UKC

I've recently started some alpine and ice climbing and am looking to buy my first "mountain jacket" (Borrowed and blagged up until now). The first priority is for a trip to Nepal that I am planning with a few friends for November where we are going to trek/climb Mera Peak with a Nepali trekking company.

They (the trekking company) have suggested an expedition weight down jacket so I am currently looking at either a Rab Neutrino Endurance jacket or a Rab Neutrino Extreme jacket.

Is the Neutrino Extreme an overkill for such a trip? Would it be too warm for anything other than high altitude? I'd rather err on the side of caution that suffer from cold in the middle of nowhere.

To go one step further, if you were going to go for the Neutrino Extreme why would you not go for the Summit Extreme given that it is waterproof and doesn't appear to have any weight penalty for the waterproofing. (Forget about the cost differences for the moment).

Thanks.

In reply to new_climber: After having used both the original Rab Summit and now using the waterproof version(summit storm) I can honestly say,,'great piece of kit' and its possible to get them stuffed down to a small pack size in your sac.

have used it extensively in Scotland in bad winter weather and i have stayed dry and warm. I would not think that using the Summit in the himalayas would be overkill, last time I was there I bought a secondhand 90's northface down jacket with knitted cuffs for about £15 in Thamel ok so it was old school red with a purple inside but it stood up well at 6300m.

Just get the Summit it wont be too hot for UK use afterwards.

In reply to new_climber:

I have an original Summit extreme which I took when I did Mera -it was fine and use it in the UK,a good all round jacket

In reply to new_climber: I have just bought a summit jacket, and its lovelly, the new version has box wall construction and is even warmer than before. looks rather tougher than the neutrinos as well

In reply to new_climber:

Does the summit storm do the same job as the summit but with waterproof capability? If it does is that not the best choice? Or does the waterproofing make it stuffy and affect breathability?

I'm looking to buy a down jacket and am finding it difficult to pick between the summit (in its 3 varities) and the neutrino endurance.

Help would be appreciated.

In reply to new_climber:

Summit extreme will be a good choice, i use a Neutrino Endurance personally and have used it at -25 no problems.

Good luck with the trip

In reply to All that are interested:
As I have posted on other threads about the differences between the summit and the nutrino.

THe summit is box wall construction, the nutrino is stitch through.

The nutrino has slightly higher fill.

Therefore the nutrino will be slightly warmer until it gets really cold then you could get more cold spots due to the stitch through. Where as the summit will be ever so slightly cooler but won't get cold spots, and so will be warmer at lower temperatures.

The summit has a more durable outer shell, but because of this is slightly more bulky.
THe nutrino is slightly lighter so in theory packs down smaller but this means the outer shell is thinner fabric.

So I gues if you want it to be light and to pack down but your not going somewhere that is very cold then the nutrino is best.

If you are needing a jacket that will last, be more comfortable at low temps and you need hard wearing clothing then go for the summit.

I did see a last years nurtino getting a rip in the shell from walking around burbage south (it wasn't even a bush with prickles or thorns) but from what I can gather the new material is meant to be better.


Oh, and what I mean by really cold is well below freezing, ie moscow weather not english weather.

Pinky, I disagree with your explanation, jacket one can never be warmer than jacket two at temp x, and vise versa at temp = x-10.

The neutrino has probably a higher fill to compensate for the stitch-through, as that construction is not so optimal for down performance, as the down gets squeezed where the stitches are. In a box-walled jacket, the down can expand completely, and there is less down needed to get the same insulation.

I think the neutrino will be cooler than the summit, but thats just from the looks - I've never actually worn one. I do own a down jacket, but winter has been far to warm to get usage out of it, unfortunately.

In reply to Arjen:
I disagree. If a jacket has more cold spots than the other but has warmer fill. It will feel warmer at cool temperatures as the cold spots will be closer to body temperature. As it gets really cold, the cold spots will be further away from body temperature and therefore will be felt a lot more. Where as a jacket with no cold spots (or at least many less) will feel warmer even though the fill might not be quite so good.

Well that's what I got the impression that the guy from Rab that I spoke to about it said, though of course I could have misinturpritted what he said.

And yes, I didn't know which of the 2 jackets was best for me, as I couldn't see why they would make 2 jackets for the same purpose, so I phoned them up to ask them.