Mammut Nordwand Jacket Review
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Mammut is a Swiss brand that falls into the category of high-end performance wear, and caters to the needs of the extreme-use customers, such as mountain guides and other outdoor professionals. The Mammut Nordwand Jacket is exemplary of Mammut’s commitment to performance. The Nordwand is a hard shell featuring GORE-TEX’s top-of-the-line Pro Shell 3-Layer fabric. Clearly designed for the demanding user, the Nordwand is very durable, functional, and offers year-round use as a rain/snow/wind outer layer.
At 550 grams, the Mammut Nordwand Jacket is, in relative terms, medium-weight for a hard shell; even as a fan of lightweight gear, I find it perfectly acceptable given this level of durability and features. When you’re on top of a mountain in an extreme environment, a few extra grams is not as big a deal as a ripped shell.
The fit of the jacket is excellent and well thought-out for actual use. I ordered in my usual size, and there was enough space for layering, while still offering a nice, athletic cut. A key aspect of the fit is the fully-mobile arms that allow you to reach overhead (in ice climbing, for instance) without any pulling or lifting of the hem. The length was also perfect for my six-foot frame, and the Nordwand Jacket did not ride up on me at all. The hood is fully helmet-compatible, and offers a three-point adjustment system with horizontal and vertical drawstrings. Mammut went one step further and included an innovative velcro system in the hood, that essentially makes the hood smaller for when you aren’t wearing a helmet. Touches like this show that the company listened to feedback from their product testers. Another “duh” feature is the front zipper which zips up to the side, instead of centered on your chin. This, combined with a generous zipper garage, prevents any chaffing on the face. While the hood is not removable, it does roll up and secure itself out of the way around your neck in a clever way that adds a little bit of neck protection.
Mammut chose GORE-TEX Pro Shell 3-Layer fabric for the Nordwand Jacket and I am very impressed with the performance of this fabric. One of the things I normally dislike about hard shells is the crinkly fabric that doesn’t drape the body well, and is loud when you move around. The fabric in the Nordwand Jacket has more of a soft shell feel, and offers full stretchability while still being totally waterproof and durable. I felt a lot more comfortable sitting on the chairlift than I normally do in a hard shell, and didn’t experience as much bunching. I didn’t have rain to test the waterproof promise of the Nordwand Jacket, so I ran the sleeve under the faucet for 10 minutes to see how it would hold up in a deluge. To my delight, the water completely beaded off of the fabric, and showed no signs of soaking in. Despite some hard skiing, I never overheated, so the breathability of the Nordwand Jacket seems to be just as good as the waterproofing.
The Nordwand Jacket has quite a few smart, purposeful features, and one of my favorites is the removable powder skirt. I am a firm believer that every shell should have a removable powder skirt to provide multi-season versatility. Mammut designed a very nice powder skirt in the Nordwand Jacket; it has sticky material on it to keep it in place, as well as two waist-size buttoning options. The skirt zips out easily for non-snow adventures. The pockets on the jacket are also well thought-out, and stay with the smart trend of moving the front pockets up the jacket so as not to interfere with a climbing harness. The shoulder pocket is good for small items that you want quicker access to. On the inside is 1 zippable pocket and two additional mid size pockets. Rounding out the feature set is another thing that I would like to see as standard on jackets: the sleeve hem adjustment is a switchback system that allows a very tight seal when needed, and a wide range of adjustability for use over or under gloves.
It’s hard to find any faults with the Mammut Nordwand Jacket and if I had to nitpick, I’d say I would have liked a touch more fabric around the neck to minimize pulling when fully zipped up. That said, the jacket gets a full two-thumbs-up, 5-star review from me, and I recommend it as an excellent investment for anyone who demands the most from his gear.
For more info on the Nordwand Jacket and other Mammut products, visit www.backcountry.com or www.amzon.com/mammut.
The Nordwand Jacket is available in Black, Orange, and Cyan.
