Whether your sitting fireside watching flakes of snow melt mid-air into the campfire, or simply heading out into the cold winter morning, you want to be warm and comfortable. Luckily for you, Hi-Tec has crafted the Alpine Start Parka, a good quality down that maximizes the weight to loft ratio without the expense of higher fill power downs.
This on-the-go heater uses 550-fill goose down to warm your core and arms from Mr. Freeze. Light on weight and easy to pack in a tiny corner of your trekking pack, this close-fitting light weight parka turns chilly days in outdoors into just another day in winter wonderland.
Once again the design crew at Hi-Tec has done a tremendous job with the details. Like the Sundance Peak Parka and the Crack of Dawn Hoodie, the Alpine Start Parka has our much beloved reverse-coil zippers with a contoured rubberized zipper pull. The reverse-coil zippers provide smooth and catch-free usage while the rubberized zipper pull with tight gridlock pattern ensures you’ll be able to operate your jacket even in those moments you aren’t sure you can operate your fingers.
The artsy stitching and high cire’ (high glaze) finish lends some casual style and softens that manly mountain look you’ve been working on all winter. But don’t let the aesthetic value of the jacket fool you. This jacket is as tough as it is flashy.
As an experienced outdoor enthusiast, you know that Mother Nature never sneaks up from behind. Instead, like a hellcat scorned, she comes at you guns blazing in a full frontal assault. For those moments you can take comfort knowing that the ripstop nylon won’t give way – and if Mother Nature decides to launch a sneak attack, Hi-Tec has included a ribbed nylon on the storm flap for extra protection. Whether you’re heading towards the cabin, or fighting your way through an alley on a blustery winter’s eve, the waist level drawstrings that give you one more tool to cinch down and fend off winter’s long icy fingers.
Room for Improvement…
Our field guru felt that the overall fit of the jacket was comfortable with one exception – the forearm. The Alpine Start Parka features tapered arms, and although they aided in providing greater warmth, they also tended to constrict some range of motion in the arms. Secondly, our guru noted that he’d like to see a better distribution of down material on future iterations of the jacket. The down often felt unevenly distributed and even when that wasn’t an issue the shedding of feathers was too consistent for his liking.
Bottom Line…
Hi-Tec’s entrance on to the stage of outdoor apparel is great news for anyone seeking value without sacrificing quality. As noted in our review of the Roaring River Softshell, Crack of Dawn Hoodie and others, we’ve been big fans of their line-up thus far. While the Alpine Start Parka left us a little disappointed in terms of down distribution and retention, it’s still a tremendous value that will keep you cozy in cold and windy- but not freezing – temps.