Midlayer

With the Taiss Light Jacket ML, Mammut has a warm yet breathable mid-layer in its range. It's suitable for everyday wear as well as ski touring, mountaineering and alpine skiing.

According to the manufacturer, the Fiberball insulation jacket is designed for icy January days as a mid-layer or outer jacket. This concept has proved 100% correct for me. The jacket is comfortable to wear and offers high thermal performance at a low weight.

Aconcagua fleece jackets from Mammut have been around for a really long time. At least I imagine I owned one about 15 years ago. Of course, the models change over time and there is currently a whole range of Aconcagua jackets and trousers. What they all have in common is the high-quality Polartec® Power Stretch material and their existence as a mid-layer.

With the Approach Midlayer, Mons Royale has created a very warm and durable merino hooded jacket that is ideal for layering.

With the Insuloft Superlight PL, Scott is launching, as the name suggests, a super-light insulation jacket with the highest quality synthetic insulation currently available. Despite its low weight and small pack size, the jacket impresses with its good thermal performance.

Insulation jackets are one of those things. From the 80s to the 2000s, things were relatively clear and straightforward. Fleece jackets were medium-warm insulation jackets that you wore either under a hardshell or on their own. Warmer insulation was then often the Michelin Man model, optionally with down or synthetic filling. A lot has changed since then.

A few years ago, Arcteryx launched the Atom LT Hoody, a versatile and now tried-and-tested jacket for the transition period. It is not without reason that the model has already been mentioned several times on PowderGuide and put through its paces. I have been able to test whether the current model is still as convincing over the last few months.

The Konseal hoody from Arc'teryx with integrated balaclava is supposed to stand out due to its versatility. I took a closer look at it.

The Proton LT Hoodie from Arc'teryx has been around since last winter and since then it has been my all-purpose jacket for skiing, ski touring and as a lightweight jacket for the city. Due to its high wind and vapor permeability, it is certainly not designed as a particularly warming layer, but except on very cold days, it can be worn in any weather. The water-repellent layer works surprisingly well during short rain showers or longer snow showers.

Fashion over function: that doesn't apply to Mons Royale. They bring stylish and functional sportswear to the market and have become an integral part of outdoor sports, whether ski touring, on the piste or on a bike in summer. The company from New Zealand has been around for 10 years and founder and freeskier Hamish Acland has made his merino underwear and sportswear a must-have.

PowderGuide partner Penguin is a small and - in our opinion - very likeable clothing company from Switzerland that produces a manageable collection ranging from ski underwear to hardshells according to the motto "by freeriders for freeriders". This week, the S.Café Hoodie - a fleece midlayer - is our Gear of the Week.

According to the manufacturer, the La Sportiva Maze jacket is a "thermal layer" and therefore particularly suitable for very low temperatures, as well as being abrasion-resistant, breathable ("optimum climatic comfort") and resistant to odor-producing bacteria.