Midnight Sun Sweater
Casual wear, rest stops, belaying, summits.
WEIGHT
L 1 lb 2 oz / 510 g
DESCRIPTION
Sporting the Midnight Sun is like being able to wear your favorite down comforter around all day long. Featuring a luxurious micro-nylon shell, fleece pockets, and attractive styling, this is bound to become your favorite summit day or around-town puffy jacket.
KEY FEATURES
Full zip front Draft flap Stand up collar 2 external fleece-lined pockets 1 internal pocket Elasticized hem Side panel boxes optimize ventilation and fit
COLORS
Twilight | Fatigue | Night
hmronnow - Feb 4, 2005 1:46 pm - Voted 3/5
Untitled ReviewAs such, it is good in that it is light (about half of a down jacket) and packs really small (less than a liter) and hence good to have in pack as comfort/safety if nice weather turns bad or if you have to wait etc. It is sufficiently snugg around nec and sleves to keep heat in, although a thin soft fleece like material at those two places would have been nice. It fills up my goretex shell without feeling restrictive and is significantly warmer than a fleece.
It has one very important draw-back. Probably in the spirit of weight saving, the zipper is quite small, and quite difficult to close. Often I basically have to take my gloves off and still struggle a bit to close it. If one considers this a safety gear in the high mountains, forcing you to take the glove off is absolutely no-no. On a summit in cold winds taking you gloves off even 30 seconds easily cost 30 minutes of suffering while they reheat.
Another draw-back is that (again to be light) the fabric seems rather fragile. Whenever I wear this without a shell, I have a feeling it will rip at first contact with rock (hasn't done so far - but that is probably rather because I'm concius than because it is durable). In this perspective a fleece is much more durable. (but you would probably need two fleece jackets to get same warmth).
I only use it when very cold, and hence when all water is frozen, but I imagine it would soak to become useless in rain (without the shell that is).
A side benefit is that in camps you can close it and put your feet into it inside the sleeping bag. This reduces requirement on sleeping bag and saves you another bit of weight.
I am very happy with the down-sweater idea, which works perfectly for me when going fast and light but still want the safety of being able to stay warm. However, I would look around for other brands with better zipper before buying.
(I got my jacket on sale for $75).
I give it 3 stars due to the zipper problem.