Among midweight synthetic insulated jackets for winter climbing and all-round mountain use, the Fitzroy has long been a benchmark. Warmer, lighter, and more weatherproof, the new design improves on the old classic. Joining it this season is the women's version, the Alpamayo. In this long-term test we look at both.
This looks like one of those flagship products some leading outdoor gear companies come up with from time to time, not the every winter weekend workhorse the older models were. It's probably a fantastic product and some people will be able to justify the cost to themselves, but maybe a lot of others won't.
I'll stick my neck out and say the pricetag is just too much. The old version I have is fantastic but there's no way I'd pay that kind of money for a jacket. I'd be interested to see some data on the profit made on a product like this taking into consideration the R&D and all the testing, I'm aware this isn't a huge volume product.
Both of those use proprietary in house materials that make it cheaper to manufacture than the Fitzroy (eg no gore infinitum outer, or the nuclei doesn't even have gold cross core).
It's a lot of money, but it's brand new and once it has good distribution retailers will offer it for less than RRP.
A segment in tonight's episode of Channel 4's investigative series Dispatches exposes the sale of uncertified budget climbing gear online - carabiners in particular - via the shopping platform Temu, a Chinese app with...
Press Release Arc'teryx Alpine Academy returns to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc - July 4 – July 7, 2024