breathable waterproof protection.

The lightweight (one pound) Jive makes all the right moves. The reach-across chest pockets don't interfere with your pack's waist belt, and they have mesh backing so they partner effectively with the pit zips to vent your next-to-skin nastiness outside to where your partner can enjoy it. The pit zips start just below the pit and extend to the elbow; at first we were worried that wasn't sufficient venting but it seems to work just fine, probably because the fabric itself breathes so well. Also, pack straps usually get in the way of pit zips that go farther down the torso so the design makes sense.

The hood is helmet compatible, although wearing a helmet does cause the hood opening to ride up over your chin, especially with larger volume helmets like the Petzl Meteor III. Oddly enough we liked that just fine, and the hood is articulated enough that it provides excellent visibility side-to-side. We're very particular about hood design around here, and we really liked the lay-flat design of the Jive's hood, and the fact that the fairly trim opening kept the elements out even while open.

The microfleece zipper guard rests comfortably against your chin, and the rip-and-stick cuffs, hem and hood drawstrings provide ample adjustments. There is a left bicep pocket that is just tad too deep as items fall around your elbow, and an inside left zipped pocket on the chest. Performance is great; light rain sheds quickly and heavy downpours stay outside thanks to the waterproof zippers and fully taped seams. Breathability is good while buttoned up and great when fully vented. There's minimal clamminess if (when) you overheat, nothing that a light wicking layer - which you're wearing anyway, right? - can't easily handle. Built for backpacking, Sierra Designs bills the Jive as a 3-season jacket. We think they're selling an excellent jacket short, and there's nothing to prevent it from doing winter alpine duty as well.

$279.00 at Sierra Designs

Sitka Mountain Gear Coldfront jacket and pant

Being Alaska-based, we're already partial to Sitka Mountain Gear just because of their name. We'll even give them a pass on the fact that they're located in Napa, California, because hey, who doesn't like a glass of the grape now and then? SMG offers their gear in Optifade, a pattern designed to fool animal vision that by all accounts works as advertised. That said it wouldn't be out of place in a snowboard competition, and we were curious to see the latest overlap in big mountain and hunting gear.

SMG makes serious gear for serious outdoor use. Their Coldfront jacket and pant shoot for the stars, but are marred by odd sizing and a few strange design choices. They start off right with GORE-TEX soft shell: quiet, weatherproof, breathable and tough, it's an excellent choice for any mountain application where your exertion ranges from 0 to 60 and back again. Ditto on the lining, a plush low-profile microfleece that provides a measure of lightweight insulation. The taped and welded seams pull it all together. The pants have side zips all the way to the waist band, and both the jacket and pant have plenty of pocket options and adjustments. Inside the hand pockets on the jacket is another zipper that lets you give yourself a reach around, useful for adjusting yourself or warming your hands on your stomach.

The gear is made in China, and while the quality is top-notch the sizing is a little off like you see sometimes with Asian-sourced clothing. Both the jacket and the pant are on the small side, and most Americans will need to move up a size. The pockets on the pant are overlapping, which limits their utility for bulky items: a single pocket or non-overlapping pockets might have been a better choice. The suspenders on the pant are also problematic: they have non-slip rubbery strips their entire length, which do the job a little too well and make adjustments difficult. Once you set them they won't move, however. Your shirt will stay tucked in as well thanks to a military-style non-slip gripper around the waist band on the pant.

On the jacket the hood is not helmet compatible, and when you cinch it down it doesn't move with your head like it should, but rather locks you into a forward view. The reach-across Napoleon style chest pockets could be a bit larger, since these are the only ones easily accessible with a pack waist belt secured around the lower hand pockets. A game pocket on the back would also be useful. Another odd design choice is the raised dot-pattern tape around the zippers. It makes noise when it rubs against other material while moving, compromising the otherwise quiet design of these pieces. The final factor that might convince you to give the Coldfront a pass is the price: sure it's high-quality gear, and there are more than a few companies playing at this price point, but given our experience we'll wait for version 2.0.

