At times, I am bombarded with question from my friends asking me to suggest them the right gears while travelling to the rugged areas. Of course for the people travelling to such areas for the first time, it’s really important that you select the right blend of clothing to let you travel with ease. Recently, one of my closest friends asked for my help to suggest him a good jacket, which can suffice him during his backpack and trekking in Zanskar Valley. I have tried a Down Jacket from another brand initially but I wasn’t too impressed with its performance during the cold nights in Spiti Valley. I myself have been contemplating about which jacket I should try next and it became an urgent need when I was due to visit Ladakh last month with ScoutmyTrip and OyoRooms for the Highest Bloggers Meet

Ladakh experiences extreme climatic variations much for its high altitude. Knowing its landscape completely, I knew I need a good jacket to keep me warm during the night, especially when I was over 15000 Feet most of the time. So when Wildcraft approached me to review their Hooded Extra Warm Down Jacket curated for Women, I gave it a thought and what better setting than Ladakh, to judge the performance and durability of this product. Right!

So here is my review:

Wildcraft Hooded Extra Warm Down Jacket will keep you WARM

A down jacket essentially is filled with the soft feathers of a duck or goose, and the outer layer is usually stitched with materials like nylon or polyester. Down is the substance that provides the insulation which makes these jackets so warm, as they retain the heat of your body inside the jacket itself. The fluffier the down is inside the jacket, the more air gets trapped and the higher the ability of the jacket to keep you out of the cold. However, most of the down jackets are not made of pure down and are often mixed with other materials, such as feathers.

Wildcraft Hooded Extra Warm Down Jacket comes with 90 percent of down and 10 percent of feathers which will suffice till minus 2. Of course you need to layer up if you are planning to use this jacket in low or minus temperature. That’s how the down works at best.

I wore this jacket at two of the highest motorable passes in the world that is Khardung la pass (18,300 feet) and Chang-La pass (over 17,000 feet) in Ladakh. Even during the normal summer days, the temperature at these passes remains below 4 degree with strong cold winds. I wore this jacket with only one warm layer inside and bingo… to my surprise it worked.

I wasn’t feeling the cold or shivering. Not even when the temperature at Chang La dropped to 1 degree when I reached.

Its WATER RESISTANT and WIND PROOF

Wildcraft Hooded Extra Warm Down Jacket delivers what it is designed for.  To protect you from the chilled weather and give you the required warmth, since it is wind proof and does not allow the air to touch the body. Not even when you are wearing only the jacket without any warm layer inside. It comes with full front zip up with protective chin guard

I have tried every bit to check if the wind touches my body during my road tripping in Ladakh. So I have hopped out of the window ;), rolled down the window glasses when it was bitter cold outside. But I could feel that my body is warm enough and the jacket has actually compressed the outside air.

The only regret I had was that I wasn’t carrying the woollen cap, which I required as the hood of this jacket was over sized and couldn’t be adjusted as per the face

Another important thing to note here is that down jackets will have a water resistant outer layer but may not be 100% waterproof since the down does not perform well when wet as the feathers stick together and lose their loft, thus their ability to retain heat. So this is one thing I will discount here for Wildcraft Hooded Extra Warm Down Jacket

Its Light Weighed, Compact and Easy to Pack

The moment you pick the jacket in your hand, you will feel that its outer cover is stitched with 100 percent Nylon. And since this jacket is filled with 90% Down & 10% feathers, its really light weighed as compared to other full blown jackets which takes most of the space in rucksacks or strollers.

Especially if you are someone like me who travels with bare minimum luggage, Wildcraft Hooded Extra Warm Down Jacket is a boon as it offers high amount of compressibility. You can fold and pack this jacket in a pouch and take it wherever you want, without the worry of filling up the rucksack space or weight.

The Jacket has 2 side pockets & 2 pockets inside. The outer pocket is designed to keep your hand warm.

It’s stylish too

So far I have tried 2 down jackets which felt stuffy and have given me blown up pictures. Obviously my only worry was that I didn’t want a repeat. Wildcraft Hooded Extra Warm Down Jacket is slim-fit and I actually looked good while wearing it, much to my relief. Okay, no self promotion. Have a look

My Opinion:

In India, I am yet to come across a brand which delivers 100 percent of down in these jackets, especially if I think of temperature beyond minus 5. The best I could locate are the down jackets used by the army, which gets specially designed as per their needs of altitudes. These jackets are made available to the civilians after they are disposed off by the army. Else pick up from outside India.

No doubt that Wildcraft Hooded Extra Warm Down Jacket is a well-crafted jacket at an affordable price. The quality is good, light weighted and warm enough to provide protection in chilly winter upto minus 2. Don’ forget to layer up as per the weather, if you want the jacket to work perfectly for you

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