Mountain Equipment clothing

It's Canadian and has good stuff but not inexpensive.

Thanks for the 411. Seems on par with pricing for Mountain Hardwear, although admittedly I am looking to buy things on discount these days. FYI, both Campsaver and Moosejaw have some worthwhile discount incentives going currently on gear. Eric

I think Eric B. is thinking of MEC, Mountain Equipment Co-op. Mountain Equipment is from the UK. Here’s a LINK

I owned their Firefox-shell, pretty good stuff. Not cheap but good quality. Mountain Equipment generally gets good reviews, very popular in the UK. Check out http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/, lots of info to find over there.

I have had lots of Mountain equipmemt gear over the years, very good stuff. It's a Uk based company. A lot of their kit is for polar and 8000 metre peaks. Pete Hutchinson who owns PHD equipmemt founded it. Last year I purchased a 28oz down parka with 14oz of down in it, and it is insanely lofty.

My heavy parka's are all from Mountain Hardwear (Absolute Zero Parka), with the exception of one from Bergan's of Norway (their Arctic Expedition Parka which is light in comparison to the Absolute Zero). I saw their K7 and Annapurna parka's and was trying to see if they'd be in line with my MHW Nilas jackets and if so, was thinking of picking one of those two up. Appreciate the feedback. Anybody know anything about how they size? I wear a size Large in MHW.

It's the Gasherbrum that I have, it's very nice. If you have a look on Backcountry.com there is a lot of info about the K7. The K7 or Annapurna would be far warmer than the Nilas. It was a toss up betwen the Gasherbrum and K7 for me, I was looking for something stupendously warm (and light).

I have a K7 and like it a lot. The baffles on the back are stretchy on the inside of the jacket so the jacket hugs your body without compressing the down. The hood is awesome and fits great with or without a climbing helmet. Very warm. Sizing: I'm a Patagonia medium and got the K7 in a medium. The fit is somewhat slim with long arms. If I got it again I would go with a large for more layering flexibility.

I went up a size also, I wear a large in Patagonia also but got an XL.

Duncan wrote: "I have a K7 and like it a lot. The baffles on the back are stretchy on the inside of the jacket so the jacket hugs your body without compressing the down" I have a jacket from a different brand (Montura) that has that as well and it makes such a big difference when the down is snug around you with no gaps. Great feature. And yes Mountain Equipment has some great gear for sure.

I have the Gasherbrum from ME as well. It is super warm, and a high quality piece. I think this would suffice for most all of New England winters have to offer and then some. The stretchy elastic on the inside of the baffles is unique, and very effective. As brought out, it helps seal out the air gaps keeping you warmer. It packs down pretty small considering, and lofts up pretty quick. If you can get a good deal on it, I would go for it. I did buy the K7 at the same time, but the fit and function of the Gasherbrum was the way to go for me. It has a little extra down fill, and a lighter shell fabric.

Me in Switzerland in the 1980's clad in ME… good stuff!

I'll have to see if I can get the ME K7 or Annapurna or the Gasherbrum on sale and color that I like then. I'm 5'11 and weigh 198 and have a 35 sleeve. Should I stick with my regular size large in this brand? Thanks! Eric

I would go with XL Eric.

Thanks! Sadly, I went ahead and ordered their Vega jacket that was on sale from Moosejaw. I realize it is not going to be nearly as warm as the the K7 or Annapura, but I did like the color. When I receive the Large I'll probably send it back for the XL. And if they don't have an XL for exchange I'll just simply return it completely and apply the amount towards the K7. I was reading online that the K7 has a bit heaver duty shell exterior than either the K7 or Gashenrum, so I like that. Again, thanks everybody for the feedback and I look forward to acquiring my first pieces of Mountain Equipment. And I just ordered my first dead bird product, the Alpha SV on sales at Backcountry.com. Eric

As others have said, Mountain Equipment are a British brand, not to be confused with the Canadian co-operative. My very first non-handmedown sleeping bag was from Mountain Equipment. I still have it some 25 years later, although it's no longer in regular rotation as a UK three season bag wasn't really designed for use above 10,000ft in the Rockies. My first trip after I moved to the US included a night at Bryce Canyon NP where it got down to 8F. Lesson learned. From memory, Mountain Equipment were reasonably priced, and good quality. I'd buy from them again.

Well, after some thought I went and looked at the PhD Designs down gear and ordered their Rondoy K Series down jacket in a size Large as my height and weight fit into their sizing matrix as a large. I'll let you know my impressions of it when I get it relative to my MHW Absolute Zero parkas (that I really like a lot–as you can tell from my user profile avatar!). Eric

Eric, are you some kind of down fetishist? :-)

LOL I love a good down jacket. So cozy when the temps go down and I run cooler than most. Eric

I used a PHD Yukon has let for years, really warm but did not like the hood (due to aesthetics). Their kit is very good.

The PHD looks sturdy and I'm looking forward to checking it out when it arrives. One question I have is about their 1000 FP down. How is it that PHD can manage to find high quality 1000 FP down to use their in their K series down jackets yet Patagonia can't seem to get any good 1000 FP down to make another run of their Encapsil belay down jackets again? Very interesting indeed. And its cool to know that they're not using hydrophobic down either (not that I have anything against it). Eric

Did they take the sales tax off the cost? They should do so if shipping outside the EU. Also be warned the courier might declare it to the US customs.

Yes, VAT was removed from the item cost. Also, there was an "immigration cost/fee" line item too, so I'm assuming that is to cover US Customs fees. Or I hope so! Anybody ever use their balaclava? Looking forward to my pieces arriving in the next month or so. Eric PS: On a side note, I'm glad to have finished compiling my gear list and associated weights!

Just received a size Large in the Vega jacket and while it seemingly fits well, it is much noticeably trimmer fitting than the equivalent size in my MHW Nilas: I have an XL in the Vega jacket from ME en route to me tomorrow and I have a feeling it'll be the better fit. The Large from ME in the Vega is also slightly snug in the armpits, which doesn't bode well for layering.