Canada Goose Freestyle Vest Review: Ulaanbaatar Field Test

It’s no great secret that we’re big lovers of Canada Goose here at Parka Review.  Personally, my first Canada Goose experience came last winter down in the Gobi Desert, where I wore an Expedition Parka for what must have been the most comfortable week anyone has ever had at -40 degrees Celsius.  Since then I’ve been a flag wavin’, Goose praisin’ fanatic.  I was pleased, then, when we got a shipment of the Canada Goose Freestyle down vest into the store last month.  I’d never tried a Canada Goose vest, so I was itching to find out if they brought the same game to their smaller items as they do to their enormous, expensive parkas.

This is the perfect time to test the Freestyle vest in Ulaanbaatar.  The summer is definitely over and we’re quickly approaching those first few winter days (Mongolia doesn’t really have a fall), the sudden snap that steals away all warmth and tells you to look forward to six months faaaar below zero.  Right now it’s about 8 degrees Celsius (46 Fahrenheit) at noon – not quite cold enough for a bulky parka, but a little too cold for just a light, regular jacket.

This temperature is where insulated down vests such as the Freestyle come into their own, keeping the core of the body warm while a thick shirt does the job for the arms, and they’re especially useful (based on personal experience) as the winter weather closes in on a construction site and you need to get just a little more done before sealing the site for the season.  A bulky parka doesn’t help in such situations, but a down vest is perfect.  Take note, construction workers.

 

Specifications

Shell: 195gsm Arctic-Tech; 85% polyester, 15% cotton

Insulation: 625 fill power white duck down

Lining: 55gsm Nylon plain weave with water repellent coating

4 exterior pockets

2 handwarmer pockets

1 secure internal pocket

 

Field Test

Towards the end of the summer I was doing a little volunteer work on the Mongol Rally, a motor rally starting in the UK and ending in Mongolia (check it out), and part of the job was heading west cross country to retrieve vehicles that had given up the ghost on the Mongolian ‘roads’.

The weather wasn’t at all bad on the way out to the town of Altai in the north of Gobi Province, but on the way back, driving solo in a hastily repaired Suzuki Swift, I got caught in a severe duststorm in the middle of the night and, rather than doing the sensible thing and pulling over until morning, I drove on in an attempt to reach the next town.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.  In the poor visibility I didn’t see the enormous pothole in my path.  After bouncing through it at about 50mph I skidded wildly across the track, landing at a 45 degree angle on the sand verge.

In the morning I would find that the pothole had sheared something in the region of the CV joint on the front nearside wheel, sending the wheel loose and screwing up my hopes of ever again driving in a straight line.  In the moments after the crash, though, I had bigger concerns.

The impact had knocked out the engine, and all attempts to restart the car failed.  Worse, I’d crashed with the driver’s side electric window partially open, so now I had no artificial heat, I was exposed to the weather, and I was at least a dozen miles walk from the nearest source of firewood.

And then it began to snow.

I was stranded by the road for 24 hours before help arrived.   Mongolian roads are little more than tracks in the scrub, hundreds of them weaving side by side for mile upon mile, so it was a while before any drivers chose to take my track.  For those 24 hours I had nothing to keep me warm but a pair of trousers, my Woolrich Navigator and the Canada Goose Freestyle vest.

 

Impressions

Wow.  That’s all there is to say.  From the moment of the crash until the moment a truck driver finally spotting me running across the steppe waving my arms (thank God the vest was bright yellow) I barely felt cold at all.  A lot of the credit must go to my Navigator sweater, a merino wool zip neck that has served me well for three winters, but the Canada Goose deserves a hell of a lot of praise.

 

The vest really did the job in the hours I spent out in the duststorm, trying to find a car to wave down.  The secure storm flap covering the zipper kept every hint of wind away from my core, and the padded neck guard kept me from losing heat at the throat.

The Freestyle is cut long in the back for additional wind protection, and I can say without hesitation that it was a Godsend of a feature.  A lot of heat is usually lost from the waistline of your trousers, and the fact that the vest came down over the waist and channeled the heat up to my core surely did a lot for my comfort level.

Best of all were the handwarmer pockets in front.  I’ve used better handwarmers, to be sure, but on this night, on this road, I wouldn’t have given them up if my life depended on it.

Pros

• Lightweight
• Deceptively warm
• Lots of pockets
• Long back

Cons