At 20-denier, the fabric is lightweight-be careful not to catch it on sharp edges. The shell doesn’t repel falling snow as well as a shell jacket (like another OR favorite of mine, the Skyward Jacket) but that’s why you carry a shell. You can feel some wind coming through the shell-an indicator of its breathability, which is what you’re after when climbing uphill in cold temps. Moderately windproof, it’s more importantly very air-permeable, so it helps the Alpha insulation offload heat when you’re working hard but temps still demand an insulating layer. The insulation’s breathability demands pairing it with a breathable shell fabric, and OR got it right with the stretchy Pertex Microlight nylon ripstop stretch-woven shell. Versatility matters in the kind of circumstances many of us encounter. But my Ascendant Hoody would have been much more useful than a standard, non-breathable down or insulated jacket because I could have worn it while hiking through that snowstorm a down jacket would likely have trapped body heat and sweat inside, potentially even dampening the down to the point of rendering it ineffective. Had that storm hit while we were there, we would have needed adequate boots (and gaiters), shells, tents, bags, and layers-all of which we had. I’ll illustrate an important distinction about the Ascendant Hoody with a real-world situation that almost any backpacker or climber could encounter: The day after we finished our September backpacking trip in the Winds, over a foot of new snow fell there.
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Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside, which has made several top outdoors blog lists. The Ascendant’s particular balance of warmth and breathability makes it more versatile across all seasons as part of a dynamic layering system. But the Ascendant gives me just the right warmth I need climbing uphill when the combination of ambient temperature and wind chill dips to the low 20s or colder. While backcountry skiing, I get warm enough when skinning uphill that I may wear only a long-sleeve top in temps no colder than the mid- to upper 20s. In terms of warmth and breathability, the Ascendant falls in between two other OR jackets with breathable insulation: the warmer Uberlayer Hooded Jacket, which is very much a winter piece, and a lighter favorite of mine, the Deviator Hoody. Being a synthetic, Alpha retains its ability to trap heat even when wet but unlike non-breathable synthetic insulation, once wet, its breathability means your body heat moves through it faster than through traditional insulation, speeding up the process of drying it. But don’t let the looks deceive: I found it warm enough over just a T-shirt and midweight, long-sleeve top sitting in camp in the Winds in temps in the low 40s Fahrenheit, with steady wind. Sewn into the jacket as a solid, thin lining, it gives the Ascendant a more-slender profile than a puffy down jacket.
The critical ingredient is Polartec’s latest iteration of its breathable Alpha synthetic insulation: Alpha Direct. The Ascendant Hoody joins the new generation of jackets with breathable insulation-making them something you can wear on the move, not just insulation when inactive.
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