I still have and use this wonderful garment. My favourite picture from last winters ski trip is me performing a power slide in the snow whilst wearing it. But since I've added a lightweight version which has become my go to mid layer and knocking about jacket. That really should cover all my down related needs, but when did need ever come into kit buying or indeed kit fondling and one of the benefits of writing for My Outdoors is that I get to test new and exciting stuff and pretend it's work.
North Ridge is the technical brand from Go Outdoors. Possibly best know for the tent side of things until this year, such s the F10 Vortexesque Altitude, the focus has been to switch the brand more towards clothing for this season. New items in the clothing range include Merino wool baselayers, which I'll be reviewing soon, and the new down products the Hybrid Jacket and Gillet.
Now I may have mentioned in passing that I recently went to Sweden to discover some singletrack. Well it was great. Anyway I thought that would be a great time to test the North Ridge kit. Picking up a jacket and gillet I was pleasantly surprised by the feel and look of quality. Own brand items often look and feel cheap and Go Outdoors has been guilty of that in the past. The hybrids are more than a step up and easily sit alongside the better known brands.
With a fill power of 550 and a 90/10 goose down feather ratio that is also Hydrophobic this is a quality bit of kit. One niggle would be that the outer DWR shell feels a bit like a crisp packet and the inner has an almost rubbery feel. Using Pertex products would have solved this but when you consider that the North Ridge Jacket is about £50 cheaper than anything equivalent it doesn't really matter. A further mark of the quality is the is the use of YKK zips. Too many quality garments are ruined by rubbish zips and the North Ridge designer has been aware of this. The hybrids also come with waterproof stuff sacks.
The side panels and inner arms are Thermolite Pro 2. This actually makes sense because this is the bit that gets sweaty and even with Hyrophobic treatment cleaning synthetic insulation is easier than cleaning down. This also helps the freedom of movement and breathability of the Hybrids another plus in their favour. If I may go back to the subject of cleaning for a moment though. One well known brand insists that their down products can only be cleaned professionally or you may invalidate the warranty. I'm sorry, what now? No way am I paying for that. I've been washing my first love for 10 years and it comes up great every year. I've split red wine on it, fallen in a puddle whilst wild camping on Cadair Idris in it, even performed Italian power slides in it. I wash it myself. It looks great. North Ridge have gone the other way and actually offer advice on the Go Outdoors website on caring for the products. I Like this, a lot.
The colours are bold. The womens jacket and gillet come in a a sort of purple, the mens gillet a grey with a green zip and the jacket a dark grey with a yellow zip or an orange. I'm not overly keen on the range but as I've said before I'm in my forties so have no taste whatsoever and I've heard the 80s are back anyway. Suppose one advantage of the orange is that it won't attract the football crowd as it'll will match their girlfriends.
Finally there is one feature of this jacket which has consigned my old lightweight down to the wardrobe of unused kit. The cuffs. I love these. I have huge hands but being a road cyclist skinny nay puny wrists. The design on the North Ridge cuffs are amazing. Anatomically designed with enough length to fit under gloves they are as near perfection as you can get. A few cycle clothing manufacturers should have a look because I can't state just how good they are. During my trip to Sweden I wore the jacket whilst riding and didn't notice the cuffs and as I say time and time again that is the mark of a good piece of kit.
I had my doubts about the North Ridge Hybrid range. I'll be honest. Some of the stuff that retailers put out as own brand can be pretty dire. The less said about Proclimate shorts the better but this is a real deal breaker. At the Kendal Mountain Festival I was very proud to be seen in my North Ridge Hybrid Jacket. It felt exclusive, I enjoyed that feeling because this quality at a price so far below anything that competes, with prices at £100 for the jacket and £70 for the gilet, I don't think I'll get many more chances to feel like that.