One of Trek & Mountain’s favourite things of the last few years is the incredible Berghaus Hyper 100 lightweight waterproof shell. It’s a super-packable, sub-100g jacket made from an ultra-lightweight three-layer fabric that’s also massively breathable. Unfortunately it’s also, at around £250, pretty expensive. Enter the new Hyper 140.
Hyper 140
At 138g for a medium, it’s just 40g or so heavier than the Hyper 100, but currently is priced at just £144 direct from the Berghaus web-site – normal RRP is £180 – making it a lot more affordable. It uses a lightweight 2.5-layer Hydroshell Elite fabric with a super-fine 6 denier lightweight face fabric. The claimed breathability level is actually slightly higher than the 100’s – 60,000 v 55,000 gm2 MVTR – and it scores high on waterproofing tests too, 20,000mm.
Hyper 140
Like the 100, it’s cunningly made from a single piece of fabric to minimise seams and bulk, but unlike the earlier jacket – which is still in the range – it has two hand-pockets. Looks like a good call for those who want a combination of minimal weight and pack size with excellent breathability and warm hands at a lower price than the 100. It comes with a stuff-sac too. We’re trying to find out if the cut is quite as sleekly uncompromising as the earlier jacket which suited honed lightweight athletes over more generously proportioned folk.
Ridgemaster Vented Jacket
Also new is the 2L Gore-Tex Ridgemaster Vented Jacket – the previous version didn’t have vents – which is a dedicated hillwalking shell with a thorough spec including fully adjustable hood cuffs and hem. The ‘vented’ bit of the name refers to water repellent YKK AquaGuard underarm zipped vents that you’d normally expect to find on a full-on mountaineering shell. You also get water-resistant zips and an internal map pocket. Weight isn’t the lightest at 570 grammes odd, but it looks like a comprehensively capable walking jacket.
Changtse Jacket
A bit more up Trek & Mountain’s street is the Changtse Jacket. It’s a proper lghtweight technical shell with a price tag of £290 – currently £232 on berghaus.com which mixes three different types of Gore-Tex fabric. There’s light and breathable Active around the core area, new generation Gore-Tex Paclite in abrasion-prone areas like chest and arms plus new Gore-Tex Topo Stretch fabric around the cuffs and hems.
Changtse Jacket
It also gets a Vapour Storm vent at the top of the back area, a sort of gill-type arrangement first used on Berghaus’s innovative running jacket of the same name. With the Paclite / Active combo, we wouldn’t expect it to be the most durable mountain shell out there, but at 375g for a medium, it’s pretty light for a technical jacket with multiple adjustments, vents and helmet hood. Light enough to pack, but protective enough to bother carrying in the first place? That would be our hope anyway. Watch this space.
You can find the full Berghaus spring 2019 range at www.berghaus.com