Summer-weight replacement for my Montbell Alpine Light down?

Check out this thread by Richard Nisley.

Are you only wanting a Montbell piece?

I use a Western Mountaineering Flash vest combined with a Patagonia Houdini for full wind protection. Total combo weighs about 7 oz.

Quantified nicely.. Good link, thanks! Looks like the UL Down Inner is the next step down (can't find the Patagonia PO). I really wish someone would try to fill that gap between the jackets, rather than cut grams. Oh well.

And no, it doesn't have to be Montbell, or even down. I'm looking for insulation when cooking or taking down camp in the morning so the Houdini will stay in my pack until I get moving (it's more for wind than insulation, IMO).

The UL down inner is definitely plenty for summer.

Yeah, the Patagonia PO was discontinued, so you’d have to find it on ebay. I assume the down sweater with full-zip was the replacement, but since Patagonia doesn’t list fill weights, (jacket weight is 12.2 oz, which is between both) I have no idea if if falls in between the two Montbells. Patagonia is coming out with another pullover in August, but that doesn’t help you for this summer much.

What about a vest, like the Alpine Down vest by Montbell. For moving around camp in the warm-ish summer months, maybe a vest under the houdini would be enough. I used to think vests were pointless, but then I tried the thermawrap, and was surprised at how much keeping your core ware keeps the rest of you warm.

Personally, for summer in the Sierra, at least, I think the UL parka will be plenty warm. That’s what I plan on using this summer. If you look at the gear lists of people hiking the JMT, you won’t see them carrying insulation much heavier than that.

For me the WM Flash vest is fine. If I think I need more insulation for summer use I'll take my WM Flight vest.

I have a Montbell UL vest that I used to use. It's a good piece. I just prefer the WM products.

I just looked up the flash jacket and that looks like what I need, except that $260 price tag. Ouch.

The Flash Jacket would actually be a step up in insulation over the Alpine Light from what I can tell. It may weigh a little bit less but it should have more loft.

I have this same question and have not come up with an answer for my JMT hike this summer. I have the Alpine Light Parka but don't want to take that. I've also got the old snap neck Micro Puff vest I havn't used yet and the older Micro Puff Pullover. I have been weighing the choice of a high loft vest like the WM Flight Vest, or the Montbell UL inner or Ex Light. There is also the WM Flash hooded jacket but not sure I want a hood when I may be wearing it in my mummy bag at night.

Another option is the ultralight line from PHD at http://www.phdesigns.co.uk. They have quite a few models that seem to have more insulation than the Montbell UL lineup.

The Montbell Alpine Light Jacket is a great piece and it is hard to find an option that really saves much weight without spending quite a bit of money.

Problem is, when you start dropping the fill weights down, you still have to carry all the lining fabric. So your weight/warmth ratio starts to suffer. Admittedly in the case of the UL Down Inner it's fabric is thinner than the Alpine Light, but still: down is really really light, so it seems wasteful to cart around all that lining nylon and then only stuff it with a a tiny amount of down – the UL jacket is only 2oz fill out of a total weight of 7oz.

So you could go with a vest (WM Flight Vest?) rather than a lighter jacket? Vests don't have such a good seal around the arms as a jacket though. I wish there was an Alpine-light weight of Montbell's half sleeve top.