First-off, this isn’t a backpacker’s jacket – it’s too weighty and bulky for slipping into your pack unobtrusively. It’s more the kind of jacket you’d expect to see on a high altitude trek, where the nights are likely to be cold enough to freeze the bells off a yak.
The internal bottle pockets (big enough for a small flask or a Sigg bottle, a 1-litre Nalgene bottle at a push), the comforting bulk and the crotch-and-bum-warming length all make this a jacket for the coldest environments, where porters and yaks mean most folk don’t consider weight. That said, I found the Crux jacket fitted a similar bill (it’s not cut quite as long) and was lighter, as well as being waterproof.
The TNF jacket’s Napoleon-styled chest pockets are each just a little on the small size for glove and hat storage so it’s a good job there’s two of them. The hem drawcord can be operated from within the capacious handwarmer pockets but the cord-end toggle is quite small and difficult to locate in mittened hands. Good, but not quite as good as Marmot’s.
The fully adjustable hood has a stiffened brim and fits wonderfully snugly. If it were ever necessary, there’s room beneath it for other headwarming gear. Again, a slightly larger pull-tab would allow it to be located more easily and prevent it slipping into the grommet from which it protrudes. Elasticated cuffs allow for the sleeves to be pulled over other warm layers of clothing.
This is the heaviest jacket featured on these pages but its likely end uses – expeditions, treks, rugby ground terraces – mean that it’s more likely to burden a poor porter, yak or Mondeo than an energy-sapped backpacker.
