'Sale Rail Reviews'- OMM Mountain Raid Jacket

This is the first in a series of reviews looking at kit from last season or older, that can still be found online for a significant discount.

In the spotlight today is the OMM (original mountain marathon) Mountain Raid jacket.

RRP £200, 2018 season can be bought from an ebay shop for £125.99 if you're quick.

Nothing appears to have changed apart from the colour choice. I bought last seasons model, more on why below.

It looked for a short while like we were going to get a winter season. I suddenly realised I needed a replacement synthetic belay jacket. For those who don't know, synthetic fill retains its warmth when wet, unlike down. Very important for UK winter climbing. I usually look for the following features in a belay jacket:

• Light but super windproof
• Hood fits over a helmet
• Cuffs squeeze over my climbing gloves without taking them off
• Two way zip ideally with press stud at bottom
• Full articulation so you can climb wearing it (whilst holding the hem down, reach for the ceiling)
• 100gsm (grammes per square metre) of insulation, preferably primaloft- This is the key feature and I wanted to write a bit more about it.

Fill weight is usually listed in the specification or features for warm clothing. Along with the type or brand of insulation, Primaloft being the industry favourite ( in various flavours, Gold being the best)  This doesn't mean much when you start out but becomes a good point of reference when choosing new kit to replace or upgrade old.

I know I can get by during winter in Scotland with a Rab Xenon jacket filled with 60gsm of Primaloft Gold. If its too cold for the Xenon I can change to my bigger down jacket as its not likely to be wet.

I wanted something a touch warmer than the xenon this time, but around the same weight. This is what drew my eye to the Mountain Raid.

OMM make niche running equipment for multi day events where you carry all your gear, including tent. The Mountain Raid jacket is intended to be combined with a pair of insulated trousers, which press stud on to make a sleeping bag. The Raid has 100 gsm of Primaloft Gold in the body and 80gsm in the hood and sleeves. It also has thick fleecy hand warmer pockets which are excellent.

The Raid comes in at 390g total weight. The nearest climbing specific jacket, the Mountain Equipment Fitzroy, has identicial insulation but weighs 650g. A want to carry the jacket in a stuff sack on my harness, hence the weight obsession.

The Raid has some stand out positive features:

• The hood seems to have thicker insulation around the sides and back of the neck than other jackets, more like a sleeping bag hood, as it is intended. In practice very cosy.
• The outer material is very light but extemely windproof, very similar to the old Rab Xenon X.
• The hand warmer pockets are plush fleece and feel amazing with bare hands. These are normally zipped up on winter belays however, as this increases insulation and you'll be gloved up to belay. Still a nice feature when its on rock climbing duty.
• The zip is two way allowing you to unzip the bottom slightly and drape it around your belay device, covering your midriff better. Sadly no press stud to wrap underneath, I may be adding a button or toggle.
• Large body and long enough to pull down over your gear loops.
• Cuffs fit over a Black Diamond Punisher glove without taking it off, they also don't then cut off the circulation.
• The grey I bought looks cool, I think, but still has an eye burning orange lining if needed.
• Lastly the overall weight of this jacket in a stuff sack is far less intrusive on your harness than your shoes in summer, in winter this could mean comfortably leaving your main rucksack at the base.

Negatives

• No fluffy beard guard, this could also be a positive as I find these tend to freeze up and go stiff anyway.
• No draw cord adjustment around the face. Although as you can see in the photos it fits okay.
• The chest pocket is too small for anything but a phone, and not insulated. The zip is double sided, suggesting you can stuff the jacket into it. In practice its far too tight and you need a seperate stuff sack. The pocket could do with being twice as large and with a hang tab stitched inside (OMM if you're reading)
• No inner pockets for spare gloves, in practice i'd just use the hand warmer pockets.
• The hood doesn't give great coverage but you have so many hoods on these days its almost redundant, at least on top, see comments above about the sides being thicker though. Below is me wearing the Raid over a base layer, Rab Alpha Direct jacket and Mountain equipment firefox goretex jacket.

Last thing to mention is why I paid £50 more for the 2019 rather than the almost identical 2018. Firstly I prefer the grey colour, secondly I find Primaloft only lasts at its original loft (thickness) for around four years. After that its still very useful but moves up the temperature range. This could be improved by never compressing your jacket, but thats one of its useful features.