Tested – Mountain Equipment Atmo Jacket

The Atmo Jacket is Mountain Equipment’s latest lightweight, DRILITE waterproof designed specifically for climbers. Weighing just 360g (medium) the Atmo jacket has a stripped back feature set while remaining durable with a single pocket that you can absolutely stuff with Haribo and topos.

I’ve been testing the Atmo Jacket for a couple of months now, while Mountain Equipment are proud that it’s been designed for “cutting edge alpine and expedition climbing”. For us mere mortals, I’ve actually found it to be a great all round spring / summer waterproof. Its nice and light, breathable and reasonably packable.

Waterproof.

The Atmo Jacket uses Mountain Equipment’s own DRILITE waterproof and breathable membrane. DRILITE has hydrostatic head of 20,000mm which in reality is waterproof enough for your standard wet day out. On paper it may not be quite as ‘waterproof’ as GORE-TEX but it is far more breathable. This is great for summer use, I’ve found that the it doesn’t turn into a total sweat box on changeable summer days, being almost as breathable as a softshell jacket.

Fit.

The Atmo Jacket features Mountain Equipment’s Alpine fit. This is designed to be slimmer fitting to prevent flappy excess fabric, with longer arms so the jacket doesn’t lift when reaching over your head. At 6ft with a 33in waist I find the Atmo jacket in Medium a comfortable fit without being restrictive. I wouldn’t want to wear more than a baselayer and fleece under it, however I can just about get a light synthetic jacket under but it does start getting a bit tight. While climbing in the Atmo I never found the jacket to be riding up under my harness. The dual tether separate back and front hem adjustment means that you can get a much better fit than a standard hem adjust, and it means you can’t accidentally clip gear to a hem draw cord loop.

Hood.

Mountain Equipment’s Super Alpine Helmet Compatible hood is used on the Atmo Jacket. This is the same hood the Tupilak Jacket. It easily goes over a climbing helmet but cinches down to a pretty close fitting hood when you don’t have a helmet on. I’ve used the jacket on some very wet & windy moorland runs and found it stays in place well. The sides seem to be cut out a little which is great as the hood does not get in your peripheral vision, although it does feel like some protection is sacrificed.

Features

Ok so there is just one feature, a single chest pocket. Personally I love this! I’ve never been a fan of pit zips or tonnes of pockets that just introduce wear points, extra seams and can make the jacket overly complex. The single pocket is big enough for snacks and a phone and is accessible while wearing a harness. What more do you need?