Ultralight Inner Down jacket A$210

New Mont Bell Jackets

We have added a couple more Mont Bell jackets to our insulation range.

The first is the Ultralight Inner Down jacket, a lighter jacket than the others we offer but constructed of the same materials. The down is 800-fill and the fabric Ballistic Airlight (see below for an explanation). The baffles that hold the down in place are stitch-through rather than box-walled, which suits a jacket with less down. Buttons are used instead of a zip to shed a few more grams. As the name suggests, the jacket will fit under your shell. However, you are most likely to wear the jacket as an outer layer for summer mountaineering in the Southern Alps or winter mountaineering on Ruapehu/Taranaki/Feathertop. Expect the jacket to provide as much warmth as a thick fleece but pack away into the palm of your hand (weighs 200g).

The second is the Thermawrap parka, which has the same warmth as a 200-weight fleece but is half the weight and a fraction of the bulk. One of the great advantages of a synthetic down jacket is that it allows unrestricted movement when climbing and fits well under under a waterproof jacket. The parka is cut short so as not to interfere with the harness and has two hand pockets.

Thermawrap parka A$195

Men's Alpine Down jacket A$280
(steel-grey and black options)

Men's Ventisca Down jacket A$390
Steel-grey rather than blue

Mont Bell Down Jackets

Lets get this out straight away. The jackets you'll find in most stores have very low quality down - so low they may not even tell you. Our Mont Bell jackets have 800-fill down.

Second, and this is most important, any jacket with a large amount of down should have box-walled baffles. Alas, the jackets you are most likely to find have baffles created by stitching the inner and outer shells together. The down in these jackets has been squashed by this process, reducing the warmth for the wearer. These jackets make you look like a Michelin man.

Instead the baffles should be three-dimensional box baffles which let the down loft. The jacket outer fabric appears flat, like those on the left and right. Also, box baffling is stitched such that down won't escape through the seams.

The nylon fabric used is Ballistic Airlight. Airlight is stronger than traditional nylon that is twice as heavy. Airlight reduces the weight compressing the down therefore allowing more loft. Because each Airlight fibre has a flat cross-section, they lie on top of one another preventing down escaping between each nylon strand.

The men's and women's Alpine Down jackets are 800-fill down, boxed walled and Ballistic Airlight.

The new Ventisca Down jacket is for deep winter belays. Again, it is 800-fill, boxed walled and Ballistic Airlight. The water repellency used is a long-lasting DWR called Polkatex (we've added a note about water repellency below). We can bring in other expedition down jackets and suits if you give us enough warning.

Women's Alpine Down jacket A$280

Women's Ventisca Down jacket A$370

Flat Iron jacket A$250
green and red options

Mont Bell Synthetic Jackets and Pants

Mont Bell Thermawrap Jackets are synthetic options for down jackets. This is great for the geese.

The Flat Iron jacket is a warmer synthetic-down jacket (600g) than the Thermawrap parka described above. In addition, it has a Polkatex finish to shed snow, light rain, spindrift and rime. It has two hand pockets, a chest pocket and a two-way front zip. This jacket is particularly designed for standing (or hanging) around in awful weather. It is quite roomy, so winter alpinists can layer a fleece or Thermawrap parka underneath to achieve maximum warmth. The large hood fits well over a helmet.

"I have been using my Flat Iron for just over a year now and I must say I am thoroughly impressed! I've found it has an excellent warmth to weight ratio, is super comfy, dries amazingly fast, and the Ballistic nylon really is stronger (must admit I was sceptical on this). The jacket compresses nicely for a hooded synthetic, and I would rate the quality of construction/attention to detail as superior to that of both Mountain Hardwear and OR. All up a very nice lightweight belay jacket!" RB

The Ultralight Thermawrap pants (290g) have full-length zips (stopping a couple of inches below the waist). They can be worn under rain pants on a cold climb or on their own at camp, but you would very likely catch a crampon on them if wearing them as an outer layer while climbing. They are excellent for sleeping in if travelling light, and because of the full-length zips, you don't even have to take them off until you are leaving camp.

All items are made of Ballistic nylon to reduce weight and the insulation used is Exceloft.

Thermawrap pants A$195

Water Repellency

Water repellency sounds like a good idea. After all, the wetter a down jacket becomes the less use it is (synthetic down jackets, of course, are hardly affected by moisture). Conventionally, manufacturers have used a shell (surface) material that has some water resistance. This hasn't meant the jacket is waterproof, but it can bead moisture from misty rain, snow, or a dripping snow cave. The drawback in using such materials is they are relatively heavy, and thus they prevent down from fully lofting. Mont Bell are all about getting the best warmth-for-weight and warmth-for-bulk ratios and this means using the lightest nylon available and applying a DWR to it.

The problem with a conventional DWR, however, is that it isn't particularly long lasting. Your brand new rain jacket has a surface DWR that allows it to bead water (this isn't the waterproof layer deeper in the material), but it usually isn't that long before it wears off and you need to respray your jacket with a bottle of DWR from your local outdoor store. The ideal solution is to have a long-lasting DWR, such as Polkatex, which retains 90% of its repellency after 100 washes. Polkatex is not cheap, however, so we offer a choice of Polkatex DWR and standard DWR jackets.

If you are worried about large amounts of moisture then either consider a synthetic down jacket or contact us and we can let you know what options are available with waterproof materials.