Winter’s here, if you’ve been on the hills recently the wind, the rain and the recently arrived snow will have you pulling your hood up and leaning into the gusts on the ascent before running for cover behind the cairn.
I suppose we’d all like crunchy snow underfoot and clear blue skies above until Easter next year but the reality of a Scottish winter sees us as likely to be battling horizontal rain as much as happily walking across a Christmas card scene. It’s nice to know that we can shut it all out if we’ve got a jacket that’s up to the task and I’ve been using a variety of models that were sent in for test as winter compatible shells.
My checklist for a winter jacket includes a hood that gives real protection, features that can be operated while using gloves and a fit the lets you be active – you’ll be swinging an ice axe. Storage can be a personal thing, one good pocket can be better that four bad ones and one eternal discussion point is jacket length, is it keeping your backside free of frost?
General fit is something which makes a big difference to whether a jacket works for you or not and in the text below my remarks on fit relate to how a size large jacket feels on my pretty average size large frame; it turns out the fits varied a wee bit.
Arc’teryx Beta LT
RRP £330.00
354g (Men’s Large, all weights taken by me)
Women’s version available
Features and Fabric
Adjustable, helmet compatible hood with stiffened peak. Adjustable cuffs and hem. Two external pockets, one internal pocket. Full length water resistant zip with internal storm flap. Gore-Tex Pro fabric.
The Beta LT is the lightest jacket in the test but there’s nothing missing to hit that low number on the scales. The cut is quite trim but I can get a beefy midlayer or light insulation underneath it without any trouble. The length at the front is quite short but there’s a good sized scoop on the tail for extra coverage. The chest pockets sit high and are easily accessible with bellowed internal pocket bags that let you cram kit inside. The hood is excellent, very protective and although the peak isn’t wired a little tension pulled into the front drawcord gives the peak a good shape. You can pull the hood back off of your head while the main zip is done up to the top, always a handy feature.
Articulation is good with no hem movement when I lift my arms above my head.
The fabric is light, but feels tough and the breathability is very good. There are many nice touches around the Beta such as stiffened zipper garages to seal up the pockets, soft-touch patches at your chin and at the back of your neck and shaped cuffs that sit well on gloves.
The adjusters are easily accessible and the Beta LT is hassle free winter wear.
Berghaus Civetta
RRP £320.00
458g (Men’s Large)
Features and Fabric
Adjustable, helmet compatible hood with stiffened and wired peak. Adjustable cuffs and hem. Two external pockets, one internal pocket. Full length water resistant zip with internal storm flap. Pit zips. Gore-Tex Pro fabric.
Pull the hood up on the Civetta and you feel ready for anything, big and protective it has a wired peak which keeps its shape when the adjusters are slackened off. The cut is neat but roomy enough for a thicker midlayer or some insulation and the length is longer than a lot of alpine style jacket with decent coverage and a slightly scooped tail.
The pitzips are easy to access and operate with different zip-pulls for the up and down zip-pulls. The main zip is the chunky water resistant type, I like this kind of zip, it’s much easier to operate than the rubberised kind we’ve been used to in the past, less resistance in operation.
The chest pockets are high and a good size and all the adjusters are chunky and user-friendly. The fabric gives great breathability, the pocket zips have garages and there’s a soft chin patch at the top of the main zip.
A very secure feeling jacket, its light but it feels robust when worn and the hood is ready to rock.
Craghoppers Kiwi
RRP £90.00
1000g (Men’s Large)
Features and Fabric
Adjustable, removable hood with stiffened peak. Adjustable cuffs, waist and hem. Two external double pockets, one internal pocket, one map pocket under the storm flap. Full length zip with internal and external storm flaps. Zip for adding fleece. AquaDry fabric with liner.
Not everyone wants to look like a mountaineer and if you want a jacket that’ll work for commuting, walks in the park and the winter hills without giving your wallet a hernia, the Kiwi might be your best pal. The Kiwi is the heaviest jacket in the test, it’s a tough fabric outer fabric with a lot of features built in such as the multiple pockets and the removable hood. I’d make it a fixed hood and save faff and weight, but folks out there must like the design and it is very neat with no extra flaps, sticking out. The hood’s decent enough, a good fit and reasonable protection from the stiffened peak which gets pulled into a curve when you tighten the drawcords.
The low double pockets lined handwarmers accessible from the side and flapped, bellowed cargo pockets at the front which might partly fall below some rucksack waist belts. The huge under-flap map pocket might be the only one you need though.
