Replacement for Patagonia Ascensionist jacket.
My soft shell, which I've been using for several years, died this weekend with a ripped seam. I took it down to the Patagonia store and they replaced it with their Mixed Guide Hoody since the jacket I had isn't made anymore. I can't seem to find much information about this new jacket anywhere and it's going to be at least a week or so before I get to try it out myself at altitude. Does anyone know how it compares to the Ascentionist I had before? Is there anything that would be better suited to alpine hiking, climbing, and snowshoeing?
Posted Dec 18, 2012, 7:13 AM UTC
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It looks, as far as I can tell never having messed with your old jacket, that the mixed guide hoody it a lot more waterproof. It has hardshell sections on the shoulders, hood, and arms.
If that's the case, it's going to be less breathable but more weatherproof.
It's really hard to suggest a single layer to someone without knowing what sort of conditions they plan on using it in, what the rest of their system looks like and how hot/cold they usually are when working hard.
The rest of my layering system is a t-shirt and a Patagonia R1 shirt with a hood. That, along with the soft shell, has been all I've needed to keep me warm in the mountains in the winter. I don't usually get very cold and it's been fine down in single digit temperatures with a brisk wind. I do occasionally get too warm with it though depending on how warm the day is and how hard the hike is.
I mostly used the jacket for biking, hiking, and snowshoeing. The biking mostly takes place on the plains in Colorado during the winter while the other two vary from the small foothills to mountains up to 12K feet. I tend to stay off the really exposed terrain above the tree line in the winter because I'm not experienced enough with the snow conditions that high and I usually hike alone so the risk isn't worth it up there.
I've spent most of my time on the east coast, but personally, I would not enjoy jacket like the mixed guide. If it does have the hardshell sections, I would almost certainly overheat. The powershield, if I recall, is the same stuff that's used in my old Gamma MX jacket, which worked well for me in the winter while I'm active, but I like my new system a bit better.
Most of the time now though, I'll use a windshirt or something similar as my outer, active, layer. Somewhere between a tshirt and a shirt and fleece like the R1 underneath depending on the temperature. I use an old Wild Things windshirt most of the time, or a Patagonia Ready Mix, or Outdoor Research Ferrosi hoody if I need something durable for climbing/bushwhacks/etc. The latter two are just unlined, stretchy, windshirts basically. They hold up well against rocks and thorns, especially compared to the traditional nylon windshirts.
I tend to get pretty darn hot and sweaty so having a light base, and minimal insulation is plenty. If it's breezy, drizzly or a bit of snow, the windshirt type jacket (un-lined, highly windresistant, water resistant) works great to keep the heat in, and the full zips allow for great venting. When I stop I pull out a puffy and put it on over whatever I have on. This way, I'm able to add weather resistance without adding too much, if any insulation, and I have a nice warm layer to prevent getting chilled at a stop. I don't fiddle with anything that goes under the windshirt, assuming I planned correctly and put the right combination of base layer/fleece on to begin with.
The Mixed Guide looks like it combines some insulation with weather resistance. When I used the Gamma MX in the past, I was always between being hot and sweaty in the jacket, or too cold without, so I'd end up also packing a light windshirt for when it wasn't cold enough for the jacket, but windy or rainy enough that I wanted more than just my base layer. Too much stop and go and changing layers and too many duplicate layers in the pack.
I don't know enough about the west coast to say how much one system works better or worse, or enough about you to know which works best for you, just laying out my system, and why I like it.
It sounds like we layer up pretty similarly.
The Ready Mix and Ascensionist jackets seem to be pretty much the same thing just separated by a few years. There's no added insulation to the Mixed Guide though there is some texture to the interior that makes it a bit warmer than the Ascensionist was with no insulting layer. Many of the other soft shells Patagonia makes do have added insulation and that would make me far too warm.
I am concerned about the added hard shell material in the Mixed Guide, the only hard shell I ever owned I disliked, but since it's only really over the shoulders and hood it seems like it'll be breathable enough and better at keeping the wet out. I know I've often gotten damper than I would have liked with the Ascensionist. I tried the new jacket out on a bike ride this morning and I think I was a bit warmer than I would have liked, I underestimated how warm it was and probably could have done without an insulating layer, but I think it was pretty comparable to the Ascensionist so far.
The winter weather in Colorado is going to be much drier than the east coast so you don't have to worry about rain or the normal damp weather but you get to deal with pretty harsh winds and sudden storms instead. 20-30mph winds are pretty common in the mountains and along with that you get a lot of blowing snow even if it isn't actively snowing. Bad weather can pop up out of nowhere very quickly (I've gone from sunny, to snowing heavily, and back to sunny inside of 15 minutes) and with the high winds blizzard conditions can be pretty common.
If you're in conditions that are consistently cold and kinda nasty, I could see the value in a jacket like the mixed guide.
Around here though, even in the winter, the conditions can go from rain to snow pretty quick, so I often need a full on hardshell and a lighter softshell/windshirt type jacket. Combining the two into one jacket doesn't do much good for me. The mixed guide seems more suited to colder outings.
At a certain point, there isn't really any "bad gear", just gear that doesn't fit your climate or system.
Unrelated side note, I really like all the bright retro-y ski gear colors on the new stuff these days.