UKH

As the title says...

There's a whole load of new breathable synthetic jackets (Rab Alpha, Patagonia Nano-Air, etc. etc.) about designed to work as a mid/outer layer, and I wondered if they are they any plans for a review of a load of them in the near future?

In reply to JayPee630:

I hope UKC don't mind me saying but there is a review of synthetic insulated jackets coming up. Not sure what is and isn't going to be in it, but I just picked up yesterday a parcel containing a Marmot Astrum which I'm going to be using over the next few months as one of the items that will be covered in that review. It is using Marmot own-branded materials but from reading the blurb it seems that they are aiming for something like the Nano Air - less windproof but more breathable, so for more active use. Just trying it on, it feels really warm though, so my first thing to find out is, is it too warm for active use in the UK?

The Rab Alpha looks really interesting but I'm sure I'm not the only person who got into climbing in the early 90s who looked at it and thought "hmmm, so they've reinvented the Buffalo shirt". Of course, with Buffalo being so good, that isn't a bad thing! In fact you can see Buffalo items currently on display in the Millennium Art Gallery in Sheffield as part of the "Made in Sheffield" exhibition - so classics indeed!

In reply to TobyA:



Absolutely.
If everyone could buy a Buffalo and keep them going in Sheffield that'd be fantastic.
I love their kit - I cannot believe how well my Active Shirt (well over a decade old now) is still going.
As goes value for money - incredible. I remember paying about £70 for it and frankly that is a steal.

I'm presently saving up to buy another one for 'best' - might get a Mountain shirt this time? Who knows?!

Total classic kit.

In reply to bouldery bits:

You have to go for the Big Face shirt because you haven't really committed to the fashion disaster that is wearing Buffalo away from the hills until you've gone nightclubing in a big face shirt with crotch protection and strap dangling down! In my defence, it was only the Winking Owl in Aviemore, at the time Aviemore's premier and indeed only nightspot.

For JayPee: when Polartec Alpha first came out I reviewed the Marmot jacket using it http://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/marmot-isotherm-hoodypolart... It wasn't a total success but actually recently I had that jacket with me on a week climbing tour round Scotland because its just the lightest synth duvet I have and it worked quite well (poor cut of the jacket excluded, but more thinking of the insulation).

In reply to TobyA:

In my defence, it was only the Winking Owl in Aviemore, at the time Aviemore's premier and indeed only nightspot.

Woah, woah, woah.
What about Crofters? Carpeted dance floor. Don't see many of them.

In reply to Hay:

I have a feeling that the "Winkie" might have been the backroom of a pub rather than a stand alone night club, and the name Crofters rings a bell, so I wonder if they could have been connected?

This would have been about 93 or 94 so I'm sure Aviemore's nightlife has moved on!

In reply to TobyA:

I have many fond memories from around the same era, always camping, going out attire similar to yours!

Now, clubbing in plastics............

Only really when camping at Beaver Creek was found, hot showers, drying room, was I more suitability clad for a night on the town. Felt there was a real buzz around Aviemore then, glad to have been part of it.

Stuart

In reply to Stuart the postie:


Oh yeah! I perhaps didn't finish painting the image quite, I'm pretty certain I, along with the Big Face shirt crotch strap and all, was wearing Ronhills and Scarpa Grinta placcy boots. Stylin'...

Apologies to Jaypee for ruining his/her perfectly sensible thread with early 90s Highland resort town nightlife reminiscences; here's a review of the Jöttnar take on new synth 'action' jacket as compensation: http://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/the-jottnar-alfar-review.ht...