The fit is what I would describe as regular and high-lift arm movement only lifts the hem a little. The Kiwi was a bit of a surprise, the breathability isn’t the best, but this jacket will get you into the hills just fine.
Didriksons Sapi
RRP £150.00
888g (Men’s Large)
Women’s version available
Features and Fabric
Adjustable, removable hood with stiffened peak. Adjustable cuffs and hem. Two external pockets, one internal pocket, one map pocket under the storm flap, one ski-pass pocket on left arm. Full length zip with double external storm flaps. Pit zips with storm flaps. Internal snow skirt. StormSystem fabric with liner.
The Sapi bridges the gap between the Craghoppers Kiwi and the technical jackets in the test while adding a little ski flavour of its own. The removable hood has a great fit and very good protection and the body is nice and long with a regular fit that lets you layer up if you want. The chest pockets are mid height with zips which are accessible above a pack hipbelt although the pocket bags extend below a hipbelt. This isn’t annoying it turns out, you can keep kit in the bottom of pocket and the top half becomes a handwarmer when you’re on the move. The internal snow skirt and ski pass pocket show its wintersports leanings but it’s still an all-rounder and the mesh liner means if feels comfy when worn despite the overall weight being quite high. Breathability is okay for the price and there are pit zips to help keep you dry and cool.
The adjusters are all easy to use and there are plenty of neat touches like the cord zip pulls and brightly edged inner pocket which I can actually find when peering into the jacket.
Haglofs Roc Spirit
RRP £330.00
452g (Men’s Large)
Women’s version available
Features and Fabric
Adjustable, helmet compatible hood with stiffened peak. Adjustable cuffs and hem. Two external pockets each incoporating internal zipped pockets, one internal pocket. Full length water resistant zip with internal storm flap. Pit zips. Gore-Tex Pro fabric.
The chest pockets are huge with large mesh panels for venting which double as extra smaller zipped pockets. The main pockets have internal bellowed pocket bags as well which means you can ram these with stuff if you need to. The hood is big as well, with an excellent adjustment system and a stiffened peak that takes a good shape when you pull in the front drawcords a little. It gives great protection and the soft touch chin guard lets you cinch it right in and stay comfortable. The pit zips are easy to reach and the fabric works well with a good level of breathability.
The fit is trim with enough room for a midlayer and some light insulation. The length is in the middle with decent coverage and gently scooped tail. I’ve had this jacket on test the longest of the models here and I’m glad to report that the light fabric is very tough and washes well, so far keeping its excellent water repellent coating.
Movement is unhindered and high reaches won’t pull the hem out of your pack hip belt. Great for winter but light enough for carrying in less severe seasons. The best news is that it’s available in colours other than tennis ball.
Montane Direct Ascent
RRP £250.00
512g (Men’s Large)
Women’s version available
Features and Fabric
Adjustable, helmet compatible hood with stiffened and wired peak. Adjustable cuffs, waist and hem. Two external pockets, one internal pocket. Full length water resistant zip with internal storm flap. Event fabric.
Pulling this on for the first time you immediately notice how long it is, it’s by far the longest jacket in the test. My backside is completely covered by the scooped tail and front coverage is also very good.
The fit is on the trim side of regular so there’s plenty of room to layer up. There’s an extra drawcord at the waist to keep the jacket neat which feels a bit old-school. It has the feel of a jacket that’s been designed by someone who has spent time out there on our winter hills. The hood is excellent, big and very protective, you can cinch it down to just a letterbox for your eyes and it keeps its shape.
The two huge outer pockets hide the waist adjusters and also have little microfleece patches which take the sting out of cold fingers, a nice little touch. The pockets are around mid-height, lower than a climbing jacket but still above your rucksack hip belt, designed for hillwalkers then.
The Event fabric breathes very well and the jacket gives a great range of movement for swing axes with all the adjustments easy to manage.
It feels like a British mountain jacket, and that’s not a nostalgic tag, it’s just right for its task.
Sherpa Lakpa Rita
RRP £280.00
518g (Men’s Large)
Women’s version available
Features and Fabric
Adjustable hood with stiffened and wired peak. Adjustable cuffs and hem. Four external pockets. Full length water resistant zip with internal storm flap. Event fabric.
