The North Face Climb Very Light Jacket

I had this jacket for only a short while. The cut was excellent, and it was nice to not have all those annoyingly huge North Face logos all over the place. The chest pockets are nice, and the mesh lining means they work effectively as vents. Hood fits well over a helmet.

Now for the bad news. Only a couple months after having this jacket, the Gore-tex began to dissolve (no kidding; not delamination) in the one arm, along with some colour bleeding. This colour bleeding has been an ongoing problem of NF, particularly in the Mountain Lite (Yellow and Mango) and other jackets in those colours. Mine was the Mango (orange). The zip is also a problem; very fiddly for what is supposed to be a no-nonsense climbing jacket.

I ended up trading the jacket for a Patagonia Super Pluma (see my review) which I am much more satisfied with. The workmanship is far superior, ie. there are no loose threads, messy stiching, etc. which I have seen on a good number of North Face products. I think that North Face needs to slow down the number of products they're crankin' out like popcorn and focus on quality control a bit more.

This is the second TNF jacket I have purchased (the 1st one was a Mountain Jacket). I love this jacket. It is lightweight (1 pound), it's very compressible (it fits easily into the top lid pocket of my backpack), it has a large hood (great for fitting over a climbing helmet), and I particulary like the short waist cut which does not interfere with a climbing harness or backpack belt. If you're looking for a no frills light weight jacket that will keep you dry, TNF Climb Very Light Jacket should work well for you.

This is a great jacket. It is also the lightest jacket I could find. Its average weight is only 16 ounces! Nobody else could come close, at least for the price. I got mine on sale for $150. This is a great jacket for three-season backpacking where my Patagonia storm jacket is too heavy and a pain in the ass to carry. With its high profile, however, it is not made for snow.