Kathmandu XT Drifill Down Jacket Review

Aaargh, let me out! That's what this jacket is saying, all the time, "I need to be outside, I can't breathe in here".

And if that strikes a chord with how you feel all the time, this jacket should be in your wardrobe.

If you deliberately seek cold or harsh or downright miserable weather because you know that's when you have the most fun, you probably already know that you need a really good jacket. One where the manufacturer gets you.

I've used the Kathmandu XT driFILL Down Jacket trekking in the German forests where it reached a warmest temperature of minus five and frozen lakes and thick snow were the daily weather. And then in the UK's Peak District, camping and climbing up Mam Tor and Kinder Scout, where snow made way for a biting northerly wind.

Down jackets seem to come in two varieties I find, ones designed for the High Street and ones designed for the mountains and it's easy to tell which is which. Simply check whether the manufacturer's brand has been stitched or printed on the jacket.

Why would you deliberately puncture a thousand holes into the super technical waterproof fabric on the front of your jacket just to get your logo to stand out?

OK, I'm being slightly facetious, but there are other ways to see if the manufacturer has built a jacket that will keep you warm, dry, and subsequently alive when the conditions are at the extreme. The Kathmandu XT driFILL Down Jacket has a number of features that nourish that confidence.

The zips are easy, in gloves, with freezing fingers, with ski poles or an ice axe swinging on your wrist - or just when you want to zip yourself in really, really quickly. There's nothing worse than a humiliating fight with a zip.

There are toggle loops on all the zips which don't feel like they will pull off, and the front chest pockets are angled just right for easy access to maps or devices.

There are two interior mesh pockets - one zipped with a clipped hanging loop and the other elasticated - plus two, fleece lined hand warmer style pockets. All have stood up to the normal wear and tear of repeated access with thick gloves.

A drawcord around the bottom hem with a dropped back is easy to tighten and loosen one-handed, and the cuffs have velcro tabs as well as elastic so areperfectly adjustable.

That adjustability really works well around the hood and chin area. A thick baffle behind the front zip has prevented any draught getting through and when you zip the jacket up all the way you have a formidable barrier against wind and snow to the face.

Two pull cords at the front of the hood are so dynamic and useful that they should be on a 'bat belt'. Just pull straight down on the toggles and the hood and chin guard cinch together. Then for further adjustment you can pull on a toggle on the rear of the hood and still look up and around with or without a helmet.

This is the best hood adjustability I have encountered.

Sometimes you need to bury yourself into your jacket and at other times you need it be as obedient and reactive as a second skin. The Kathmandu XT driFILL Down Jacket can do that with all this adjustability.

It isn't a thin jacket, nor is it heavy. With the assurety of warmth comes a degree of bulkiness, but it will pack down pretty small into the included stuff sac.

Yet despite all of the adjustability, it doesn't feel bulky when you are active.

A down jacket needs loft to work well and that loft has to stay in place across all aspects of the fit, I've had down jackets that lose their loft around the top of the back leaving a chill down the back of your neck, or in front of the hand warming pockets preventing the down from thawing out fingers. The XT driFILL though has baffles throughout which keeps the 750 loft Goose down contained across the whole jacket.

So far in testing the weather has been very cold, snowy and windy, and whilst it looks the most waterproofed down jacket I've tried there hasn't been any monsoons to give it a full test. However, in the British rain and drizzle, it hasn't let through a single drop of water.

The jacket has performed flawlessly in active and sweaty mountain trekking, skiing, to-the-bone chilling evenings around a snowy campfire and the sedentary game of patience while waiting for Ospreys to show themselves in frozen forests.

I can't fault it.