Montane Minimus Stretch Jacket
15th Sep 2021
Lightweight kit has been one of the biggest revolutions in outdoor kit of recent years. I watched a video recently of a climber in the States preparing his bag for a multi day expedition into the high mountains. Before food and water it weighed in at around 2kg! Montane are at the cutting edge of producing some of this kit. The Minimus Stretch jacket weighs just 200g and packs down to around the size of my fist. It's a fully waterproof and windproof jacket with an adjustable hood and two zipped pockets. It has an elasticated waist, and two sets of poppers to allow you to run with the jacket unzipped but not flapping around. I've used it so far mainly for running where the stretch in the material has made it comfortably snug without flappage. It also accompanies me now as my waterproof whenever I head into the hills in fine weather. It's barely noticeable that it’s even there so there's never any question about taking it despite the fact that the sun is shining. It retails at £165. It's probably not going to last as long as other waterproof jackets I've owned, partly because of its lighter construction, but equally because it's become my go-to jacket on most outings. Worth every penny I'd say.
Available in black, red or blue from the Montane website.
Full feature set:
• Adjustable low profile hood with rear pre-elastication and stiffened peak
• Articulated arms with engineered tailoring
• Full length lightweight YKK matte AquaGuard® front zip with internal storm guard
• Microfleece lined chinguard
• Mobile device cord exit point inside left hand pocket
• Two trail pack harness compatible mesh lined hand-warmer pockets with covered YKK matte AquaGuard® zips
• Shaped cuffs with partial elastication
• Fully adjustable hem
• VIA Trail Series® reflective logo details
• Stuffs away into own hand pocket
• Rear external Montane hang loop