Cloudveil Enclosure Parka
Cloudveil’s Enclosure Parka ($245, two pounds, four ounces for size medium) is cut for function, not fashion; don’t expect to see it in an Upper West Side espresso bar anytime soon. The least bulky of the four parkas featured here, it is cut especially high, which keeps it out of the way of your harness. In addition, the Enclosure has an internal Lycra band that acts as a draft skirt, pulling the jacket in tightly at the waist and keeping it from riding up. Combined, this meant that the Enclosure had the best movement of all the parkas, and was the only one I’d want to wear on lead.

Despite having the heaviest insulation — seven ounces of Primaloft in the body and six ounces in the sleeves — the Enclosure wasn’t especially warm relative to its weight, perhaps because of its tight construction. Also, the shell fabric was the least water resistant of all the jackets reviewed and was usually the first one to “wet out” under prolonged wet conditions. It has three outer pockets, and two inner mesh pockets, with dividers to keep everything in place. The hood easily fits over a helmet and all drawstring adjustments are a snap. The collar has a fleece flap that prevents the zipper from chapping your face. The cuffs are a bulky combination of Velcro and elastic.
Cloudveil: 888.763.5969, www.cloudveil.com

Synthetic Belay Parkas
One evening, while traveling through Tibet last summer, I was having tea with some nomads when the subject of my hirsuteness came up. As the children ran away laughing, holding aloft tufts of my leg hair like scalps, an elder asked me, “With all this hair, like a yak, why do you still need such a heavy jacket?” Perhaps, as he suggested, I really am reverting to a more Neanderthal state, but even the original alpine brutes depended on rudimentary clothing for insulation. Fast-forward 50,000 years to a dizzying array of styles and materials . After putting ten models through the ringer in cold, wet locations around the globe — the Cascades, Tibet, and the Chinese Pamirs — we chose the four best performers.

The classic dilemma with cold-weather insulation is choosing between down or synthetic. For all-around use, nothing beats synthetic insulation. Synthetics are hydrophobic, dry fast, and still insulate when wet. On the downside, they tend to be heavier, less compressible, and offer less warmth per ounce than down, but this gap is closing. Thus, for lower-altitude climbing, where precipitation is more variable, or for extended forays into the alpine or big-wall zone, where wet insulation spells disaster, synthetic is the way to go. Primaloft and Polarguard 3D are the most popular brands; both are excellent.

Synthetic belay parkas, unlike sleeping bags, are not rated according to temperature. Instead, manufacturers list the weight of the insulation, measured per square yard. As we discovered, this is at best an approximation of how warm (or not) a given parka will be. To increase mobility and decrease bulk, some jackets have more insulation around the body and less in the sleeves — a nice feature if you find yourself climbing in the jacket.
Like all outer layers, a belay parka needs to be windproof, water resistant, and breathable. To accomplish this, manufacturers add a durable water repellant (DWR) treatment to the shell fabric or, in the case of Nextec’s Epic, coat each individual fiber with a water-repellent silicone compound.
To qualify for four-season alpine use, a belay parka needs an adjustable, insulated hood that fits over a helmet, a high collar, zippered outside hand-warmer pockets, an inner water-bottle pocket, and drawstrings and zippers that can be adjusted with one gloved hand. Other features — additional pockets, thumb loops, Velcro cuffs, and other impedimenta — just add weight and cost.
— Ted Callahan