More words from the Lowe Alpine man (Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap)

Member Name: i_p_jones

Product:	Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap
Date:	27/01/01 (327 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Warm, waterproof, breathable, good peak & earflaps, elasticated

Disadvantages: Price, no chin strap, fiddly clip on the peak

I'm in danger of becoming the infamous "Lowe Alpine Man" - I got the jacket, the gaiters and now the hat. But hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap is a welcome advance on normal hats like Thinsulate. It's made out of Lowe Alpine's Triplepoint Ceramic, which is waterproof, windproof and breathable, which I have proved through 10 1/2 hours in the rain! Wearing it for the whole day, I was completely warm and I didn't get too warm, which can be as bad as too cold.

To help keep the warmth in, the Mountain Cap is lined with Polartec fleece, also very warm. Polartec are well-established in the fleece market so they're a name to go by.

As for heavy rain, it doesn't replace a normal hood, since the water can run off the hat and down your neck. But it complements the hood of a good jacket well - the hood acting as an extra shell to keep water out, and the hat to keep you warm. And of course, if you wear specs (like me) it keeps water off the lenses.

The design of this hat is a good one - it has a flexible wired peak, which through a bit of twisting can be angled if the rain/wind/whatever is coming down at an angle, folded up if you need to cool of slightly, or folded up and clipped back if you prefer not to have the peak at all.

For clipping the peak back, it's held by a small prestud which doesn't take any effort to close or open, so you can do it with cold fingers. But in front of the clip on the front of the hat is a strip of fabric to move out of the way, which can be fiddly with gloves on.

As I mentioned, I wear specs. The peak of this cap doesn't get in the way, or press down on the frames. But if you decide to take your specs off, the peak does take a bit of re-adjustment to stop it flopping down. That sorted though and it's back to normal.

Then there's the ears - the sides of the cap come down well over my ears, and
like the peak can be folded up securely if it gets too warm. Through some clever use of elastic and seams, when you fold things away, they stay away - no flopping down when you don't want it to.

At the back is a velcro'd strap to adjust the size of the cap, which is useful for if you want to wear another hat or a balaclava underneath. The edge of the hat is elasticated to allow for a bit of changes in size, and also to stop your expensive new hat blowing away in the wind.

One thing puzzles me with the Mountain Cap though. On the bottom of the ear flaps are cord loops to put a chin strap on, to make sure your hat stays put. But there's no chin strap with it so you have to buy one separately or make a DIY one (I used an old drawcord and a toggle). Other caps like Berghaus' version come with a chin strap.

Now the sore point - the price (you might have noticed the word "expensive" slotted in here). My hat cost me £25 - the old saying of "buy cheap, get cheap" working in reverse. But if like me you're the kind of person who prefers cold winter days on the mountains rather than a warm log fire (I prefer both actually - the pub usually has a log fire!) then the Mountain Cap is a very worthwile investment.

Website - http://www.lowealpine.com/3/apparel/exp_f2k/exp_f2 k_32.htm
Colours - black, blue, red, dark green, grey

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