On the Mountain
In the past when touring, I’ve resorted to the tried-and-true layering system: base layer, down puffy, and shell, in that order. I know people that wear their puffy outside of their shell, but I’m still used to skiing in the Pacific Northwest, where wearing a down puffy over your shell is usually a recipe for soaked down and a cold day.
But I happen to run hot, especially when touring, and so I often find myself starting out from the car cold, with all of my layers on, only to have to pull off my insulator 15 minutes into the skin. Then I have to put it back on again at the top while transitioning, only to pull it off as soon as I’m done skiing a lap.
Especially on days where it is raining or snowing, this ends up being a major pain in the butt since I have to take off my shell and put it back on every time I swap out my puffy, which means I generally have to swap my gloves on and off as well, and when I take my shell off to put my puffy on, I lose all the warmth I may have had before.
Because the Prophet is water resistant I wear it over my shell on any day that’s not an absolute downpour. It’s sized generously enough that I can easily slip it over my shell without even taking off my gloves, which is a huge plus in situations where you really need to get your insulating layer on and you’re already cold. Then when I warm up, I can slip it off without having to take off my shell or gloves again.
That same water resistance means that on days where I’m not planning on needing insulation or a shell, but I still want to take both as insurance, I can simply pack the Prophet. It takes up about the same amount of room as a puffy jacket, and is much more water resistant than most down layers while still doing a very good job of keeping me warm, even in temperatures down to the teens – if I stay active.
I’ve also found the Prophet to be perfect for higher output tours. I often snag a lap up Mount Glory after work, and I’m usually doing my best to hurry up the bootpack before the sun sets. That means on the way up I’m usually in a t-shirt, but as soon as I top out it’s cold enough that I’d need a shell and a puffy for the ski down to Coal Creek.
For this sort of lap, the Prophet is perfect. It’s warm, but it also provides extra insurance in the form of water resistance in case the weather deteriorates.
And I anticipate using the Prophet in this capacity throughout the rest of the year. On most camping trips, climbing trips, or long bike rides, I tend to bring a puffy and a raincoat, just in case. But now, so long as there isn’t serious rain in the forecast, I can bring just one piece that both insulates and protects me from the elements.
While the 10-denier outer fabric of the Prophet Jacket is very light, I haven’t had any durability issues so far, and I’ve been much less careful with it than I would be with a down puffy. I’ve worn it over my shell when tree skiing, and even after a couple of crusty, bushy crashes, I have yet to experience any snags or holes.
The long-term durability question is, of course, how well the shell and laminate hold up to the repeated stuffing and expansion this sort of piece gets put through, and I’ll be reporting back on that after more time in the Prophet.
Breathability
I’ve found the Prophet to be just a little less breathable than the Patagonia Down Sweater. But I haven’t noticed a problem with that tradeoff, since when I’m wearing either layer, I’m not usually doing anything too high output.
It’s not anywhere close to as breathable as a Kooshin or Nano Air, but that’s not the point, neither of those have close to the weatherproofing of the Prophet.
Since I started using the Prophet, the puffy I used to bring on every tour has sat unused in the closet. Sure it’s a little lighter than the Prophet, but the weather resistance and versatility the Prophet brings to the table make it an easy choice.
Bottom Line
At first glance, the Mountain Equipment Prophet jacket sits in an awkward position between the traditional puffy and an insulated jacket. However, I’ve been impressed with its versatility and packability, and I have yet to find a better insulating layer for ski touring and mountaineering.
Synthetic insulations, especially high clo long-staple insulations like Primaloft Gold, will degrade with repeated stuffings, especially if packed tightly. The structure of the fine long fibers is lost, unlike with down. If I remember correctly, Primaloft Gold has a clo/oz around .90, and will degrade to around .60 under heavy stuffing (losing 30% of its warmth). I much prefer to loosely stuff my synthetic insulators for this reason. Just something to think about when using the pocket-as-a-stuffsack.
