New for review, expensive but rather nice down jacket from Berghaus.
It's a tad mild still for down jackets, but the new Berghaus Liskamm turned up the other day and we thought you might like a quick preview, we'll review it properly once things get suitably cold again.
The Liskamm's part of the Berghaus Active range and aimed at winter mountaineers looking for stowable insulation. The fill is high spec 80/20 goose down with 650+ fill power, construction is stitch through, but with a liner, and overall weight is 610 grammes for our medium test sample, all of which is fine and fair enough.
The fabric is Pertex Microlight with a soft feel and a durable water repellent treatment to cope with the odd damp encounter, though it isn't remotely rain or waterproof, so you'll still need to be careful. It feels nice and a brushed inner collar does add a touch of luxury.
There are plenty of zipped pockets including two, soft-lined handwarmer ones and the down itself gives a nice, plumped up look and feel to the jacket. Everything else seems present and correct with adjustable cuffs and hem present and correct, though there's no hem.
There's a lot of competition in the down jacket stakes with some really nice kit from the likes of Rab and Mountain Equipment but the Microlight fabric helps make the Liskamm reasonably light and stuffable. Admittedly for ￡10 less than the Liskamm's ￡170 price tag, you could have a Mountain Equipment Lightline complete with hood, but then the down is slightly lower spec and the fabric is ME's own Drilite rather than Pertex.
We reckon the Liskamm will make a good albeit expensive jacket for high altitude trekking, winter camping and bunkhousing and for sitting on top of the Ben in rare alpine-style cold, dry dry conditions. And it looks nice. Full test once it gets cold.
More Berghaus information at www.berghaus.com
