The Expedition jacket is designed for some of the worlds most serious conditions, whether that's 6000m peaks or polar travel, this super warm and highly weather resistant jacket will make cold conditions a little more bearable.
Starting with the insulation, Mountain Equipment uses 440g (size L) of pure Goose down with a minimum content of 90/10 800 fill power in a box wall construction to keep you toasty. What makes Mountain Equipment's down so special though is just how much responsibility they take when it comes to sourcing their down. Most people are now taking steps to make sure their down is coming from the right people, but Mountain Equipment, however, is taking the whole process to another level. The waterfowl (geese and ducks) are all by-products of the food and meat industry. Every supplier wishing to work with Mountain Equipment must accept the terms of their Down Codex and must be willing to grant access for their representatives to audit all parts of their supply chain - that means everything from farm and beyond. On top of all of that, you can even trace your down on their website right back to the source, with a unique 12 digit code printed on the label inside every Mountain Equipment down product. The benefit of a box wall construction is that there aren't any places where your body heat is lost. In a classic stitch through construction, a stitch will separate baffles of down, therefore heat will be lost through these stitch points. This box wall construction is commonly used in sleeping bags and expeditions jackets where warmth is a priority over pack size.
M.E. use down optimisation in the construction of this jacket. Down optimisation means that M.E. has invested significant time in laboratory testing, field testing and extensive prototyping to optimise the down density in each baffle in this jacket. Each baffle has been optimised not just for thermal performance, but for compression resistance, migration control, comfort, and longevity.
Providing the weather resistance is M.E's awesome DriLite Loft outer fabric. This tough 30D fabric is completely windproof, highly water-resistant and so tightly weaved that down isn't able to make it's way through the fabric to escape (M.E. test all of their fabrics for downproofing in-house before they are sent to the factory). This is a huge benefit over standard fabrics in which wind would simply pass through without the use of a shell jacket. The inner of the hood and hem is also lined with this fabric to add a second layer of protection where you'll encounter the most moisture (like sweat and snow).
The Expedition Jacket has an incredibly generous amount of pocket space:
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Two large hand warmer pockets will keep your hands toasty
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A large internal zipped stretch mesh Pocket
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A large internal dump pocket that will fit a water bottle ensuring your water won't freeze when you're in sub-zero conditions
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Two big chest pockets (that sit above the harness line) will easily take a map, phone, GPS or snacks
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Two extra external zipped pockets that sit below the chest pockets for extra storage
It's almost like you have a backpack's worth of storage in your jacket! Moving up, the EXL lined helmet-compatible hood keeps your head toasty, even without a helmet on. The EXL lining is an elasticated stitching in the lining of the hood - this adds no weight but minimises dead airspace around the head and pulls the fabric away from the down allowing it to loft to fully. In the front of the jacket, a two-way zip allows you to fit a harness or to do your business without taking the jacket off completely and also helps you retain heat with twin offset insulated rear baffles. Adjustable cuffs allow you to further seal out the cold drafts and a dual tether hem drawcord means you won't snag your ice axes in the danglie loops around the hem of your jacket.
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Drilite Loft 30D outer fabric; totally windproof and highly water resistant
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440g (Size L) of Goose Down with a minimum content of 90/10 800 fill power
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Box wall baffle construction throughout
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Optimised down distribution and fill weights using a baffle-by-baffle approach
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Full Dome HC hood with EXL lining
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2-way YKK moulded centre front zip with twin offset insulated rear baffles
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4 zipped pockets
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2 hand warmer pockets
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Inner mesh water bottle pocket and large zipped mesh inner pocket
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Drilite Loft 30D inner hem and hood lining
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Adjustable cuffs
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Dual tether hem drawcords
How to wash your down products
Having spent years talking to people about down products, whether that’s a jacket, sleeping bag or even a pair of slippers, very few have had the confidence to go ahead and wash the product on their own, especially when they have just spent an arm and a leg on it. This small guide is here to explain that it’s not as daunting and utterly terrifying as it first appears.
Step one: Before you even get near that washing machine, wipe off any excess mud or dirt that may be lingering on the surface of the jacket, as this will clog up the washing machine, eventually rendering it useless.
We recommend the use of Nikwax Down Wash Direct for down products as it’s one hundred percent environmentally friendly and will wash and re-proof the garment without the use of bleach or any other nasty chemicals. What household washing agents can (and often do) is remove the water repellent coating on the fabric of the jacket, whilst also damaging the delicate array of feathers inside.
Step two: We’ll assume in this instance that you’ve been washing other products prior to your down jacket and have used a bleach based detergent. Therefore it’s a good idea to run the washing machine for half an hour or so without anything inside to rinse it clean before adding the Nikwax or putting the jacket in. Also, don’t forget to remove the detergent drawer to give it a wash inside, outside and behind, as detergent can clog up and still enter the washing machine if not cleaned out thoroughly. This ensures that any remnants of detergent are removed and that the Nikwax products will work effectively.
Step three: Set the washing machine to a cold wash (check the garments care label, most tend to be around 30°C) and as delicate as possible. Most washing machines have a “wool” cycle which is ideal.
Step four: If using Nikwax Down Wash Direct, place 100ml in either the tray or directly into the washing machine inside a small pot/ball. If you choose to use another washing product, place the appropriate amount in the machine in the same way.
Step five: Set the washing machine to run on a slow cycle, allowing plenty of time for the jacket to soak up the cleaning/re-proofing product. Most washing machines will have a pre-set time for different washing cycles.
When the cycle has finished be prepared for a shock, your precious bit of kit will come out looking like a soggy ball of material. But don’t worry, you haven’t ruined it, it’s just that all that fluffy down insulation has become water logged and has clumped together. The trick is to now get all that down nice and dry to reinstate its superb insulating properties. Simply hanging it up in a warm place will not work that well. It will take days to properly dry and you will have to constantly break up the clumps to get it thoroughly dry. The best way is to use a tumble dryer; either a domestic one for smaller items or a commercial drier for sleeping bags.
Step six: Pop the garment into the dryer and make sure to select a low heat; a high heat runs the risk of melting seams and fabrics within the garment. It sounds weird, but shove a few tennis balls into the drier with the garment; the tennis balls will bounce around and help to break up the clumps of down. Every 20 minutes, pull the jacket out of the dryer and lie the jacket down on a table. Run your hands over the jacket until you find a 'clump' or ball of down; tease apart this down clump and spread it evenly into the baffle. Once you're confident you've pulled apart every clump to the best of your ability, stick it back in for another 20 minutes. Keep repeating this until there are no more clumps left.
Step seven: When the cycle has finished and you are sure that you have got the garment as dry as possible, hang it up in a warm dry place, an airing cupboard is ideal, for 24 hours. This drives out the last of any dampness and allows the down to loft fully. Take it out and give it a good shake and, hey presto, it’ll be as good as new.