Mont-Bell Peak Shell

To update: The pants have worked well and saw rain, sleet, and snow in WRR this past summer.  They are a very simple design similar to my old Golite Reeds which they replaced.

I also recently picked up a Jacket (used) and my initial impressions are quite good (it got here today, so no frontcountry or backcountry use).  The Large fits me well if not a tad big (but good for layering) I am 6-0′ 163lbs for reference.  The handwarmer pockets are nice and high so you can access them with a pack on and the pitzips are pretty large.  The material, is whispy for a 3 layer but doesn’t feel weak and feels pretty good against the skin.  The jacket seems to have a softer hand than my pants did, though they have softened up some with use.  The cuffs are nice and able to be snugged up on my thin wrists.  The hood seems decent too, though judgement there will really have to wait until I get some rain time in it.  My large was 9.7oz on my scale.  Not bad for a 3L jacket with pit zips and handwarmer pockets.

Thanks for the follow-up, Brad.

I’ve been interested in this piece for some time and yours is a very informative report. Most likely this is my next winter shell.

Your welcome Bob.  I will try and report back after I get some backcountry time in the jacket but I am not sure when that will be.  I am tied up until July with my daughters softball almost every every weekend – I do have the first weekend of June free and will be doing a trip, but it may be too hot for a rain shell by then even at the higher elevations.

I thought I had settled on a jacket for Alaska in August, the Montane Spine, and that is probably what I am still going to take, but I will consider the Peak Shell.  Otherwise it might be October before I get a chance to test it out.

If anyone else has any experience feel free to post it here.

Brad – Thanks for the review.

I still have the old Montbell Peak jacket and Peak pants from way back and they are still going strong.  I hope you get the same kind of wear out of the new one.   For backpacking I’ve switch to the Montbell Versalite jacket and pants, just for the weight savings but the Peak jacket was my favorite and is still my go to ski jacket.  I’ve had it for years and it’s gone from being my backpacking jacket, to fishing jacket and now reserved for skiing.  Still water tight and no delamination or zipper failures… pretty amazing.  I would really like to buy the new lighter version Peak shell (especially after hearing your report that the membrane is the same), but the Canadian dollar is so low that the exchange rate makes it too expensive.