Norr na Gore-Tex Paclite Jacket

Wow... this jacket is packed with features and NOT with weight. Gore-tex is bomb, even pac-lite so enough said there. This thing will sinch down around the collar, the hood in two places, the waist and then has velcro to tighten up the cuffs. The pit zips have two zipper pulls to go in both directions. The brim of the hood keeps rain out of your face well. Around the collar of the jacket there is a softer more comforatble material. I like this because it is soft and it keeps my beard from snagging on the zippers. The inside pocket is a nice one up on arc-teryx alpha & beta sl. I'm not sure how they manage to get all of the features into this jacket and still have the low weight. The only thing I am still uncertain if I like or not is the length of the sleeves. The sleeves and cuffs are huge and cover my entire hand and fingers. This is great for gloves, I am just uncertain about my preference on that. All in all... arc-teryx does have a great product but Norrona has more features and a weight that is competitive. If you can get one for $197 like I did, it is a steal.

Norrona makes great jackets -- definitely in league with arc'teryx -- possibly even more core. I like the fit of this Norrona Falketind jacket. It's super light and minimalist -- you could stuff one of these jackets in your pack and not know it was there. Definitely a high end well thought out jacket. A couple pros and cons: if things get ugly, the hood really closes in tightly to protect you against the gale (been there). The down side is that the hood design isn't ideal for skiing as you can't just yank it up over your head when you're all the way zipped up (you must unzip a few inches first). Arms are longish and roomy at the cuff which is handy as it's real easy to pull the sleeves over your gloves or mittens (with your mittens on), and then just adhere the little goretex rubber piece for a tight fit. All in, the Norona Falketind gets my thumbs up for a high end mountaineering jacket (and I'm impressed with Norrona in general).

This jacket is fantastic for lightweight backpacking. For a light jacket, it is very waterproof, but it will still get damp in a heavy downpour. It fits pretty slim and has some nice features like extra-wide cuffs so you can fit gloves through when its cold. The pockets are placed high enough that you can get at them when you have a backpack strapped on. The waterproof zippers do a good job of keeping maps and such dry, and the hood has a semi-stiff brim that keeps rain out of the eyes. It is light enough and well ventilated enough that you can hike long distances without really thinking about your rain jacket. Just a well thought out technical jacket.

This thing is about as waterproof as it gets, and the breathability is clutch so you wont get overheated if you're doing some adrenaline hiking or some intense alpine climbing.