Mountain Hardwear FTX Ultra Jacket Gore-Tex XCR

Ideally when it comes to mountain outerwear may people opt for the super light weight versions, well with my consistant habit of being able to ruin even the toughest of gear I decided to go for something that would make destroying it hard.. Very hard... Mountain Hardwear's FTX Ultra jacket. From the moment I bought it (£160 (rrp £300) I knew it was perfect. Although the velcro and zips were not what I originaly had in mind they have sufficed so far and with all of the pro's it weights in at a perfect jacket. Firstly I would like to point out the pockets... There's hundreds of them, two outer hand pockets, two inner map pockets, as well as two mesh water bottle holders. It wasn't until recently that I discovered that jackets which have Gore-tex on the inside and outside of pockets still ended up getting wet even with water resistant zips, How? Well when the perspiration escapes through the inner layer and reaches the outer layer, the temperature difference causes it to condense and build up inside the pocket. I'm pretty sure that MHW didn't use nylon deliberatley on the pockets, yet it does allow more perspiration to escape. Talking about breathability MHW have used the new Gore-tex XCR membrane which as been proven to be 20% more breathable than the latter Gore tex membrane. Onto this either side is laminated the FTX ultra material (5% more abrasion resistant that Taslan) and the inner cool max taffeta mesh lining. The mesh lining laminated to the Gore-tex can be recognised from the european equivilants due to its darker/ black colour. Undoubtedley the XCR does work it is much more breathable than the older Gore-tex. The other technical specifications of this jacket adhere to the normal high quality and technicality present in all MHW's products. The pit zips are extended in length to allow greater venting as well as the pass through pockets which double as chest vents. The hood is fantastic and fits around the head with or without a helmet. It is ergonomicaly designed to move with the wearers head to reduce the loss of pheriphial vision. The pre curved sleeves are briliant and do not ride up the arm when planting axes. Although laminated cuff closures would have been more ideal than simple velcro tabs. Unfortunatley this jacket was in production before the introduction of Gore's new ultra thin seam tape which reduces it from 20mm down to 13mm. This is unfortunate as Arc'teryx researched this for Gore and found that it could increase the breathability area of a jacket by as much as an A4 sheet of paper. My only other gripe on the seam tape is that when it gets greasy and oily, it stays greasy and oily. Unfortunatley Mountain Hardwear ceased production of these jackets early in 2005 and they are becoming very rare. I purchased mine as new for a fantastic price off Ebay at £160 which is just over half of the rrp £300 in a cool black and moss colour. It is a real shame that MHW no longer make these as with a few minor upgrades such as thin seam tape, laminated cuffs, improved velcro and water resistant zips. I'm damn sure that this jacket would easily become the benchmark, if not world class for alpine shell jackets.