Coldfront Pant: $449.00 at Sitka Mountain Gear
Coldfront Jacket: $529.00 at Sitka Mountain Gear

Chrome Shins knickers

I remember backpacking across Thailand for a month. The first thing I did was buy a cheap pair of knickers because they're the national pant or something. The style is so practical for hot weather that by the end of the trip they were all I wore. It's great to see so many companies making 3/4 pants for outdoor use these days.

Climbers and pedal-pushers will rejoice at Shins, the offering from Chrome, San Francisco-based maker of bike-messenger-inspired and used clothing and bags. Shins are made from Tweave Durastretch, a wonderful 9% Spandex soft shell material optimized for stretch and durability. What that means is that I've been living in them for the last month. Tweave is a lightweight material, and it just doesn't seem to abrade. Yet for a tough-guy fabric it feels like soft-shell silk.

Chrome knows what they're doing with the stuff. Shins have top-notch fit and finish, with zip fly, belt loops, two open hand pockets and two zippered thigh pockets. The cargo pockets are flap-over-zipper design and when not stuffed with all your nasty crap they lie perfectly flat. The length on the calves is perfect for bikers and climbers, giving great airflow and easily clearing pedals. Throw on some flip-flops and you're ready for Patong, baby!

$99.00 (on sale from $160.00) at Chrome

Outdoor Research Gorilla Balaclava

One of the best things about mountaineering is being able to wear a balaclava without getting pulled over by the police or kicked in the head by Chuck Norris. When it's time to get your inner ninja on pull on a Gorilla 'clava from Outdoor Research.

The Gorilla goes normal clavas one better with a collection of features: it's Windstopper, it has a nose shield that directs your nasty booger spray away from your shades, a fine mesh covers your mouth, and the face shield is removable via velcro straps on either side.

The Gorilla fits very close because it's not a pull-over; instead it has Velcro on the side to open the face up for putting on and taking off. It's cut lower in front to cover your chin, and higher in back so you'll want a high collar to cover the gappage; if you've got a hood you're all set. The inside is supersoft fleece. All in all, very nice and suitable for extreme conditions where you want no square inch of skin uncovered. Be aware: like all Windstopper headwear it muffles sound a little, and when you rip off the Velcro closure it's pretty loud inside.

$49.95 at Backcountry

Westcomb Bravo men's jacket

Westcomb is a Canadian company that is committed to quality textiles with high stitch counts sewn exclusively by detail-obsessed porn stars. Their Bravo men's jacket is the first piece to come our way and it easily lives up to high expectations. Plus it smells nice.

The Bravo is a 17oz minimalist jacket: two zippered hand pockets, an inner zippered chest pocket with headphone port, a laminated ski pass/credit card sized forearm pocket and drawcords at waist and neck (does anyone actually use neck drawcords? I always cut mine off...). That's about it.

So what sets the Bravo apart? It's all in the details. The fit and finish are immaculate, with a tailored feel. There's a full length rubberish zipper flap. The body material is Polartec Thermal Pro, which feels like a very technical version of your favorite sweatshirt material: warm and soft and able to move with you. The face of the fabric changes from soft shell smooth to terrycloth-ish, a really nice combination that makes this piece able to switch effortlessly from backcountry to business casual. We'd like to see an external zippered chest pocket added, but any way you look at it the Bravo is polished.

$76.97 (on sale from $139.95) at Backcountry

Arc’Teryx Gamma SV Hoody women’s jacket

Arc'Teryx makes a mean soft shell, no doubt. They pay extra attention to details like stitch counts and anatomically correct articulation to ensure that fit and finish are at the head of the pack. The Gamma SV Hoody is their built-for-speed yet tough-as-nails alpine alternative.

The svelte 20oz Gamma is made from two different weights of soft shell material: Polartec Power Shield High Loft (ooh, so plush... stroke the monkey!) on the torso and shoulders for warmth and lighter-weight, less-bulky Polartec Power Shield everywhere else. The whole garment has a beautiful hand and cut, and the four-way stretch means it moves with a purpose.

