Montane Alpha Guide Jacket Review

Update - for AW2017 the Montane Alpha has been replaced by the Halogen Alpha which is a slightly different jacket - with Pertex Microlight outer all over and with 50g of Alpha across the jacket. The result is a lighter jacket at 351g instead of 510g for the Alpha Guide.

My basic review (Feb 2019 update) - Alpha is amazing and has replaced fleece for me. Wear it in low temperatures and it breathes well and works to create a great balance of warmth.

In recent years, Polartec have really created some innovative technologies - from various forms of insulation and fleece through to their extremely breathable NeoShell that seems to out-breathe any other hard shell.

The Montane Alpha Guide 

Montane Alpha Guide modelled very badly by Noddy

Designed mainly for climbers (and in cold temps), according to Montane, their Alpha Guide jacket packs 80g of Polartec Alpha (around the body, with a Pertex Microslight stretch face) with a DRYACTIV stretch material elsewhere on the top (arms, hood, shoulders).

Hood (with brushed liner)

Sleeve with thumb loops

Inside, there's a breathable lattice type material to wick away the sweat ('PEAQ Hyper' - which sounds like a Star Trek character...) 

Montane Guide inner  with 'PEAQ Hyper'

The jacket has a very active fit which is intentional. If you're thinking about wearing this with a few extra pounds around the waist etc, you may want to look elsewhere as the next size up would defeat the object of having a close-fitting top. The Alpha Guide also has some waist toggles to tighten things and a double-zip so you can get access to your harness etc.

So enough of the waffle, how does the thing work? Does it work? Is it better than a fleece?

The first thing to say is that it is deceptively warm. The day before the sunny-looking snowy pics taken on Heron Pike, I did the corridor route from Seatoller up to Scafell Pike in some brutal weather - heavy rain, low mist, very strong winds and then hail into snow. I had a warm winter baselayer, the Alpha Guide and a Goretex Pro hardshell on the top. The temps were low degrees C into minuses as I ascended. With the wind it was unbelievably cold (-12C or so). On the way down I found that my back was sweating quite a bit. It wasn't the hardshell leaking so was my sweat! I do beast walks quite a lot and my waterproof did get blown up in the winds. But probably I was a bit too hot!

Blasted atop Scafell Pike

The Alpha Guide itself is great and I didn't really feel cold until I started coming down, slowed down and felt the wet on my back. But then again I'd had rain for pretty much 90% of the 9 1/2 mile walk. 

I would recommend using the Alpha Guide carefully and in cold temperatures only. If you're on a mission either walking or climbing I'd advise thinking carefully about baselayer and not wearing a thick one unless temps are below zero without windchill - this is certainly true if you get hot easily like me. It may also be that it doesn't breathe as well because of being under a hardshell (maybe I do need that NeoShell waterproof...)

On other days I used the top, I was also warm. In the pics below (Heron Pike), I had a lighter baselayer and despite the winds, the Alpha Guide worked well (I only wore a baselayer on the steep start of the ascent). As long as you're moving and it's cold, it's great. 

The jacket does let the wind in and is fairly breathable but you'll need to judge when it's needed and when it's not,

So compared to a fleece? Hard to tell but they're probably similar. I did Fairfield in Feb 2015 and wore a fleece that day and it was about the right kind of balance on a day that hovered in and around -1C.

I would say that the Montane Alpha Guide is a great specialist jacket and would suit things like climbing in the cold and even winter climbing where it wasn't snowing etc. I'm looking forward to a cold winter where this can get some serious testing both on walks and winter mountaineering. I'll post back with my results....

My results are in (Feb 2019)... This was used several days with hugely varied temperatures, with windchill down to -17 on both long day walks in snow and on a winter skills course in deep snow with lots of standing around. The result being that I didn't even put on a 'belay' type insulated layer. So in low temps it's brilliant and one of my favourite bits of kit. Breathes well but as stated, I wouldn't consider wearing it in higher temperatures.

But if you want something different to a fleece (and certainly something that dries quicker), that compresses well, that is a sound midlayer and looks pretty darned nice, the Alpha Guide is a good, if not essential bit of kit. I'm completely sold on Polartec Alpha anyway and won't be going back to fleece.