The Wafer jacket
Gear brand PHD has introduced its lightest ever range of insulated clothing, designed to keep you warm on cold camps or in huts.
The company says it doesn’t recommend using the jacket, vest, trousers or socks actually on walks or climbs, as the thin material won’t stand up to abrasion.
But they could be a boon to mountaineers looking for a minimal weight and pack size – at a price.
The Wafer jacket tips the scales at just 190g and packs down to 10×18cm. It has two zipped handwarmer pockets, a full-length main zip with a baffle behind, and Lycra edging on cuffs and hem.
The jacket will set you back £210. PHD points out the Wafer jacket is less than a third the weight of a typical thick fleece and packs to less than a quarter the size.
The range uses a 10 denier fabric and 900 fillpower down.
A PHD spokesperson said: “We first came across a 10 denier fabric about eight years ago: breathtakingly light, but as fragile as tissue paper, it came apart in the hand.
“Ultralight fabrics have developed a lot since then and we have watched them all the way, interested, but refusing to use any material which would not give reasonable service in a true outdoor environment.”
The Wafer socks
The company said 9,000m of the yarn are used to weave its 10X fabric weighing just 10g – about the same as a £1 coin.
It said: “MX was the first modern ultralight fabric we selected, a 15 Denier classic which has proved itself again and again at expedition level.
“We are now introducing 10X into the range, a 10 denier ripstop in which we have gained confidence through our own outdoor testing.
“It is not as robust as MX, but durable enough to put our new Wafer products beyond touch-me-not gear and to let them take their place as genuine camp and bivvy clothing.
“This fabric is so light that it acts as the ideal shell for the lightest fill of PHD’s superb downs. The Wafer gear may surprise you with its warmth, but the small-panel design could not achieve its loft without the almost weightless 10X enclosing the down.
“It is not magic. Fabrics as thin as this do not stand up well to direct abrasion, so we do not recommend the Wafer gear as actual climbing outerwear.
“And they will melt as quickly as any nylon up against a hot stove. But for all its thinness 10X is amazingly downproof and windproof and with reasonable care will go on giving you good service for years.”
The Wafer trousers cost £165; the vest £150 and the socks £70.
More details are on the PHD website.
