The Patagonia R1 Fleece Hoody is a mid-layer fleece sweater that excels for start-stop actions in chilly climate. Made with grid fleece, it has a porous weave that wicks moisture off your base layer so it may well evaporate and maintain you drier and hotter. When layered underneath a shell, the grid fleece traps air warmed by your physique, offering a noticeable insulation profit. Thumb loops, a 3/4 size zipper, a zippered chest pocket, and a stretch hood are the ending touches on this versatile mid-layer.
- Supplies: 93% recycled polyester and seven% spandex
- Gender: Males’s (no ladies’s mannequin accessible)
- Weight: 10.7 oz (males’s Massive)
- Zipper: 3/4 size
- Chest Pocket: Holds a smartphone
- Hood: Below helmet hood
- Match: Slim
The R1 Fleece Hoody is an energetic layering piece that performs finest whenever you’re working onerous. The “R,” which stands for Regulator, is particularly designed to help with thermoregulation, protecting you heat sufficient to carry out at your finest with out inflicting you to overheat and change into drenched with perspiration. The important thing to its effectiveness is the porous weave of its Polartec Energy Grid, which wicks perspiration away out of your torso whenever you perspire. The wonderful thing about polyester is that it doesn’t soak up liquid, however transports it from one floor to a different by capillary motion, so it may well evaporate rapidly.
By itself, the R1 Fleece Hoody isn’t the warmest sweater and should be augmented with a shell layer to entice physique warmth or shield you from the wind. It’s an important complement to a wind shirt or a tough shell as a result of the air pockets within the grid fleece entice heat. I climbed Mt Mansfield (4000′ of elevation achieve) the opposite day in winter circumstances with 30+ mph winds with only a skinny baselayer, the R1 Pullover Hoody, and a Copperfield Wind Shirt, and I used to be dry and heat for all the hike. Air is the most effective insulator.
The R1 Fleece Hoody is lower lengthy to suit underneath a backpack hip belt or climbing harness. It additionally has a slim lower so it may well take in moisture out of your base layer. Regardless of that, it has a number of stretch, so that you don’t really feel constrained by the shut match.
The entrance of the hoody has a 3/4-length zipper, which is nice for air flow, and a zippered pocket massive sufficient to retailer a smartphone. The sleeves have stretch cuffs, so pulling them up your forearms for air flow is simple. In addition they have thumb loops to provide your arms some additional heat or stop the sleeves from driving up beneath a jacket.
The stretch hood is made with a barely thinner grid fleece cloth, however is simple to layer over a fleece beanie in case you want additional heat. However the function I like the most effective about it’s that it has a excessive neck that may attain as much as cowl your nostril if you need a bit of additional wind safety with out having to interrupt out a balaclava.
This R1 Fleece Hoody is the second I’ve owned. The primary one I purchased in 2009 once I began climbing mountains in winter. I wore that hoody to demise for a few years, all 12 months spherical, till it fell aside. So, I’m not unfamiliar with this garment, and I’m delighted to have one again in my gear closet once more.
How does the R1 examine with Polartec Alpha fleece hoodies? That’s simple. It has many extra options required for winter mountaineering, together with a central zipper for air flow, a chest pocket, an extra-long torso, and better neck protection. It’s additionally much more sturdy. I purchased a bunch of Polartec Alpha hoodies final 12 months and so they’re all falling aside now. Whereas they do weigh half as a lot, I’d a lot reasonably have the R1 on a winter hike as a result of its technical options actually do make a distinction for energetic layering and temperature regulation.
Suggestion
The Patagonia R1 Fleece Hoody is a flexible energetic layering piece for cold-weather mountaineering. It has excellent breathability, with technical options just like the lengthy entrance zipper, stretch cuffs, and hood that make it simple to control your heat degree. Plus, it really works effectively underneath a shell layer. The one adverse is {that a} ladies’s model of the garment is unavailable. I discovered that shocking, provided that this hoody is such an iconic garment.
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