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Marmot Spire Jacket

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Marmot Spire Hard Shell Jacket

the need to use a rip stop fabric in the weave. This proved its worth when, at the top of a steep ascent I encountered a barbed wire fence and seeing no way round decided to climb over and being a bit knackered from the climb, lost my footing. Ouch! The wire simply punched a hole in the fabric and did not tear. Magic!

Trail Testers Recommended 95%

Spire Laser Drilled Pockets

Spire inner pocket

Spire back hood adjusters

Spire pit zips

Spire has two front pockets

and velcro closer

Spire zip off snow skirt

Spire has excellent no flap hood adjusters

Spire has excellent helmet compatible hood

In order to test the jacket on the hill,

I took it out for two weeks hiking and scrambling in Snowdonia.

This is July and should be the height of summer, but instead the days were wet and either warm and muggy, or just plain old cold, windy and wet. I went up on the tops and hiked across moor and scrambled across wet rock, which showed how the Spire coped with varying conditions. I look forward to testing it in the snow. First off this is a hard shell that is suitable for both walking, hiking and climbing. It comes in a gorgeous two tone blue with some subtle Marmot graphics. From the moment you try the jacket on it oozes quality. It is not perfect and I do have a major gripe with the zip, but generally it is an excellent piece of kit and something I am sure we will see a lot of on the hill next year.

The jacket is close fitting and relatively short, which will make it good for climbing, but it was still long enough for hiking and performed well when carrying a pack. On cold days up on the tops I wore the jacket with a merino base layer and the new Marmot Snazette soft shell and with these two layers even carrying a loaded climbing pack the jacket was comfortable and the ventilation worked well.

For instance the hood adjusters, once snugged down, to keep the weather out, do not fly around in the wind and hit you in the face. The hood is big enough for a helmet, but take the helmet away and the wired peak works well keeping the rain off your face. Some other American manufacturers could take note of this excellent hood which works well in our British climate.

When wearing a helmet, just snug the hood down front and rear and the helmet rotates with the hood. Neat.

The pit zips are quite long and do a great job of keeping you cool. I expected them to leak once the weather got wet and messy, but in practice they worked well.

There are two front pockets which are easily accessible when carrying a pack, or wearing a harness. The zips work bottom to top, so if you use them as hand warmers there is nothing sharp to catch your skin. The inside of these pockets are laser drilled to aid ventilation. This works well as you can leave the zips open and water vapour can get out and in our tests rain mostly stayed out. When its absolutely tippling down then you have to juggle ventilation with keeping dry, but that’s the case with all waterproofs and the Spire does it better than a lot we have tested.

There is a zip off snow skirt about six inches above the bottom hem. I found this really handy in blustery weather, as you can close it with two sturdy press studs and this prevented wind and rain from being blow up inside the jacket. This also makes the jacket suitable for skiing etc. The main zip is for some odd reason the other way round to how you will find it on most UK jackets. I found this very awkward at first, but like all things you get used to it....sort of. The Spire's fabric is a simple, tough fabric called Drift P-250 which is a 75 denier polyester fabric with a soft handle. This fabric offers an excellent balance of durability and feel, which eliminates

Dawn Smith - Ed

Marmot Web Page

SRP £230 Men’s and Womens XS - XL