Patagonia product reviews

Gear Review: Patagonia Linked Pack 16L Climbing Pack

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Patagonia Linked Pack 16L climbing pack.
Patagonia Linked Pack 16L climbing pack.

Climbing Pack
Patagonia Linked Pack 16L
$79, 16L/976 c.i., 1 lb. 4 oz.
One size
moosejaw.com

On multi-pitch rock climbs, trad or sport, we unfortunately have to carry stuff on our backs—water, a bit of food, some extra layers. If we had the power to shape-shift objects, we’d make a pack large enough to hold our gear while hiking, then shrink it down for climbing. Short of that, though, the best option is a compact, lightweight, tough pack. Using Patagonia’s Linked Pack 16L on a trad route up Slickrock, a 1,200-foot cliff outside McCall, Idaho, including approach and descent hikes, convinced me this just may be the ideal little pack for such missions. Here’s why.

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Review: Patagonia Pluma Jacket

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Patagonia Pluma Jacket.
Wearing the Patagonia Pluma Jacket on the Tour du Mont Blanc.

All-Season Shell Jacket
Patagonia Pluma Jacket
$549, 14 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s XS-XL, women’s XXS-XL
patagonia.com

For two straight days trekking the Tour du Mont Blanc in July, rain fell much of the time and strong gusts of wind seemed to hit us from all directions, while the temperature remained stuck in the 40s and 50s Fahrenheit. On the long, grinding ascent of nearly 3,000 feet to the Grand Col de Ferret at 8,323-foot (2537m), walking straight into a wind-driven tempest, I could focus on making sure my family and other companions were doing fine because I stayed completely dry—and thus warm and comfortable—in Patagonia’s new, all-weather super shell, the Pluma Jacket.

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The Patagonia Nano-Air Jacket.

Review: Patagonia Nano-Air Jacket

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Hybrid, Breathable Insulated Jacket
Patagonia Nano-Air Jacket
$199, 10 oz./284g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s XS-XXL, women’s XXS-XL
backcountry.com

Throughout four straight days of backcountry skiing in the mountains above Lake Tahoe in early February, winds gusting at 40 to 50 mph buffeted us—the pockets of protected terrain seemed rare—and snow fell for three of those days, heavily at times. A few days later, I was Nordic skate skiing and snowshoeing in Idaho’s Boise Mountains, on days ranging from overcast and windy to breezy with warm sunshine. On all of those days, temperatures were cold enough—from the low 20s to the mid-30s Fahrenheit—to quickly chill me if I either under-dressed for the wind or sweated from overdressing. And for hours at a time on those days of widely ranging conditions and exertion levels, I wore Patagonia’s new Nano-Air Jacket.

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Patagonia Nano Puff Hoody

Review: Patagonia Nano Puff Hoody

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Synthetic Insulated Jacket
Patagonia Nano Puff Hoody
$279, 13 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s XS-XXL, women’s XXS-XL
backcountry.com

A lot of people wore this jacket before I did—or, more accurately, a lot of people wore most of this jacket—before I zipped it up at my campsite on a rocky ledge high above Baron Lake in Idaho’s magnificent Sawtooth Mountains. But I wouldn’t know that by simply looking at or wearing my Nano Puff Hoody. I’m speaking only partly metaphorically: Besides having excellent performance qualities, this jacket now contains cutting-edge, synthetic insulation that comes mostly from recycled polyester—which means that it’s not only good for me in the backcountry, but it’s good for the planet my kids are inheriting.

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Review: Patagonia Dual Aspect Hoody

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Patagonia Dual Aspect Hoody
Patagonia Dual Aspect Hoody

Hybrid Jacket
Patagonia Dual Aspect Hoody
$249, 16 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s XS-XXL, women’s XS-XL
backcountry.com

What if you could find one jacket that serves as on-the-go insulation in cool to cold temperatures, functions as both a middle layer and an outer layer that sheds snow and light rain like a soft-shell jacket, but breathes better than most soft shells, so that you rarely take it off? Patagonia’s Dual Aspect Hoody does all of that—and this hybrid jacket has design elements that raise it above even many of the cutting-edge, breathable-insulation apparel pieces out there, I decided after numerous days of backcountry skiing in it.

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