Ridgeline Clothing has been making some very
impressive inroads into high performance clothing for hunters.
The new range now comes in an awesome camo that was developed by them
called Buffalo Camo. The flagship of the new range is the highly
breathable and waterproof jacket called the Roar Performance Jacket.
The Roar jacket is made from three layer RL-Tex fabric
and is fully seem sealed. The material itself has a water proof rating of
10,000mm and a breathability rating of 5000g/m2. This makes it a bomb proof
jacket that is very lightweight for the performance it gives. It also has a
nice soft feel to it that it makes very quite for stalking around in the
bush. It comes with neoprene adjustable cuffs to keep the water out, scooped
tail design and fold away hood. A water proof chest rip pocket that is
perfectly positioned for rangefinders or binos, two torso bellow pockets
with separate hand warmer pockets behind them and is available in the
buffalo Como pattern or the famous Ridgeline olive that we all know. This
jacket is designed to protect in the most treacherous conditions and is a
great outer shell to have around when layering for the different weather
conditions that can come and go on any days outing.
Complementing the jacket very nicely are the Roar pants.Made from the same high tech material,
the pants feature two waterproof side pockets, two way elastic adjustments
on the waist band have a durable protective
panel in the seat and the inner leg base. With the combination of the Roar
jacket and pants, you will stay warm and dry and still be very mobile given
their light weight and breathability. Once thing I did find with the pants
though was that they are quite noisy to walk around in as the inner material
of the pants rub on your thighs as you lift your knees. They are fine when
going slow in the final stages of your stalk, but when motoring from point
to point they do swish a bit. I used them a fair bit though as they do keep
you bone dry on frosty, dewy and rainy mornings when pushing through the
scrub and combined with a higher boot that I tried, I did away with gaiters
and stayed dry on numerous river crossings that would have normally seen my
uncoordinated feet filled with water.
Given the trend these days that has been set by
mountaineers to use high tech layering systems to stay warm and active in
back country pursuits, Ridgeline have not ignored this fact and also come up with great
soft shell and thermals to go along with the Roar jacket and pants.
For the soft shell they have designed a polar fleece like top called the
flood top. This is the ultimate utility top that comes in an anorak zip
design. It is windproof and even has a water resistant membrane in it
meaning you will stay very warm and relatively dry in most elements. It is
not water proof due to the fact that it has not been seam sealed, but it
will keep a whole lot of water out if bad weather hits you when you are out
there. It has two zip side pockets, with very roomy bino/rangefinder chest
pocket and has domed cuffs. This top is available in the Buffalo Camo,
Olive, Black and Navy. This is a very lightweight and versatile top that
will server well in many different scenarios.
Ridgeline has also come out with a range of Merino thermals that are of a
very high quality and these complete the layering systems very well. Being
made from merino, they can be worn over extended periods and still not get
the bad odour that comes from wearing poly type thermals. I recently wore
them on a weeklong hunt and by he end of the week wearing the every day;
they did smell some obviously, but nowhere near as much as ploy type
thermals do after extended use. This is one of the advantages of using
natural fibre like merino. They kept me quite warm and I often wore them on
there iwn when things warmed up around midday. The thermals are very light
to wear and dry quite quickly, espeically given that they are made from
wool. In the late afternoons, I wore the Roar jacket with the thermal alone
and it went well.
We sat for many a long hour on ridge tops glassing in all kinds of weather
and I was absolutely fine. When labouring up the mountains, I would simply shed the top layers and put it in
my pack and have it back out when needed. This is how a good layering system
should work and whenever it rained I was nicve and dry, which is very
important point when doing extended hunts in the back country. For 90% of
the hunt, I wore the Flood top, taking it off sometimes on long climbs and
putting back on when we slowed or glassed. The Roar come out when we sat to
glass, when it rained and at night around camp.
I highly recommend the new line from Ridgeline and they have really upped
the ante with the new range. It isn't about bulk anymore. With the new high
tech gear that is about, you can be light and mobile, whilst maintaining a
high level of comfort when out in the elements and Ridgeline have
captialised on this with these new outfits. Keep an eye on their products as
there are always new materials coming though and they look to be staying on
top of advancements in the future.
