UKC

hi guys.
we head to mera peak later in the year and are busy getting fit & buying the extra bits of kit we'll need ("we" being me & the missus).
any better down jackets than the ME Annapurna / Cho Oyu? they seem to be "mature" designs, reasonably priced and not too heavy. the missus is 5'6" and 8st (1.67m & 51kg) and feels the cold.
anything else worth considering? RAB's website doesn't give much info of any great detail tho i'm sure their kit is good.
thanks very much.

In reply to Kingfisher:

Maybe PHD kit? I know a lot of people who swear by it.

In reply to Kingfisher: hi when are you going iam going in october with jagged globe

In reply to Kingfisher: thanks guys.

i've seen the PHD stuff and it does look good. their equivalent best jacket appears to be the "Hispar" which is much lighter but ~ twice the price. worth it? maybe! anybody compared the two?
we go in April, so not long.
for those that don't know, Mera is ~ 6500m.

In reply to Kingfisher:

My 2p would be this:

if this trip is likely to be the first of a few similar trips, possibly getting harder or more serious in the future, then it might be worth spending the extra now, rather than buying another (better) down jacket later.

BTW, this may seem like a random question, but you're not a dentist by any chance?(?)...

In reply to Kingfisher:

Thanks very much.

Oui Oui; you suggest buying a "better" jacket now if planning more trips. We are indeed using Mera to find out if we "work" at altitude and assuming that we do, the plan is to then tackle more challenging trips in the future, hopefully building up to Cho Oyu in a few year's time.

I know that the ideal Mera jacket wont cut it on Cho but there is a world of challenging climbing at ~ 6,500m. When you say "better" do you think that the ME kit isn't that great as is more of a "budget" item?

Radson; fantastic picture! An easy 5* job! Beautiful. You say you used MH Sub Zero. As far as I know they produce the Below Zero (1050g) and the Absolute Zero (1340g). I assume the latter is a real 8000m job and yours look more like the Below Zero? Maybe it used to be called the Sub Zero? The ME Annapurna (1200g) suggests an 8000m jacket, but their next one is only ~ 750g and that seems very light for 6500m?

Oh, no, I'm not a dentist!!

In reply to Kingfisher: I used a £70 (sale price, £90 RRP) ME down jacket (no hood, 500 fill) for Mera in 2007 and was warm enough with all my other layers. I only wore the down jacket for a few hours on summit day in the end, my other clothing (including RAB photon hoody) being sufficient. We had reasonable weather though.

I would put decent mitts and plastic boots ABOVE the down jacket in terms of importance (I'm sure you've already done this). If those fingers/toes get cold, you could be in real trouble. We saw people in fabric/leather boots being choppered off from base camp. I should also add that a member of our team was so worried about his cold extremeties, that he forego his summit bid when he would otherwise have made it (probably).

Hope this helps.

In reply to Kingfisher: When I did Mera a few years ago over xmas New year I used a Patagonia Das Parka only used it around camp and when we were sat waiting below the summit, I did have Scarpa vegas with the warm inner I didn’t get cold feet others did.

I have been out there in November on Island peak ok not as High but didn’t use my Das parka other than sat around playing cards when I couldn’t get near the log burner.

I would go for the Rab summit or similar good plastic boots as there could be a lot of standing around if its busy we were lucky we were the onlt people on the mountain.

Enjoy its a great place to be.

In reply to mountainbagger:

I agree with Kingfisher. I summited Mera Peak last May. I only used my downjacket around camp and when you stop. I didn't wear my downjacket at all while summiting, but we did have good weather going up and snow on the way down. If anything when its sunny, its too hot!

Decent mitts and plastic boots are essential though - my feet were cold on the way up, so buy for lower temperatures than you need.

I used an old ME down jacket (similar to the lightline i think) and my husband had the MH Sub zero. A couple of our group got jackets from Shonas in Kathmandu - I think they were £40.

In reply to Kingfisher: did mera april 2007. used alpkit filo jacket. had no problems.spend more get a warmer jacket(no issue with that) but maybe not required for Mera.

In reply to Kingfisher:

Very interesting. Most of you seem to have gone there in jackets quite a bit lighter / cooler than I'd have expected and had no problems at all with them.

I can certainly understand the importance of warm boots / mitts but was planning on buying a down jacket on a similar worst-case basis. It sounds like I can save some weight then!!

In reply to Kingfisher:

I agree with the general sentiments expressed here. although it really depends on time of year as well. A big difference between an October summit and a December summit.

Also Kingfisher. I checked on the American sites and they are still selling the Sub Zero Sl Parka, which is what I had. Not sure about the UK sites sorry.

In reply to Kingfisher:

Thanks Radson. I checked on MH's US site and the jacket is the same; just a different name. Your sub zero = our below zero!

We go in April, so summit early May. Much warmer than a Dec attempt I guess!

I'm going to go lighter after the help I've received here. Most of the usual suspects make lighter jackets so i'll look at ME, MH, Rab & PHD i guess.

Any other help very welcome.

Cheers.