What is the Exo Jacket?The Exo is a fully windproof, highly water-resistant, highly breathable and exceptionally warm down jacket designed for some of the most hostile environments on earth. It is aimed primarily at high-altitude climbing/mountaineering where maximum warmth and protection, minimum weight and complete freedom of movement are paramount! It features a fully windproof and highly water-resistant Gore-Tex Infinium membrane and a whopping 265g of superior quality goose down to ensure it performs during high-altitude climbing or arctic expeditions.
What is it made of?Insulation: The Exo is packed with a massive 265g (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 Exo 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 Firestorm was born! If you want to read the whole fascinating story behind the birth of Firestorm then follow this link.
In a nutshell, Firestorm Construction combines different baffle constructions throughout the jacket to optimise performance. It also introduces newly devised pleated baffles and then combines that with the latest fabric technology to create a fully protective, warm, lightweight and easy to move in jacket.
In this Exo Jacket, areas which require the most warmth, i.e. the chest and back, are given a box-wall construction. The new pleated baffles are used down the sides of the body to increase flexibility, breathability and reduce bulk. These ingenious pleated baffles take your standard oval-shaped baffle and place a pleat on the top of the baffle itself; this adds very little extra fabric yet allows the down to loft better and provides more warmth. Midi stitch through baffles are used through the arms to reduce bulk and increase movement and M.E have even placed mini baffles under the arms for increased breathability and to reduce bulk and to prevent the down moving around and creating cold spots.
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 Exo Jacket with a fully taped Gore-Tex Infinium 30D 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 30D 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 Mountain Equipment's brilliant EXL lining.
EXL is elasticated stitching, in this case at the back of the hood to pull it snug to your head and reduce some of the bulk, whilst stretching out to allow the use of a helmet.
This helps to hood flopping down over your eyes but also increases warmth by pulling the down insulation closer to your body. There’s also a Velcro volume reducer to really cinch the hood down if it’s just going up over your head.
An additional down-filled baffle sits behind your neck to really seal out the drafts, it’s kinda like having a down-filled scarf on!
Lightly elasticated cuffs are designed to fit over heavy mountaineering gloves and also feature a Velcro closure to really close them down over your 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. You’ll also find the stuff sack inside one of the hand pockets, should you ever want to take of this incredible jacket!
How does it fit?The Exo features a roomy, protective fit as it’s designed to be worn over multiple layers. There are plenty of drawcords to cinch in excess volume, but expect it to fit larger than your traditional down jacket.
Where does it fit in the layering system?This Exo 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. You could also use this as an extremely protective belay jacket for those periods of inactivity on really cold weather.
- Gore-Tex Infinium 30D outer
- Fully taped seams
- Box-wall/pleated baffles in main body
- Smaller baffles in arms and side
- Super Alpine HC hood
- EXL hood lining
- Two-way main zip
- Two zipped hand pockets
- One chest pocket
- Two large inner drop pockets