New for Spring/Summer 23, the Haglofs ROC Spitz Mid Hood Men is a fluffy light-midweight fleece with a Powerstretch hood. I've been wearing it a lot as mid layer, and really like it, especially the fit and the colour (other colours are available). The fabric is warm but not too warm for moving in. It is definitely at the more technical end of the fleece spectrum - not really the sort of thing you'd choose to wear at the pub. That said, it wouldn't look out of place in the ODG, Brenin Bar or Big Mountain. Probably overkill if you're just hillwalking, but there'd be no particular reason not to wear it for that.

In Use

At around 400g this fleece is warm for its weight, but not too thick for active use. I've used it as a mid layer whilst rock and alpine climbing, mainly over a base layer or sun hoody, with a windproof jacket over the top, unless it's particularly still. I like this layering combo, particularly in summer, as it's more flexible and often lighter than an insulated softshell (like a Rab Vapour Rise or ME Kenesis).

Fit

Recently I've admitted defeat and have started buying clothes in large. Medium clothes fit me fine, but I've found large to normally be a little bit longer, handy if you spend most of your life waving your hands in the air, wearing a climbing harness, like I do. In this case there's enough length in the hem that things don't ride up when my arms are raised. The sleeves on the ROC Spitz Mid Hood are nice and long, too, but don't have thumb loops, which in an ideal world I'd prefer them to.

Features

The jacket is made from a mix of Polartec Thermal Pro, a light-but-warm fluffy fleece, and panels of a smooth stretchy fleece, with the former used in the main body and the latter over the hood, forearms, and lower torso. I guess the idea is to maximise warmth where it's most needed, and build in some stretch elsewhere to aid freedom of movement. This gives the fleece a technical look, but I doubt makes much difference in reality. Haglofs have clearly chosen to use quality fabrics as there is not even the slightest sign of pilling on my review top.

The jacket has a chest pocket (for me an essential on a climbing jacket; where else would you keep a phone?) and two hand warmer pockets. All are zippered with YKK zips. The pockets are mesh lined to save weight, and to help with venting.

The Powerstretch hood is stretchy and works well both under and over a climbing helmet. The sleeves are stretchy and can easily be rolled up to dump heat while climbing or working hard on the walk in. Equally the full length main zip can be opened to dump heat. If I had one criticism it's that the main zip is too thin, meaning it's a little fiddly.

Summary

The ROC Spitz Mid hoody is very clearly a technical fleece. The perfect mid layer under a windproof for rock climbing, scrambling or summer alpinism, it would be equally at home under a waterproof shell for winter mountaineering or ski touring. Whilst it's hard to get too excited about a fleece, I like this one a lot, and will definitely keep wearing it. The elephant in the room is the price: £200 is overboard for a warm-but-lightish fleece, when you can get technical fleeces at a similar weight for less (for instance ME Concordia £175; Montane Protium XPD £160; Patagonia R1 Air hoody £140).