Review: Fjällräven Bergtagen GTX Touring Jacket
What we liked
Waterproof and windproof with quality construction
Good under-arm vents and cuff adjustment
Ample, ergonomic pockets
What we didn’t
The price (we say this about all jackets and bibs though, cheapskates)
The internal mesh pockets are interesting…
The Verdict
THE SHORT READ…
Putting this on, you can feel that it’s a high quality, well-made, robust yet light touring jacket. Not wanting to have to stop more often than needed whilst touring, this jacket has excellent stowage for you to be able to admin yourself without stopping, and when working hard the pit-zip vents and cuff velcro-positioning give breathability, as does the fabric. When the high wind comes though, this jacket can easily withstand it.
THE LONG READ …
Who knew Fjällräven did top-shelf ski-touring clothing? I thought it was all check-shirts and backpacks. And yet, it turns out they have several jackets and pants, of which their Bergtagen GTX Touring Jacket is made for touring. We took it out in the wilds of the Haute Maurienne valley in the French Alps, during our recent Backcountry Skills week, in which we had weather ranging from blue-bird to 120kph winds and -20C temps.
Fabric & Construction - The Goretex GTX Performance fabric feels softer and less ‘crinkly’ than GTX Pro - it literally makes less noise when you are wearing it. It’s pitched as being more breathable, whereas GTX Pro is more durable and waterproof. Its 579g feels light. All seams and construction looked and felt top-quality.
Fit - Feels tailored on, with no excess flapping material, but great freedom of movement. It sizes up large - the model on the Fjällräven website is 181cm and wears a size M. I am 183cm (6ft) and the Medium was perfect - surprising as I am usually a large/XL. I might perhaps have struggled to wear a bulky down jacket underneath it, but my preference is over the top for puffers at stops anyway. Any thinner mid-layer would fit fine underneath.
Long in the body, and longer at the back than the front, with really good sleeve length.
A nice point is having no fabric seam between very top of sleeve and the main body - i.e. at the shoulder - it’s all one piece, giving a nice unrestricted feeling there.
Performance - I felt confident in all weathers in this jacket. Its hard-wearing, whilst light with fabric that repels strong winds and driving snow with ease.
Venting - I used the large under arm vents for temperature regulation when it got a bit on the warm side. Their two-way zips make these easy to access and large enough to be effective. These vents don’t go as far along the underside of the arm as some jackets, but DO go a long way down the side of the body - check out why just below - took me a while to figure it out!
Cuffs - More quality here with really nice big cuff adjusters.
Pockets - The Bergtagen has two large vertical front chest pockets, plenty of room in them and the left one having a mesh inside pocket (for phone, say). Also:
There’s a ski pass pocket on the left forearm.
There are two large stretch-mesh internal pockets - Where a lot of jackets would have ‘drop-in’ stash pockets, for goggles, or maybe even skins, the Bergtaren does something I’ve never seen before - side-entry pockets, rather than top-entry - accessible via the pit-zips! So basically, these pockets can act like waist ‘hand-warmer’ pockets that you get to via the pit-zips. This works as the pit-zips come down lower on your waist than many jackets, but still allow the lower of the two-ways zips to be accessible above your backpack waist strap. I did kind of feel that items stuffed into these pockets felt a little less securely held than with regular drop-in inner pockets, but it does kill two birds with one stone. You can squeeze a pair of skins into each one, albeit with more of a fight than if they were drop-in style.
Hood - Nice and voluminous, so is easily helmet-compatible. It was actually so helmet-compatible that after a windy transition at 2500m my hood got blown up naturally over my helmet for the ride down. It isn’t too bulky to reduce visibility, and hardly realized I had it up.
When fully cinched over the helmet, there’s the same amount of sideways rotational ability as with most hoods.
It has one adjustable cinch at the very rear, tightening the fit around the circumference of your head.
The cinches that pull the visor down tighter on your forehead are got at inside the jacket, meaning you need to unzip the jacket a bit to reach them and tighten them. These would have been better on the outside for easier access and more storm protection.
Spray skirt - Very light-weight, and unusually has no silicon but instead a drawcord to adjust it’s tension around your butt. It provides two poppers for cinching at your waist and if not doing that you can pop those ends onto the jacket itself so they don’t flap around.
SUMMARY…
Overall this is an excellent jacket - Robust in all the weather systems we hit (blue sky to stong wind and -20C), yet light to keep you moving; More than sufficient main pockets, and with a bit of innovation on the internal large pockets; and ventilates well for the more active parts of a tour. Pricey, but it gets a strong recommendation from me.