What do you have to search for in a rain jacket for mountaineering and backpacking? Whereas having a water-proof/breathable jacket is usually a plus, it’s fairly simple to overwhelm their capability to vent moisture within the rain whenever you’re perspiring with a backpack strapped to your again. You’re actually higher off shopping for a extra inexpensive jacket that has options that hikers want like a completely adjustable hood, pit zips, velcro wrist cuffs, and hem adjusters. Monitoring down rain jackets that match that description takes a bit of leg work, however we’ve completed it for you beneath.
We’ve additionally included waterproof/breathable rain jackets in addition to ones made with non-breathable materials since you’re going to perspire whenever you’re sporting them within the rain, irrespective of how a lot they value or what they’re made from. If staying perspiration-free within the rain is essential to you when you’re mountaineering down a path carrying a loaded backpack…possibly you must choose one other sport. You’re going to sweat. Consider a rain jacket as a part of your bigger layering system as an alternative. Its finest use is to maintain you heat when it’s raining or the wind is blowing exhausting, typically together with a mid or base layer. Perspiring is inevitable. Your aim must be to remain heat and keep away from hypothermia.
Listed below are the ten high (fairly priced) rain jackets that we advocate for hikers and backpackers.
1. Patagonia Torrentshell 3L ($149)
2. Black Diamond Stormline Stretch Rain Shell ($170)
3. REI Rainier Rain Jacket ($100)
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REI
4. Outside Analysis Foray II ($225)
The Outside Analysis Foray II is an up to date model of OR’s hottest waterproof/breathable Gore-tex rain jacket. It’s loaded with options together with a three-way adjustable hood with a entrance brim, velcro wrist cuffs, chest and hand hotter pockets, YKK Aquaguard zippers, and elastic hem adjustment. However what units this jacket aside from all others are its full-length torso-flow side-zips which may be opened like pit-zips however prolong all the way in which down the edges of the jacket so you possibly can totally ventilate the jacket like a poncho and even put on it over your hip belt to maintain it dry within the rain. The ladies’s mannequin known as the Outside Analysis Aspire II.
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REI | Outside Analysis
5. Montbell Versalite Jacket ($249)
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Montbell
6. The North Face Enterprise 2 ($110)
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Backcountry | Amazon
7. Marmot Precip Eco ($100)
8. Lightheart Gear Rain Jacket ($125)
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Lightheart Gear
9. Frogg Toggs Xtreme Lite ($60)
10. Columbia Sportswear Watertight II ($100)
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Backcountry | Columbia Sportswear
Backpacking Rain Jacket Choice Standards
What are an important options to search for on a mountaineering and backpacking rain jacket?
Adjustable Hoods
Sadly, many rain jackets have outsized hoods which are meant for skiers and climbers who put on protecting helmets. What you must search for is a completely adjustable hood with a rear quantity adjustment so you possibly can shrink the hood dimension to suit your head, aspect pulls so you possibly can regulate the dimensions of the face opening, a wire or shapeable brim to defend your eyes from wind and snow, and a excessive collar that covers your neck and mouth. All of those options will assist defend your face from the chilly and wind and provide help to keep hotter.
Zippered Pockets
You possibly can’t have too many rain jacket pockets. They’re nice for carrying spare gloves, hats, and holding navigation instruments in simple attain. They’re additionally good for holding snacks shut at hand so you possibly can eat when you hike. I view rain jacket pockets as an extension of my backpack as a result of the additional storage cuts down on the variety of instances I’ve to cease to get garments or meals out of my pack.
Venting Capabilities
When it’s a must to hike in cool moist climate, you wish to restrict the quantity you perspire by actively managing your heat degree. The important thing to doing this entails venting extra heat by eradicating or venting layers. An excellent rain jacket ought to present a number of methods so that you can dump extra warmth with out having to take it off utterly. Listed below are a number of the most essential options to search for when evaluating totally different jackets.
- Adjustable Hook and Loop (Velcro) Wrist Closures: This helps regulate the physique warmth at your wrists the place the blood flows near the floor of your pores and skin. They are often worn below gloves or over them relying in your choice and the glove sort.
- Two-way entrance zipper: When you pull the underside half up, you possibly can dump plenty of extra torso warmth, poncho-style.
- Hem drawcord: Cinch it closed to maintain the wind from blowing up between your legs and robbing your torso of warmth.
Breathability Rankings
What do you have to search for by way of breathability rankings when mountaineering rain jackets? For cheap rain jackets, the perfect you possibly can hope for is 10,000 (g/m^2/d) MVTR (movable water vapor transmission fee), which is fairly lackluster. A lot of the producers listed above don’t publish the MVTRs for his or her jackets, as a result of they’re not that aggressive with costlier clothes.
However to be sincere, I don’t belief the breathability rankings revealed by producers as a result of they’re measured in superb laboratory situations which have little to do with precise use. Pit zips and lively venting trump breathability claims any day. When you get too scorching, venting your rain jacket goes to chill and dry you off much more rapidly than ready for water vapor to maneuver throughout a breathable membrane whereas your zipper is closed.
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