One day I will own this Arc'teryx Alpha SV jacket .
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| The Burberry of the outdoor world. |
Until that day comes (the day I will spend $600 dollars on a jacket) I will have to be happy with.....
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| (and yes of course the fact that it was named after the leader in 300 made me want it more)
This jacket is a great 3 season jacket that "cost me around $200" (I actually returned an all-in-one ski jacket back to REI to pay for the Leonidus. I had bought the ski jacket with the intentions of skiing/snowboarding and then proceeded to never wear it. Gotta love REI's return policy)
I had read a backpacker magazine review of the Leonidas and liked what they had to say. It wasn't in stock at my local REI but was available online. The Leonidas is waterproof/windproof. In hotter conditions you can open up multiple vents on the jacket to cool down. I like that I can wear the Leonidas as windbreaker as easily as I can use this as my outer shell as a part of layered cold weather clothing (Wicking Layer/Insulation/Leonidas). I had worn this jacket in the wind and rain. I still needed to see how it would work in the snow. If only a blizzard would come and blanket my city in snow...
OMG DECEMBER 5TH!
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| Oh nos zombie dog has spotted you |
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| Zombie Dog charge! |
Temperatures were in the single digits and wind was pretty minimal. Whenever these freak snowstorms roll into town our city is about half shut down. Only the main roads are immediately salted/snow plowed which leaves the remaining neighborhoods....well see below.
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| The view to the left of my driveway |
I decided to take a winter walk from my house to the local Twisters (amazing breakfast burrito place) to pick up a breakfast burrito for myself and one for Mr. Banjo.
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| Imagine covered in snow |
The twisters is about 2.5 miles from my house. I trekked through a large drainage ditch and then climbed an icy hill that was steep enough to ward off the kids with sleds. (The trekking poles were a life saver on the icy snow hill-climbing) .
I wore my Vapor Trail 3600 to transport the burrito cargo and of course my Z-pole trekking poles to navigate the snow (on a side note the trekking poles currently do not have a snow basket available for them. It didnt make a difference for me but I might have to engineer a pair just in case).
On the way back I made a point to slide downhill through as much snow as possible and make sure to get snow all over the jacket.
Final verdict.
This jacket is pretty damn nice.
Price: 4 out of 5 (at $200 it makes for a pretty affordable and damn nice shell)
Durability: tentative 3 out of 5 (still too new to know)
Waterproofing: 5 out of 5 (once i got home and stripped down the only thing that was wet was my base layer with a little sweat)
Wind Protection: 4 out of 5 (I still need to test it against rough wind)\
Rating: 4 out of 5
