What is the Xeros Jacket?The Xeros is an incredibly lightweight, fully windproof, highly water-resistant, highly breathable and warm down jacket designed for active mountain use in cold and inhospitable conditions. It is aimed primarily at Alpine and UK winter climbing/mountaineering where warmth, protection, minimum weight and complete freedom of movement are paramount! It features a fully windproof and highly water-resistant Gore-Tex Infinium membrane and 140g of superior quality goose down to ensure it performs in cold environments.
What is it made of?Insulation: The Xeros is filled with 140g (size large) of 800 fill-power goose down. Down is one of the warmest insulators relative to its weight available, making it a brilliant option for those looking for ultimate warmth with a low weight. It is not just the quantity of Down that is impressive, it’s the quality and sustainability. M.E have filled the Xeros with the very best Eastern European goose down. Sourced from Western Russia, it has a minimum down cluster content of 90% and is individually tested to ensure a minimum fill power of 800 cubic inches.
As well as all that quality, the down is DOWN CODEX approved. M.E use the Down Codex, an animal welfare, traceability and auditing scheme to ensure that both animal welfare and quality are at the heart of each and every one of their down products.
Although the down itself is impressive, it's actually the way that M.E have constructed the whole jacket that’s genius — Mountain Equipment call this their 'Firestorm construction'. Firestorm Construction was born out of the demands of high-altitude mountaineers who had stretched existing down jackets to their limits at 7000M climbs. Both real-world and laboratory testing was used to fine-tune and develop the Firestorm Construction. Jackets made with box wall baffles were too big and bulky to climb in, and lighter weight stitch-through baffle jackets were too light and airy to be fully protective. What was needed was a new way of thinking and Firestrom was born! If you want to read the whole fascinating story behind the birth and development of Firestorm then follow this link.
This Xeros jacket is the lightest in the Firestorm range and is designed to keep the weight and pack size to an absolute minimum without sacrificing performance. Then to provide maximum protection from the elements and to trap all that warmth inside, Mountain Equipment have used a separate outer layer. Not only does this protect you, and all that lovely down, from the elements, it acts to trap air between the baffles to increase the insulative properties of the whole jacket. Allegedly by 20%!
Outer Fabric: Mountain Equipment have equipped the Xeros Jacket with a lightweight, yet tough, fully taped Gore-Tex Infinium 10D nylon face fabric. Gore Infinium uses an EPTFE membrane, just like in Gore-Tex hard-shell jackets, but this version is stripped back to concentrate on total wind-proofing and maximum breathability, rather than cast iron waterproofness; keeping you warm and protected in all but the worst conditions. To be honest, in practice, we've found this membrane to be virtually waterproof; it would take constant, torrential rain before any moisture passed through, and where this jacket is designed to be used, constant torrential rain is not a problem! This also features a clever construction with no seams on high-wear areas such as the top of the shoulders/back — this reduces the risk of seam failure or delamination from rucksack straps rubbing. Areas which may encounter high amounts of moisture from the inside as well as the outside (hood, cuffs, hem), are lined with the same 10D Gore-Tex Infinium fabric, this stops water wicking inside the jacket, possibly soaking into the insulation and sapping away heat. To top it off, the face fabric is treated to a durable water repellent coating.
Inner fabric: A super lightweight and breathable nylon is used to line the EXO, giving it a lovely slippery feel to glide over other layers.
What are the features?Starting at the top, a Super Alpine HC hood easily fits a helmet underneath and features a Velcro volume reducer so the hood fits neatly with our without t a helmet.
Elasticated cuffs trap further warmth and fit nicely over gloves or just bare wrists
A dual-tether hem drawcord seals in warmth around your waist and can't get stuck on an axe like a traditional 'loop' drawcord.
A two-way YKK moulded front zip means you can fit the jacket over a climbing harness easily or ventilate if you begin to overheat and features an insulated interior baffle to really seal out the weather.
Storage is taken care of by two zipped hand pockets, one chest pocket and two large inner dump pockets.
Where does it fit in the layering system?This Xeros jacket is firmly designed as an outer layer. Thanks to the Gore-Tex Infinium membrane, it's equipped to deal with all but the worst weather. The amount of high-quality insulation coupled with the ingenious construction means, provided you are active, you probably won't need to have many layers underneath.
- Gore-Tex Infinium 10D outer
- Firestorm construction
- Stitch-through baffle construction
- 800 fill power Goose down
- Two-way main zip
- Two hand pockets
- One chest pocket
- Two large inner drop pockets
- Super Alpine HC hood with EXL
- Elasticated cuffs
- Dual-tether hem drawcord