The Lakpa Rita is a mountaineering jacket and it’s been designed to be purely practical and faff-free. The cut is slim, a midlayer under here is all I can fit unless I size up to an XL, but that’s not a criticism, with a powerstrech or microfleece top under it, the Lakpa Rita is very comfortable and the slim fit breathes very well indeed so you take full advantage of the Event fabric. The body length is average for this grouptest with subtle shaping front and back to give as good coverage as possible. The arms are long and the free movement is excellent with no movement of the hem at all whatever I do with my arms.
There are four chest pockets, the two side pocket are pretty big with scope for good storage while the napoleon pockets are smaller, you can get a GPS, snacks, hats and gloves in there to keep them handy. All the pockets have oversized zipper garages which are easy to zip the zip pull into even with the clumsiest pair of mitts on. The hood is quite neat fitting and the stiffened wired peak holds its shape well. The adjustment comes from a single adjuster at the crown which reduces the overall volume and cinches the hood around your face at the same time which does pull the hood back from your face a little. I always like to be able to adjust front and back independently but luckily here the neat fitting hood doesn’t need too much adjustment and it hasn’t been a problem and I’ve had this jacket out in some horrendous weather.
Sprayway Zeus
RRP £260.00
458g (Men’s Large)
Women’s version available – Pandora
Features and Fabric
Adjustable, helmet compatible hood with stiffened and wired peak and roll away strap. Adjustable cuffs and waist. Three external pockets, one internal pocket. Full length water resistant zip with internal storm flap. Gore-Tex fabric.
The matt-finished understated looks, camouflage an excellent winter mountain jacket in the Zeus. The Gore-Tex fabric used here is supple from new and breathes well. The fit is regular with room to layer up underneath with an average length for this review and a gently scooped tail. The hem has independent adjusters for the front and the tail which works well and can help stop the tail riding up over time.
The three front pockets are big and well placed, the side pockets are just above a pack hip belt and make good hand warmers while the napoleon pocked is crammed with your bits and pieces. The pocket zips and main zip are the chunky water resistant type and are great in use. They do their job too, and maybe this shouldn’t be important but I really like the look of this style of zip.
The hood is a good one with a stiff wired peak that deflects the weather and an interesting fit . The front and rear adjusters pull the face in and cinch in the hood around your head while leaving a little gap around your chin line which is very pleasant indeed. It also lets you zip the Zeus right up without feeling uncomfortable even if you’re wearing a thick hooded midlayer under it.
The North Face Point Five NG
RRP £280.00
464g (Men’s Large)
Women’s version available
Features and Fabric
Adjustable, helmet compatible hood with stiffened and wired peak. Adjustable cuffs and hem. Two external pockets. Full length water resistant zip with internal storm flap. Pit zips. Gore-Tex Pro fabric.
The Point Five is aimed at the hardcore alpinist, but is it also up to life in the Scottish hills in winter? It is indeed, this NG version is an update on the previous version which I had on long term test and the subtle updates have honed the design into a better jacket as the weight has come down and it now comes with a chunky water resistant main zip and sleeker lines. The pockets are a good size and the hem adjusters are hidden in there, the zips are angled to keep rain out even if you leave them open. The hood is easily adjustable although the crown cordlock could be chunkier for using with gloves. The peak is stiffened and wired and protects very well walking into wind driven rain. Other nice touches are the large microfleece rear neck patch and chin guard, sometimes it’s the little things that keep you in a good mood on the worst days.
The fit is regular with room for layering and free movement is very good, it feels protective but this is still a jacket designed for being active.
Conclusions
This quite a diverse bunch of jackets and each has strong winter credentials, any one of these would protect you on a winter Munro.
The fit of the jackets was very different, trying them on and messing around before buying would be a must for me, over just a baselayer, with a midlayer, and while wearing a pack. The pockets on several of these jackets fell at different heights on different wearers, so it’s something worth checking to see if your pocket zip ends up under you rucksack hip belt.
The hoods varied greatly, they all moved well with my head when properly adjusted and while helmet compatibility might not be a priority, a big hood can give you extra protection and you can wear a bobble hat or big softshell or insulated jacket hood under it, so don’t dismiss it as a climbing only option.
I was happy with all the pocket designs, and most of the adjusters were usable with gloves. The breathability did vary, but the drop liners did help to keep me drier in the non Gore-Tex/Event jackets. All the cuffs were wide enough to tuck gloves under which when the snow starts to melt and run down your sleeve, you’ll be glad of.
As always it comes down to what you need, does it fit you and how much does it cost. And remember, you don’t look daft zipping the hood right up to your nose and looking at yourself in the mirror in the shop while waving your arms above your head, that’s proper technical research.