review Norrona Trollvegen Belay Parka

[bedellympian]

I recently bought this. It was on sale on Backcountry.com and I needed a new belay jacket. I had heard some good things about Norrona in general being a high quality brand from the Euros I climbed with in Canada last winter. It's one we don't see much of here so its kind of an unknown and I figured I'd give a run down as it is a very nice piece, well suited to Cascades winter climbing and a resonable price too.

Pros: light weight, warm (relative to other 100g primaloft jackets I've tried this feels very warm), lower cost than some other high quality options like Patagonia or Arcteryx ($260), has several large pockets (2x chest outside of insulation, 2x hands inside insulation, 1x mesh inside jacket), double zipper, and MY FAVORITE... the hood is awesome (best single draw cinch i've seen, has a brim to shelter from spindrift, zips up to the nose, really seals in the warmth).

Cons: I would prefer a second mesh pocket inside the jacket, the giant uninsulated chest pockets don't seem very useful to me at this point.

Overall: I think this is a really well designed and quality belay parka.