User Review: The North Face Mountain Light Parka

The North Face Mountain Light Parka
Above: The current Mountain Light Parka, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed May 21, 2000 by Mike

Rating:
Fabric: 2 layer gore-tex
Fill: optional zip in liner
Price Paid: retail $365

I am frankly getting sick of people bashing the North Face Mountain Light. People complain about its durability, its price, its increasing popularity, etc...First of all, the people who complain that it isn't comparable to other high-end mountaineering shells, and that say it is their worst investment ever need to think about it. It is a mountain LIGHT. It isn't meant for heavy winter mountaineering use. If you wanted a winter mountaineering jacket, you should have gone with a mountain, mountain guide, kichatna, or other quality brand 3-ply laminate jacket.

The Mountain Light was meant for 3 season climbing in harsh conditions, 4 in milder ones, all skiing except super extreme, all season backpacking, and lately, most of all, as an outrageously expensive urban rain shell. If someone complains it didn't hold up to the rigors they put it through, then they bought the wrong jacket for the job. It's like buying reeboks to climb denali.

Second, about the price. I'm a college student who bought it at the campus store. The store here is kind of special because it sales everything at a little over wholesale, but you can find the same deals on the internet that I got. I paid $200 for the jacket, and $85 for a denali jacket as a liner. That means I paid $280 overall, still $80 under what the shell alone retails. Now I would rather of had a marmot, mountain hardware, or arcteryx jacket; but the shell alone would have cost me over $100 more than what I paid for both the mountain light and the denali.

I've had mine on weeklong winter backpacking trips in the adirondacks, smokies, and in shenandoah. I have encountered more than my fair share of brush ins with briar patches, and with the occasional rock wall when doing some easy climbs on the cliffs nearby school. The jacket has yet to fail me in durability or waterproofness. Then only thing I've done to it is reapply the DWR coating.

Now here are the simple truths to why people complain:

1.) They received a lemon when they bought it. This is starting to happen more now than before because of the "main-streaming" of tnf and technical gear as a whole. TNF more than others have swelled in production and quality control may or may have not gone down, but they still produce some of the best technical gear out there. Sometimes tnf bashers find one minor glitch wrong with what they bought and go bonkers about it. Some people have a right to bitch, most don't. TNF customer service has mixed reviews. Since I've never had to deal with them (all of my tnf products have worked flawlessly), I can't comment. So, I'll leave that up for everyone else to decide.

2.) They bought the jacket for the wrong usage. If you wanted a 4-season mountaineering jacket, you should have gotten a heavier weight jacket, and not went for the cheapest retailed, brandname, gore-tex shell. It is called the mountain LIGHT for a reason.

3.) They paid too much. If you paid over $250 for the jacket, you are a lousy shopper. At any given time you can find at least 10 websites on the internet that have it for under $250, most under $200. I don't believe it is worth the $365 retail, but its worthy of paying at least $250 for.

4.) They are sick of the popularity of TNF products. If you want to have a "non-mainstreamed" jacket, go ahead and pay the extra 150-250 bucks. If it means that much to be the only one wearing it, then do it. If you are using the jacket for what it is meant for, then the people you see on the trail or on the wall will know you aren't being stylish or using it as a status symbol. I above all am sick of seeing rich preppy school kids wear technical gear because it's a wealth status symbol. Most of the kids I know that wear technical gear don't even know what the word "outdoors" means.

I have many TNF products, as well as marmot, patagonia, and others. All have their own spot in the technical gear market, and all do well. As for TNF, they still make some of the best quality technical gear on the market.

Well, enough said on my part. I would like to have replys as to whether this has helped you out or not.