Arc'Teryx made some bold design choices that end up working very well. The nonremovable (check out the hoodless Gamma AR if that's your bag) drop-away hood is helmet compatible, with a reinforced brim and a nifty hidden adjustment cord. There are two external zippered handwarmer pockets and an internal zippered small chest pocket. The hem is adjustable but the cuffs are not, and there are no pit zips, which doesn't much matter because the thinner material there vents perfectly well. The Gamma SV definitely puts the soft in soft shell.

$349.95 at Backcountry

REI One Jacket

Neo may be The One, but he's still a wanker. A computer geek wakes up one day and he's a superhero? Thank god he didn't have to work for it or anything. For those of us who do have to work for a living but need the occasional superpowers of breathability and weatherproofness, REI hooks us up with the One jacket.

I still have the original flavor of the One jacket in basic black from about six years back, and I've always appreciated its ability to go from business casual to backcountry competition without a hitch. The understated fashion plus high performance continues in the latest iteration, now featuring beefy Schoeller soft shell material for serious wind and water resistance. It sure doesn't hurt that the fit and finish are still top-notch without breaking the bank.

The One is set up in true minimalist fashion, with just what you need: high garrote-proof collar with soft brushed liner and chin guard, full-length zipper flap, drawcord hem and rip-and-stick cuffs. Pockets include one zippered exterior chest pocket with internal headphone port, two traditional low rear-opening zippered handwarmer pockets and an open large pocket on the inside low right. At the time this review was posted the online specs incorrectly list a zippered inner pocket that doesn't exist. The original also had the open inner pocket on both sides, but there's just the one on the new One. It's still the classiest, best-performing and most reasonably priced dual-purpose jacket out there.

$189.00 at REI

Patagonia Ascensionist Jacket

Patagonia has really got the backcountry crowd dialed in. If your idea of a good time involves grinding up the steeps and/or winding down the vert, Patagonia has you covered in the material of your choice.Random thought: I remember when Patagonia was a Southern California startup, and I've always wondered: is there a company in South America called SoCal? 

But that's not important right now. What's important is their new Ascensionist jacket, which is a technical showpiece. For starters it's light at 19 ounces, thanks to stitchless seams and a minimalist design. It's alpinist-friendly with a 3-way adjustable roll-back helmet-compatible hood and an athletic cut with the arms and adjustable hem cut slightly long, great for those of us who spend a lot of time reaching up. Rip and stick cuffs, zippered hand pockets with mesh backing double as vents and a small inner zipped security pocket round out the features.

Performance is absolutely top shelf: breathability is superb, weather resistance hard care and the whole piece just feels moves with you. If you do manage to get this piece wet, never fear as the dry time is warp speed fast. The only minor quibble with this stellar jacket is that the hand pockets are not above the harness line as advertised; moving them about four inches would do the trick. An alternative would be to include a two-way zipper so the jacket could be worn over the harness. That aside, it's hard not to love this jacket, especially given the rockingly reasonable price.

$225.00 at REI

Patagonia Alpine Guide Pants

Patagonia does their own thing with their soft shell material; mostly they mix in a little spandex to make those of us who came of age in the 1980s feel right at home. But there's nothing old-fashioned about the way the material moves: it's tough yet supple, and highly weather resistant yet breathable.

The rest is up to the design, and in the Alpine Guide pants the execution is top-notch. The Guide pants have evolved over the years into different versions, and if you don't need crampon guards or suspenders the 21oz Alpine will do you right. The back half of the waistband is elastic, the two-way zippered fly is harness friendly and there are a plethora of pockets: two deep hand warmers that double as vents, two welded thighs and single back, all zippered.

Patagonia puts more thought into their cuff design than some manufacturers do with the entire pant. The gussets lie perfectly flat inside until called into action by unzipping the 10 inch zipper and releasing the outer snap. Snap again to the inside and you're good to go around big winter boots. But wait, that's not all: you also get an elastic gripper strip around half the cuff and two tie-down loops. All this and smooth like buttah too. Nicely done.

$150.00 at Backcountry