UKH

Hi, I need to get a new hardshell for Alpine climbing/nasty weather and have narrowed it down to a Narrona Trollveggen gtx pro light and a ME Tupilak. I have an old slightly leaking Alpha FL which covers me for rock climbing and everyday use. 

I used to have a ME Kongur, which was fantastic but don’t know anything about Norrøna. Any advice or user feedback on either jacket would be greatly appreciated, thanks. 
 

In reply to kp1:

No experience of Naronna, but do use a ME Lhotse, which I can't fault. I think it only differs from the Tupilak by pocket configuration, just got the Lhotse as it was on sale, otherwise would have had the Tupilak. 

In reply to kp1:

I would say try them on. From my experience, Norrona has a narrower fit than ME.

(I have an Alpha FL that is too baggy (and also leaking?) in L but an ME L fits perfectly)

In reply to kp1: I have a Trollveggen in pro , and my son has a Trollveggen Pro light.  The light is appreciably lighter (ha!) but the Tupilak will be more durable.  Are you going to be wearing it or carrying it most of the time?

They're all very good jackets. Fit isn't so different 

In reply to kp1:

I have subjected my Tupilak to 4 years of heavy use, daily dog walks in winter as well as on the hill, so must have been worn several hundred times. It is an excellent jacket for when the going gets tough. I would buy another. Just spotted the first signs of delamination at the back of the neck, but still watertight, and I hope to get another year or two out of it.

It's predecessor was the Lhotse, which lasted 5 years (including 4 Orkney winters). Not as robust, but still an excellent jacket.

Can't comment on Narrona.

In reply to kp1:

Worn through 2 ME jackets now and very happ with them, they delaminated after a lot of use so relegated to work. I didn't want to blow a load of cash on a new jacket so took a risk on a Marmot Alpinist from Sportpursuit and for winter climbing it's better in my opinion as the hood doesn't seem to filter as much damp down the chest. Not sure at this level that many of the big brands will be bad.

In reply to wbo2:

I haven't seen either but both the Tupilak and Pro Light are almost exactly the same weight (I had thought that "Gore Tex Pro Light" was a specific technology from Gore but it appears not to be, and "Light" refers to the jacket, not the fabric tech). With only 10g in it I wouldn't expect much difference in durability.

In reply to planetmarshall:

The Pro light is 40D face fabric with "70Dx160D" (whatever that means) reinforcement patches, the Tupilak 80D all over so they may well wear differently.

In reply to galpinos:

The weight of warp and weft fibres, or possibly, if it's ripstop, the weight of the base, and the ripstop fibres.

Denier (D here) is the mass in grammes, of 9000m of the fibre.

In reply to planetmarshall:

Probably something like Arcteryx doing SV and AR versions of the Alpha and I think the Beta too?

In reply to kp1:

Tupilak all the way 

In reply to midgen:

Thanks for all the replies. I managed to try both jackets and ended up going for the Norrøna. The Tupilak feels bombproof but I’m in between sizes. The Norrona is a perfect fit, seems well constructed, is marginally lighter and has pit zips.