On the summit of Mt Aka, Nagano, Japan (2,899m)
Occasionally, bits of gear come along and become so useful, you wonder how you managed without them. My Mountain Equipment Lumiko Hooded Jacket is one of those bits of gear.
I bought it pretty much on a whim a couple of years ago, because it was on offer and I liked the Anvil Grey/Acid colour combo. But it’s become one of the most useful bits of clothing I own: I’ve worn it climbing in the sun in North Wales, scrambling in the Peak District in January, under a hardshell climbing late season ice on Ben Nevis, as a mid-layer under an insulated jacket mixed climbing at -35º in the Japanese Alps in January and as an outer fighting a losing battle digging through 5ft deep powder snow.
Placing gear on Tryfan Bach, North Wales
I run pretty warm and don’t generally need tons of insulation, so this is a perfect goldilocks jacket for me: just warm enough, pretty windproof, capable of dealing with a bit of snow or light rain. And, of course, it layers perfectly under something warmer if the weather’s really cold, or if I need to keep heavier rain or snow out.
There’s just one weird, but very solvable problem – because it’s a bit waterproof, it needs to be washed inside out or it gets…stinky. Once I discovered that though, it was fully cemented as a mainstay of my outdoor wardrobe. I would 100% buy this again.
January in the Peak District, UK