User Review: Mountain Hardwear Sub Zero SL Parka

Mountain Hardwear Sub Zero SL Parka
Above: The current Sub Zero SL Parka, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed April 25, 2007 by brentcoe

Rating:
Fabric: Conduit SL/Taslan Reinforcements
Fill: 650 down
Price Paid: $230 on sale

I purchased this parka for a mid-summer climb of Mt. Rainier. While it does have a lot of good features it didn't quite meet my needs. I agree with most of what the reviewer before me pointed out: great fit with room to layer, durable and functional shell materials, pockets are excellent, the hood has a good shape to it, and it appears to be very well constructed.

Perhaps I got a lemon but my parka seems to be horribly under-filled for something that is meant to be worn in very cold temperatures. The down seems to be of low quality and the loft is less than an inch even at the thickest parks. Because there isn't enough down in the parka to fill the baffles there are many large areas (between baffles, seams, etc) where there is no loft at all, only shell material between me and the outside world. This is very surprising to me because I have other Mountain Hardwear products that I am VERY impressed with, including two of the Phantom series 800+ fill down sleeping bags that have tons of loft as advertised.

I used this parka on the Rainier trip and ended up doing the I'm-freezing-dance at every rest stop in pretty mild temps (in the 20s with light wind while it was still dark in the early morning). I have also used it while resort skiing on stormy days and while winter backpacking/climbing in the High Sierra. Skiing with the parka works well because my activity level stays high and it has just enough loft to hold my warmth on the chair lift.

Using this parka around camp in the Sierra in January has been disappointing... it's like a windproof/water resistant shell with a thin layer of down behind it, definitely not an expedition parka, even a 'light' one. It's too heavy to justify bringing it on spring/summer/fall trips where my Voodoo belay parka works fine. I just ordered an Ice Fall parka from Feathered Friends so my Sub Zero SL Parka might find its way to eBay soon.

My recommendation if you need a light expedition parka is to stick with something that has 800+ down fill and check out the Ice Fall (which actually weighs less). If you need a 3-season parka/jacket, check out something with synthetic fill so you won't have gaps in your loft or one of the much lighter 800+ down filled options on the market. Don't believe the hype about synthetic being warm when wet... it just absorbs less total water so it may dry faster under ideal drying conditions. Everything sucks when wet and if you put 1 oz of water on down or synthetic it will evaporate in the same amount of time.