Glad to hear you’re enjoying the baselayer – shell – external puffy layering system. I started doing this a few years ago and will never go back to a midlayer system again for the reasons you state. Personally, I prefer a softshell over a hardshell for the drier intermountain areas, as I find them to be more versatile. I can select the perfect baselayer for the temps, and then put on the softshell when I break treeline to cut the wind but still provide great breathability for high output touring. With a hardshell, I find them to be nowhere near breathable enough to do this unless its really nasty out or I pick a baselayer thats just not warm enough to wear below treeline without a shell. Very much a goldilocks situation. A windshirt can work as a substitute for a softshell too, but I find that they don’t breathe as well (but still better than a hardshell). Food for thought.
The inverse layering system described here and above in Brian’s comment is blowing my mind… does that really work for you guys? It seems a lot less comfortable and flexible to have a stiff/plasticy shell closer to the skin than a light, puffy jacket.
I have the Nano Air and it’s completely changed how I dress (caveat: I almost exclusively ski the Rockies so wetter climates could completely wreck my system). I use a rotation of generic brand marino wool baselayers, a sweater/hoody if it’s bitterly cold, my Nano Air, and then a shell. I rarely use my shell unless I’m skiing bitterly exposed faces with high winds, or dealing with single digit (and lower) temps as I also run pretty hot (hot enough to wish the Nano Air had armpit zips on some days). Plus I’ve found the Nano Air plenty water resistant, even on the deepest of powder days, if you simply do a quick shake to get excess snow off at the end of a run. This could entirely be a luxury afforded by the arid climates I ski, but over the past year and a half I’ve met plenty of people who travel much farther than I and have heard the Nano Air holds up similarly from Washington to the Alps. This all means my Nano Air is rarely stuffed (Brian makes a great point about this), but conversely when the conditions are right I’m pulling my shell off and on an annoying amount of times.
Is the prophet good enough to justify cheating on my current system? I can deal with almost any condition with three pieces right now, and they all can fit within a camelbak, but if the prophet can combine both the Nano Air and the shell in one piece while staying breathable enough for high energy powder days and more importantly sunny, warm spring days I’m more than game.
Yeah, I agree with Brian. I can’t tour in a Nano Air, it’s too warm for me. On the coldest days I’m in a merino t-shirt base layer with a Corbeaux Recon Hoody, and maybe my shell. (And Brian makes a good point on hard vs. soft shells)
When I was using the Nano Air or Trew Kooshin I was usually only putting them on at the top, and having to take my shell off to do so. So the Prophet fills exactly that role, but as I state in the review, gets me more weatherproofing and warmth and fits better over a shell.
For example, yesterday I ran out on a tour, we started below treeline, and things have been warm around here, so I was just in softshell pants and a t-shirt. About 2/3 of the way up we popped out of the trees and onto a ridge. Here things got breezy, so I threw on a softshell, and ran up to the top. At the top the wind was really cranking, so I threw the Prophet over my softshell while I waited for the group. They got up top, and I left the Prophet on for the ski down, since it was cold enough I didn’t want to just go with a shell. When we got back into the woods the Prophet went back into my pack for the rest of the ski out. That meant that I never had to take off my shell to control my level of insulation.
If I’d been using a Nano Air or similar I would have had to take my shell off at the top to put it on, and at the bottom to take it off.
All that said, for non-human powered skiing, the Nano Air or Kooshin are both great. When I’m skiing inbounds on colder days I’ll go baselayer, Kooshin, shell every time.
Brian also makes a good point on the synthetic insulation front. For trips where space and organization is a priority, and I’m bringing more gear, I’ll use the stuff sack. For everything else I just loosely stuff it into my pack.
Its not as inverse as you’d think. Its a really common layering strategy for mountaineering (the belay puffy system). A softshell is far from plasticky and stiff by the way. Its way more similar to the nano air, but without the insulation.
FWIW, the Nano Air is WAY too warm for touring, for me. Even when its negative F, I don’t need a fleece heavier than a 100, and when paired with a softshell I’m comfortable above treeline on the coldest of days unless its really nasty out, and then I want full wind protection from a superlight puffy on top.
Which trousers from mountain equipment are you wearing in your picture?
Do you think this would work well as a belay jacket for cold but not truly nasty conditions? Say, freezing to a little below freezing?