Hey All,

I am planning on summiting Mt. Shasta in late May. This will be my first mountaineering attempt, though I am a fairly experienced backpacker. For my backpacking "hard shell" I've been driducks, but I've become disappointed with it as it wetted out after two days of rain in Glacier NP.
I'm looking for a lightweight hard shell that can double both for mountaineering purposes and as a decent rain jacket. I've been thinking about the ether driclime, but I can't find many reviews for it online. I'm not sure it will suffice as a rain coat. Does anyone have any experience or opinion about this jacket? Or any other suggestions with a price tag of <$200?

Thanks!

get a rab neutrino w event

I am not huge on Marmot jackets, but some people are. DriClime as I understand it mainly helps wick the moisture away from the body. As the manufacturer puts it "DriClime is Marmot's high-tech moisture management system". It keeps you dry in the sense that it wicks moisture away, but not in the sense that it is waterproof. Marmot does make a line of hardshells with different waterproofing technology such as MemBrain, Gortex, and PreCip.

Mountain Hardwear and Arc-Teryx make the best hardshells IMO. Arc-Teryx is pricey but you can catch some good deals every so often. Mountain Hardware makes some jackets just over $200 and their new DryQ Elite technology is pretty awesome.

What you should look for is a shell that is totally waterproof. A shell that is waterproof and technical (i.e. athletic cut, lightweight, breathable, etc) can be used with any layering system for the most part and can be used for mountaineering purposes.

Hope that helps!

Mr. Wood....next time we get together, i will bring my rab to let you check it out.....its soooooo siiiiccckkk!

Alex Wood wrote:What you should look for is a shell that is totally waterproof.

I find highly breathable shells (e.g a light shell of Epic or similar http://www.bradleyalpinist.com/cart/ind ... ucts_id=71) to be more useful than completely waterproof (e.g. poyurathane coated nylon). Bear in mind that Gore-Tex and other "waterproof and breathable" fabrics to do neither very well. If you are concerned about wetting through, a PU coated shell is the only thing that won't eventually leak. MH and TNF both used to make light weight, inexpensive PU coated shells.

ExcitableBoy wrote:

Alex Wood wrote:What you should look for is a shell that is totally waterproof.

I find highly breathable shells (e.g a light shell of Epic or similar http://www.bradleyalpinist.com/cart/ind ... ucts_id=71) to be more useful than completely waterproof (e.g. poyurathane coated nylon).

i have the wild things wind shirt you linked to. it's not the lightest wind shirt available, but it's a great compromise if you want to leave the hard shell at home. i seam sealed the hood and shoulders and while not water proof, it's pretty darn close. it takes sustained heavy rains for there to be any leakage and it breaths much better than any of the water proof fabrics available like goretex or event.

Rab makes some great jackets, but having tried on a number of diffrent ones in diffrent sizes i havn't found any that fit me.

Alex Wood wrote:Mountain Hardware makes some jackets just over $200 and their new DryQ Elite technology is pretty awesome.

I've tried on some of these new DryQ jackets and they're very nice. The fit on them is just...weird though. Make sure to try one on before pulling the trigger. They're also cut fairly close for the size. A large in Mountain Hardware is sized smaller than a large in Arc'teryx.

Go for eVent, or if you want even more breathability with a little less waterproof, then get something like the Rab Alpine Jacket.