The Patagonia R1 Fleece Hoody is a mid-layer fleece sweater that excels for start-stop actions in chilly climate. Made with grid fleece, it has a porous weave that wicks moisture off your base layer so it may evaporate and preserve you drier and hotter. When layered underneath a shell, the grid fleece traps air warmed by your physique, offering a noticeable insulation profit. Thumb loops, a 3/4 size zipper, a zippered chest pocket, and a stretch hood are the ending touches on this versatile mid-layer.
- Supplies: 93% recycled polyester and seven% spandex
- Gender: Males’s (no ladies’s mannequin accessible)
- Weight: 10.7 oz (males’s Giant)
- Zipper: 3/4 size
- Chest Pocket: Holds a smartphone
- Hood: Beneath helmet hood
- Match: Slim
The R1 Fleece Hoody is an energetic layering piece that performs finest while you’re working onerous. The “R,” which stands for Regulator, is particularly designed to help with thermoregulation, preserving you heat sufficient to carry out at your finest with out inflicting you to overheat and grow to be drenched with perspiration. The important thing to its effectiveness is the porous weave of its Polartec Energy Grid, which wicks perspiration away out of your torso while you perspire. The beauty of polyester is that it doesn’t take up liquid, however transports it from one floor to a different by means of capillary motion, so it may evaporate rapidly.
By itself, the R1 Fleece Hoody is just not the warmest sweater and should be augmented with a shell layer to lure physique warmth or defend you from the wind. It’s an ideal complement to a wind shirt or a tough shell as a result of the air pockets within the grid fleece lure heat. I climbed Mt Mansfield (4000′ of elevation achieve) the opposite day in winter circumstances with 30+ mph winds with only a skinny baselayer, the R1 Pullover Hoody, and a Copperfield Wind Shirt, and I used to be dry and heat for all the hike. Air is the most effective insulator.
The R1 Fleece Hoody is minimize lengthy to suit underneath a backpack hip belt or climbing harness. It additionally has a slim minimize so it may take in moisture out of your base layer. Regardless of that, it has plenty of stretch, so that you don’t really feel constrained by the shut match.
The entrance of the hoody has a 3/4-length zipper, which is nice for air flow, and a zippered pocket giant sufficient to retailer a smartphone. The sleeves have stretch cuffs, so pulling them up your forearms for air flow is simple. Additionally they have thumb loops to provide your fingers some further heat or stop the sleeves from driving up beneath a jacket.
The stretch hood is made with a barely thinner grid fleece cloth, however is simple to layer over a fleece beanie in the event you want further heat. However the function I like the most effective about it’s that it has a excessive neck that may attain as much as cowl your nostril in order for you a little bit further wind safety with out having to interrupt out a balaclava.
This R1 Fleece Hoody is the second I’ve owned. The primary one I purchased in 2009 once I began climbing mountains in winter. I wore that hoody to demise for a few years, all yr spherical, till it fell aside. So, I’m not unfamiliar with this garment, and I’m delighted to have one again in my gear closet once more.
How does the R1 examine with Polartec Alpha fleece hoodies? That’s simple. It has many extra options required for winter climbing, together with a central zipper for air flow, a chest pocket, an extra-long torso, and better neck protection. It’s additionally much more sturdy. I purchased a bunch of Polartec Alpha hoodies final yr they usually’re all falling aside now. Whereas they do weigh half as a lot, I’d a lot fairly have the R1 on a winter hike as a result of its technical options actually do make a distinction for energetic layering and temperature regulation.
Suggestion
The Patagonia R1 Fleece Hoody is a flexible energetic layering piece for cold-weather climbing. It has excellent breathability, with technical options just like the lengthy entrance zipper, stretch cuffs, and hood that make it simple to control your heat stage. Plus, it really works properly underneath a shell layer. The one unfavorable is {that a} ladies’s model of the garment is unavailable. I discovered that stunning, provided that this hoody is such an iconic garment.
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