Mountain Hardwear Men’s Zonal Jacket Review: Gobi Desert Field Test

Mountain Hardwear Men's Zonal Jacket

Mountain Hardwear Men’s Zonal Jacket Review

A few weeks ago I headed down to the Gobi Desert with my girlfriend and a Mountain Hardwear women’s Downtown jacket in tow.  You can read the review through the link if you’d like, but today I thought I’d supply the other half of the week’s reviews with a report on my own outerwear: the Mountain Hardwear men’s Zonal jacket.

Now, until I moved to Mongolia I wasn’t at all familiar with Mountain Hardwear.   When I was living in the UK, high quality winter wear wasn’t exactly a priority (though waterproofs were essential), and my only experience with the various brands had been through the occasional visit to Black’s to pick up a few camping supplies.

Since arriving in Ulaanbaatar, though, it seems I can’t hang my coat up in a bar without wading through a pile of Mountain Hardwear parkas.   I couldn’t say if the brand is as popular throughout the world as it is here in Mongolia, but it’s telling that the company has gained so much traction in a country whose winters drop below -40 degrees.

I’ve tried a few Mountain Hardwear coats during my time here, but this would be the first I exposed to a real field test outside of the city.  It’s one thing to stay warm and comfortable on the ten minute journey between restaurant and bar, but quite another after seven days exposed to the freezing, wind-battered dunes of the Gobi Desert.

Specifications

“MicroClimate Zoning™ construction follows the body’s natural hot and cold spots, using warm, compressible Thermic Micro™ to insulate your core, and high-stretch side panels to add breathability and stretch where you need it most. An alpine essential.” — Mountain Hardwear blurb

Body: 20D polyester rip

Insulation: Thermic Micro

Weight: 15oz

Field Test

The week was exceptionally difficult – much more challenging than usual.  High winds attacked us constantly, and even while hiding in the warmth of our gers, the felt tents used by Mongolian nomads, the cold seemed to seep through the thick felt and into our bones.

While I didn’t have the spirit to check my thermometer with any regularity I’d guess that the average temperature sat at a distinctly uncomfortable -30 Celsius throughout the week, and the wind chill made it feel much, much colder than that.

Over the week we could only bring ourselves to spend an hour or so each day outdoors, and our longest spell in the cold was just three hours.

p.s. Before I go on I’ll point out that this jacket ain’t designed for -30 Celsius.  This is a mid-layer jacket, lightweight and medium protection, so I paired it with my trusty Woolrich Navigator zip neck and a generic army surplus jacket my girlfriend swiped from her dad.  I’d guess that you could comfortably walk around in the Zonal down to around -5 Celsius (23 Fahrenheit), but if you expect lower temperatures you really need something along the lines of a Canada Goose Expedition.

Impressions

As I mentioned, this ain’t my first rodeo with Mountain Hardwear.  In the past I’ve found their coats to be of the very highest quality but quite… well, old-fashioned isn’t the right word, but not really embracing the newest technology.  The other coats I’ve tried have been based on solid, proven materials and designs that kept our grandpa and pa warm, and will keep our kids and grandkids toasty in years to come.

The Mountain Hardwear Zonal Jacket, though, marks a huge departure.  It looks as if the old designers were all fired, a bunch of fiery young kids came in and said ‘forget the old shit, we have some ideas.’  For a start, the jacket looks good.  It’s slim fitting and flattering – not that looks really come into it when you’re just trying to stay warm, but it doesn’t hurt that this jacket is flattering.

The jacket features what Mountain Hardwear are calling MicroClimate Zoning, which seems to be a fancy way of saying that the insulation is spread unevenly across the jacket to correspond with the body’s natural hot and cold spots.  Essentially, they’ve put a lot of work into ensuring that your chest isn’t cold while your armpits are burning up.  It sounds pretty basic, but this innovation allows the body to distribute heat more evenly and, in the long run, conserves energy.

The Zonal Jacket also has a couple of nice little features such as handwarmer pockets and a chamois-lined chin guard to keep the zipper from rubbing up against your chin.  It’s these nice little features that let you know you’re working with a quality product.

All in all I really liked the Zonal jacket.  It wasn’t really suitable for the climate I tested it in, but then Mountain Hardwear never intended for it to enter that climate.  This, then, is a jacket for cool/cold weather.  It isn’t intended for ball-freezingly cold weather.

Pros

• Extremely lightweight
• Excellent mobility
• Comfortable pockets
• Handy chamois chin guard

Cons