George Fell reviews the Adventure Lite

“I’ve recently been given a shiny new Adventure Lite Jacket, which I’ve just had out on a Glenmore Lodge Spey Descent. Here are my first impressions;

It definitely does the job – it kept me dry on a day where it just rained continuously, kept me warm on a windy day and wasn’t too sweaty on a warm day.

The hood is a nice size and after a bit of fiddling with the adjusters it stayed on my head even in a gusty headwind. I like the simple knots at the end of the adjuster cords.

The fabric feels less crinkly than my previous jackets and at the end of five days the water was still beading on the surface. The neck is easily adjustable, with an inner neoprene and Velcro seal and an outer zip making it easy to adjust temperature and ventilation. However I adjusted the neck it didn’t rub, even at the end of a long day. The taping at the seams looks solid (after five days I’d be disappointed if it didn’t!)

For my body shape (increasingly rotund as the years go by!) the XL is a nice fit – not too tight around the chest and shoulders but also without a load of spare fabric flopping around the armpits or the belly. The cag is available in eight different shapes and sizes, so hopefully there’s one to fit most people.

The cag is made almost entirely from recycled polyethylene and is designed to be recyclable (by Peak PS) at the end of its life. At a time when there are piles of clothes being dumped in the Atacama Desert that are big enough to be visible from space, this feels like a giant leap forward. At Glenmore Lodge we try to find new homes for our old gear, but moving to genuinely recyclable equipment where almost nothing ends up in landfill would be awesome.

For winter trips or expeds where I’m expecting to spend loads of time in spray and breaking waves, I’ll probably stick with the Adventure Double, but for summer expeditions and day trips it’s shaping up to be my cag of choice.”