Ghosts of Outerwear’s Present: Mountain Hardwear Conjures the Season’s Sturdiest Outerwear
From the haunting woods of Irving’s Sleepy Hollow to Poe’s foreboding Usher estate, stories have long since woven fall and phantasms as tight as the bindings on the books that capture them. And with fleeting sunlight, fog rolling across horizons, and winds whose howling evokes the eerie melody of wails from the dearly departed, it feels like a no-brainer. And yet, not all ghost stories are so obviously rooted in the season of spook. Some are hidden in plain sight, lingering in the shadows of unexpected places, such as those cast from our closets’ racks.
One such tale is that of the Ghost: the revolutionary jacket that materialized from the unbound spirit of ambition and forever changed the course of the explorer maddened with pursuing the peak of performance. Behind that conjuring was none other than Mountain Hardwear, the performance equipment seer that’s since embraced the backs of outdoor explorers with phantom-like, lightweight protection. From the sheer force of that pioneering edge, that very spirit of ambition split into three, marking a new moon for expeditionary outerwear, the resulting fragments: the Storm Whisperer™, Ghost, and Ghost UL down jackets. As the leaves hit the ground and the adrenaline chasers hit the trails, it’d be a sage choice to get familiar with the Ghosts that will guide the courageous down their path, light as a feather, warm as a ghost. Perhaps a séance of vestiary proportions is in order.
The Storm Whisperer™ arises as the first to creep up on the trail. Despite all its festive spunk and autumnal cheer, this Ghost is no featherweight. Don’t let its cheerful Jack O’ Lantern-tinged lightweight shell fool you. Water-resistant and stuffed with 800-fill RDS®-certified down insulation, this jacket is a shapeshifter, fit to conquer any weather. All the while, its Pertex® shield ensures waterproof protection that is equally lightweight and breathable. Should you venture into the vast unknown with this jacket that defies the laws of physics, your treks, henceforth, will be no trick and all treats.
Whereas the Storm Whisperer is the answer to the mystery of unpredictable weather, the Ghost Whisperer™ poses the question, leading to its future: can a down hoody be made that heats up the body without heating up the atmosphere? This Ghost has set out to do exactly so since its summoning. “The original Ghost windshell whispered to us that it craved some warmth and the 800 downfill Ghost Whisperer™ was developed the very next season,” shared Mountain Hardwear Senior Outerwear Product Line Manager Chris Curtis. Trash-talking those in the outerwear game stuck on the past and its harmful production habits, the Ghost Whisperer™ uses literal trash with recycled fabric in its composition, keeping tomorrow’s journey in mind. Peep the rear cinch on the insulated hood. With elastic binding to seal in warmth, this Ghost feels like it burns with the wrath of hellfire—all while purging its harmful emissions. Consider those mid-hike chills exorcised.
The mere utterance of transmutation would normally inspire shrill screams and chattering teeth, but Mountain Hardwear’s design language translates it into one freakishly fly down jacket. Casting that eco-conscious ethos of the Ghost Whisperer onto a new form, the Ghost Whisperer UL™ takes flight as the jacket’s sturdier spawn. Per the affixed abbreviation, this oddity of outerwear is the lightest, fully featured insulated layer jacket Mountain Hardwear’s ever created. With 1000-fill RDS®-certified down insulation and a highly packable design that stuffs into its own hand pocket with an internal carabiner clip loop, the Ghost Whisperer UL™ makes Casper look laden in comparison.
Perhaps life doesn’t end after wear, or at least so proclaims Mountain Hardwear. The prophet of environmentally sound, technically progressive outerwear suggests, with the trail of the Ghosts of outerwear’s present, that it’s inching closer to a tomorrow where our jackets remain immortalized in our wardrobes. Like that October 31st, 31 years ago, when Mountain Hardwear’s story began, the vision remains the same. Except now, as the repeated digits suggest, this new era indicates double trouble ahead—at least for the naysayers and doubters of sustainable escapades.
Discover all three spooky silhouettes here!
