Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make you happy.  Things that, whilst you might not regard them as a major design feature, just work, and make life that little bit easier.

Take this jacket.  Nestled in one of the two ample (and in themselves very useful and comforting) hand pockets is a small loop of cord.  This piece of cord may not look much, but it could be the difference between having a pleasant afternoon out climbing, and having to deal with a grumpy partner who’s just had to abseil into a tree to fish for the softshell jacket you’ve just dropped from the crag when you got hot under the collar on a particularly tricky section of the second pitch of a route.  Coupled with a zip on the inside of the pocket, this innocuous bit of string means the jacket will pack down into the pocket so you can clip it on the back of your harness.  You can also clip your keys to it inside your pocket! (NB Unfortunately this clever feature only appears on the women's 'fern' jacket and not on the 'espresso' jacket I'm afraid.)

So what, you might say?  But this is just one of the factors that make this a great jacket to take on a long rock route in the Lakes (or Snowdonia or Scotland).

It is lightweight (at 330g for a Medium) – you hardly realise you’re wearing it or, if it’s stuffed in your sack or dangling from your harness, carrying it. However, it also feels quite warm for a relatively thin, light jacket -  great for me as I’ve had a few too many occasions where I’ve got to the top of a shady crag (Dinas Mot, I’m looking at you)  feeling borderline hypothermic, despite it being hot enough in the valley bottom to fry eggs on the car bonnet.

Whilst it’s light, the durable softshell fabric is much more hard wearing than a thin sofshell or windproof, meaning you won’t rip it on rough mountain rock.  How it continues to perform over time remains to be seen, but it feels well made.  I would be happy to submit it to the ‘Donkey’s Ears’ test (the Shepherd’s Crag route which eats jackets).

The jacket is slim fitting and well cut (which means that it’ll fit under your harness and avoid the irritation of clipping krabs to the hem of your jacket) but stretchy enough not to impede you on that trick crux move.  If you tend to run cold and want to wear a lot of layers, or are in doubt of the size you want, it may be better to buy a larger size.

Whilst the sleeves on the men’s version of the jacket are quite long, the women’s don’t seem to be disproportionate, and the elasticated cuffs mean that the sleeves don’t get in the way. In fact, I’ve got pretty short arms, and I’d say the sleeves were only an inch or two too long (size Small).

The hood fits snugly meaning that you can put your climbing or biking helmet on top – great for chilly belays or long biking downhills in cold weather. I wore the jacket on a chilly winter bouldering trip to Thorn Crag, and as well as being perfect for the walk up (when I got pretty warm – it always feels a long way!), the hood was very comforting when stood around spotting, when I put my down jacket on over the top.

However, the jacket is very breathable and left me feeling dry and warm after slogging up to Thorn Crag, and on the long drag on a mountain bike up from Malham village to above Malham Tarn.

Thankfully, it can also happily withstand the odd light shower, making it really useful for those changeable days that are a major feature of the mountain areas of the UK!

As with many of Outdoor Research’s products, the choice of colours this jacket comes in is relatively muted, which is great if you prefer to move through the outdoors without sticking out like a sore thumb (though you won’t show up as well in those photos your mate is taking of you from the next route over on a big crag!).

Overall, this is a really useful jacket, and I would recommend it. 

Purchase the Women's Ferrosi Hoody here.