PRODUCT NEWS: Extrem is Back

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 UKC/UKH Gear 27 Oct 2022
Lying at the heart of Berghaus since 1986, the iconic Extrem range returns to the peaks this Winter, continuing its mission to provide climbers and mountaineers with industry- leading kit to make the most of the mountain.  



Perfectly combining ground-breaking innovation with...

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 TobyA 27 Oct 2022
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

It's mainly just 90s nostalgia but I'm happy to see Berghaus doing an Extrem range again. My blue and lime green Extreme Alpine Star pack still survives somewhere and although I never got a Trango Extreme jacket my Extreme Yeti gaiters were nearly as good with the extreme yellow blue and redness!

Was it always "Extrem"? Or has it lost an e in the name of super-lightness for the new range?

Post edited at 11:12
 65 27 Oct 2022
In reply to TobyA:

I had a jacket, the blue one with red shoulders and an utterly pointless yellow patch in the middle of the back. It was very leaky, though not much else was any different back then. I think it was Extrem back then too.

In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Ver expensiv.

2
In reply to TobyA:

Back in 93, my pride and joy was a blue Trango Extrem, £235 from Fraser's in Ayr. Also had a pair of red and purple Yeti IIs.

Don't think much about the new colour schemes...

Stuart 

 angry pirate 27 Oct 2022
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Good to the Extrem range back.

I've always liked the way Berghaus seems to try something slightly different rather than just follow the herd: their hypertherm hoody was a superb idea and I'm really glad to see it resurrected under a new name in the Extrem range. The hood on my microdown jacket is one of the best helmet-compatible hoods I've ever used and their very burly belay parka was a proper beast when everyone was making superlight 100 weight primaloft versions.

Some bits were downright odd (such as the magnetic hood volume adjuster and the breathing vents on their goretex shells) but it was always innovative.

Re price: they do tend to charge premium at retail but then everything seems to be heavily discounted online. 

1
In reply to TobyA:

> Was it always "Extrem"? Or has it lost an e in the name of super-lightness for the new range?

Would make sense if it was always Extrem since that’s the German spelling and the company name is German. I couldn’t tell you for sure though. 

In reply to Stuart Williams:

I definitely had an Extrem Gore-Tex (smock) jacket way back in the 90s

 Sealwife 28 Oct 2022
In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

I still have my Berghaus Extrem jacket hanging up by the back door, for putting the bins out in the rain, doing jobs involving the power washer etc.

Bought from Marshalls in Aberdeen in the mid 1990s, blue and red with the yellow diamond on the back and a ridiculously enormous hood with no volume adjustment.  The zip doesn’t work any more and the seam tapes are hanging off like streamers.  It was like wearing a suit of armour in the hills and has seen a lot of action.

 simoninger 28 Oct 2022
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I had a light green set in the late 80s I think, and I thought "500 notes? They're having a larf" about the new ones, but an online inflation calculator tells me that would have been 150 in 1987, sounds about right. I can't imagine paying that fraction of my income for a jacket now!

 TobyA 28 Oct 2022
In reply to simoninger:

> I had a light green set in the late 80s I think, and I thought "500 notes? They're having a larf" about the new ones,

It seems to be the going rate for fully featured mountain shells made of Gore Tex Pro (or something similar). Of course the non-Pro Goretex (can't remember exactly what they are calling it currently!) is less and then there are much cheaper alternatives, some of which get really good reviews, made of unbranded waterproof breathable fabrics. But I don't think Berghaus is charging over the odds here for a Goretex Pro jacket - although I've just had a quick look, Mountain Equipment still do a proper mountain jacket made out of Gore Tex Pro for 400 quid, which actually seems very competitive these days!

> but an online inflation calculator tells me that would have been 150 in 1987, sounds about right. I can't imagine paying that fraction of my income for a jacket now!

What one did you look at? I checked out the inflation adjusted price of my first Goretex jacket, a Pheonix Topaz, on the Bank of England's calculator, 120 GBP in 1990 is 265.88 now. That would be a decent price for a Goretex jacket with a proper wired hood that could go over a helmet these days, although I'm sure manufacturers would argue there are lots of other improvement in modern designs.

 angry pirate 28 Oct 2022
In reply to TobyA:

£220 in 1990 was a pretty decent price.

I worked in outdoor retail from 1992 and an entry-level goretex (Berghaus Lightning or Mountain Range Goretex was 120 to 140ish)

Iirc "mountain" jackets like the Berghaus Trango or the North Face Mountain jacket were circa £250, which equates to about £460 nowadays. 

As you say, £500 is quite spendy compared to other major brands.

 ColdWill 01 Nov 2022
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Bring back the Asgard in a heavier material, instant winner.

 Neil Williams 01 Nov 2022
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Is this just the brand or the actual kit?

I'd be well up for buying a new Trango Extrem or Mera Peak - as long as it was the old, long style with the waist drawcord.  Hardly anyone does a jacket like that any more, but for those of us who wear shorts rather than waterproof trousers (my skin is waterproof! ) the modern trend for short jackets that only go to the waist or slightly below is a right nuisance.  Berghaus do still do (or did when I bought it) one such model but it's still a bit shorter than the classic ones, and as I'm tall with a long back this still means wet shorts legs, as do Paramo but I don't find this works well for me (mostly because it's too warm).

Edit: just looked at the pics and they do seem to be the waist drawcord with "skirt" style but the "skirt" is quite short - so not quite what I'm after.  Oh well

Post edited at 11:50
1
 Neil Williams 01 Nov 2022
In reply to angry pirate:

£230 is what I paid for my first one (a Trango Extrem) in about 1994 or so.  Quality was definitely there - it lasted over 10 years of heavy use (including daily at school when I first bought it - for some reason* expensive Gore Tex waterproofs were trendy around then).

10 years or so on I bought a Mera Peak (very similar) for £199, and the reduced price (both figure and real terms) meant noticeably lower quality, e.g. plastic press studs instead of metal.  I still got a good 10 years out of that one too, though.

* I suppose a bit like buying a Land Rover Defender to drive around London...at least mine went up mountains!

Post edited at 11:46
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

We've just published the following video, which goes into a more detail on Extrem - past and present - alongside a few new products from within the collection.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/categories/product_videos/the_berghaus_ex...


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