UKH

Anyone have recommendations for a decent belay jacket for women for Scottish Winter climbing? It seems like most manufacturers don't have an equivalent heavy duty piece of this nature for women. Black Diamond Stance is the only reasonable candidate I've found so far. For example Mountain Equipment don't make a Womens version of the Fitzroy, in fact their heaviest synthetic insulation piece for women is only 300g total (60gsm primaloft) vs 650g for the Fitzroy/890g for the Citadel.

In reply to guy127917:

I have a Patagonia DAS parka bought in the states a few years ago which has been great for winter (and I run cold!). They seem to have discontinued it, though. That said, if you can get/don't mind a secondhand one, I would definitely recommend it as an option.

In reply to guy127917:

I used to have a Montane (Flux?) jacket, and now use a Haglofs Barrier jacket for Scottish winter climbing. I don't think they make the Flux anymore, but looking at the Montane website it seems they have a new, comparable belay jacket. The insulation in the Montane & Haglofs jacket is comparable (100-120gsm). Don't know if that is heavy duty enough for you, but I generally have found them to be sufficiently warm for Scottish winter.

In reply to guy127917:

+1 for this post. its very frustrating the number of times you read about manufaturer X's latest winter kit, only to find they've only done a mens version. (The difference being not in whether its available in pink or purple, but the size and fit)

In reply to guy127917: I have a women's Citadel jacket. Toasty warm but quite heavy. Sportpursuit currently have an arcteryx down jacket with waterproof shell massively reduced which could also work - telling myself I do not need another jacket!

In reply to pebbles:

Yeah I didn't really understand what my gf was on about when she was describing this problem but now I get it. The example she gave was BD punisher gloves- the womens ones don't have nearly as much protection or patches to protect against rope between thumb and forefinger etc.

In reply to guy127917:

and the womens winter belay jackets that are available only seem to be in the lighter weights - so either they dont think we will be doing anything really gnarly (Tell Ines Papert that), or they dont think we feel the cold

In reply to guy127917:

I can vouch for the BD Stance, awesome bit of kit. Aside from the Arcteryx Duelly (2-3 times the price) or the DAS (not as much insulation in the arms if I remember correctly) there's pretty much nothing quite as warm in the synthetic market. Bought it for use in Siberia and it was good down to -30 (when used in a proper layering system).

In reply to guy127917:

Eh? Patagonia make a Das Parka for women.

In reply to nickinscottishmountains:

Not according to their website

In reply to pebbles:

+2 agree!

Another example is when it comes to women's rucksacks, which often have a smaller capacity than the men's version. So I struggle to fit all the kit in!

But I agree it's tricky for women's belay jackets too. I have a Simond Alpinism Warm Women's Jacket, which is reasonably warm but don't think it compares that well to things like the Das Parka and Citadel.

In reply to Elsier:
I have a men's small Citadel. It's heavy, but I don't care because it's incredibly warm. I love that thing. Bought it off a guy on UKC.

I have female friends who use the men's DAS parka, and they love it too.

Belay jackets sold as women's seem to be have less insulation and be a tighter fit than men's, which is bloody ridiculous given the point of a belay jacket is to throw over the top of whatever else you're wearing and not to look cute on some Godforsaken, spindrift-blasted ledge.

The sexism in the gear industry drives me crazy: I always find it a headache to get the clothes I want when men's smalls don't fit me (and they often don't as I am only 5'4) because women's stuff is frequently of lesser quality than men's, comes in stupid colors, or even if a gear company makes it, stores might not stock it.

At least belay jackets are one of those things where it doesn't matter whether it's men's or women's.