America’s Best Backpacking and Outdoor Adventures
By Michael Lanza
Choosing a waterproof-breathable rain shell for hiking, backpacking, climbing, or other outdoor activities can seem daunting. Prices range from under $100 to over $500, and weights from less than half a pound to over a pound. Some are loaded with features, others so minimalist they may seem like just a step above a trash bag with arm holes. You’ll also find the full gamut of opinions on them from reviewers and consumers.
Fleece Hoody
Patagonia R1 Air Full-Zip Hoody
$199, 12.5 oz./354g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s XS-XXL, women’s XXS-XL, kids XS-XXL
backcountry.com
Here’s an axiom of outdoor layering systems that will never change: No piece of outdoor apparel offers more versatility than a highly breathable, midweight insulation layer. It’s very possible that the only “layer” you will wear more is your skin. Find a highly breathable midweight hoody or jacket that’s soft and fits like it was custom made for your torso and you have something that may spend more time on your body than in your closet—and few compare with Patagonia’s R1 Air Full-Zip Hoody’s versatility for almost any outdoor user, from hard-core backpackers, climbers, and backcountry skiers to the average dayhiker or fitness walker, as I have found time and again wearing it backpacking, dayhiking, various forms or skiing, and camping, as well as countless days around town.
Hooded Fleece Jacket
Himali Men’s Endeavor Fleece Hoodie
$180, 15.5 oz./439.4g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XL
himali.com
On January days of backcountry skiing in Idaho’s Boise Mountains and Galena Summit area, moving constantly between cold shade and warm sunshine, with temps ranging from single digits to the high 20s Fahrenheit and a cool breeze at times, I wore this hooded, full-zip fleece jacket all day: both as my outer layer while climbing uphill and under a shell while skiing downhill. I never took this hoodie off—very unusual for me when skiing in the backcountry—and remained comfortable the entire time. That illustrates why the Himali Endeavor Fleece Hoodie ranks among the most versatile fleece hoodies and other breathable insulated jackets I’ve reviewed.
Rain Jacket and Full-Zip Pants
Black Diamond Fineline Stretch Shell
$189, 10 oz./283.5g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s XS-3XL, women’s 2XS-2XL
Men’s: blackdiamondequipment.com
Women’s: blackdiamondequipment.com
Few places test rain gear as brutally as New Zealand’s chronically rainy Fiordland National Park—which is where I put Black Diamond’s Fineline Stretch Shell and Full-Zip Pants through the paces in early December (late spring there) on two classic hut treks where rain occurs almost as prevalently as oxygen: the Routeburn Track and the Milford Track (photo above). In some of the heaviest and most relentless wind-driven rain I’ve encountered over four decades of hiking and backpacking, this jacket and pants performed quite impressively—and I saw their limits.
Hooded, Breathable Insulated Jacket
Black Diamond First Light Stretch Hoody
$349, 14 oz./397g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XL, women’s XS-XL
blackdiamondequipment.com
Campsite temperatures below freezing in Utah’s High Uintas Wilderness in October and around 40° F in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains in August proved the warmth of BD’s First Light Stretch Hoody. But this jacket’s versatility goes well beyond warmth, owing to synthetic stretch insulation that’s breathable, packable, and warm for its weight, and traps heat even when wet—making it potentially the only insulated jacket you need for a variety of activities year-round.