Haglöfs L.I.M Barrier Pro Hood

Kev has been testing the L.I.M Barrier Pro Hood from Haglöfs to see whether he agrees with the “less is more” philosophy…

Overall Rating: ****

Haglöfs say: “The L.I.M Barrier Pro Hood is our most lightweight, minimalist, and packable hooded jacket. Featuring our superior QuadFusion+ insulation, it offers an extraordinarily warmth-to-weight ratio for those cold excursions.”

I have worn my L.I.M. Barrier Pro Hood through summer, autumn and winter and cannot get over firstly how light it is and secondly, how versatile I’ve found it to be. It’s been a light belay jacket, a midlayer, an emergency spare layer, I’ve climbed in it, walked in it, skied in it and chucked it on to go into town for beers at the end of the day. It’s so light, soft and comfortable, you could almost be forgiven for thinking it was filled with down.

L.I.M. stands for Less Is More, a philosophy which fits nicely with modern mountaineering, ski rando and any other fast moving mountain pursuit. Take the minimum amount of kit, move fast and don’t be hindered by superfluous weight, faff and features.

The Haglöfs L.I.M Barrier Pro Hood has none of these superfluous things. It has a simple hood which fits with the precision of a balaclava and is brilliant under a helmet. It isn’t trying to satisfy the under/over helmet criteria which I’ve found other jackets trying to do, something which usually ends up meaning the hood does neither very well. Although I’m still much more of an over the helmet hood fan on insulated pieces, the hood on the L.I.M. Barrier Pro is very very good at what it does. I have been told it makes me look like a smurf but I think I can live with that!

The full length zip is simple and runs smoothly. It features an effective glove friendly zipper tab with wind baffle behind and integrated chin guard. It does actually cover your chin as well, the balaclava style close fit, being brilliant as I said earlier.

Other than that, the jacket has 2 non-zippered handwarmer pockets and that’s about it. Less really is more! There’s no internal pockets, velcro cuffs, drawcords, stuff bags or all that nonsense. It’s light (200g for a size Large), it has a hood, full zip, handwarmer pockets and provides excellent warmth and wind protection for minimal weight. It features simple elasticated cuffs and hem to seal out the elements, these aren’t adjustable but worked fine for me. Velcro can let you down when it gets caked in snow anyway.

The QuadFusion+ that Haglöfs use to fill the L.I.M. Barrier Pro Hoody is (from the Haglöfs website):

• 100% recycled Polyester fibre insulation, sandwich construction with two layers of moisture managing multichannel fibres with a warming crimped hollow fibres layer in between, bluesign®.

It is a modern synthetic insulation that retains it’s thermal properties even when wet. Haglöfs use 40g/m2 in the L.I.M. Barrier Pro Hood and although this is not in the realms of full on belay parka warmth, it is definitely warm enough for quick brew stops whilst ski touring or as light insulation layer on alpine rock routes. The extremely lightweight face fabric and lining in ‘a 7 Denier construction with PFOA-free DWR treated surface’ seemed to offer a fair degree of windproofness, but isn’t the most durable and I have put a few nicks and tears in it whilst climbing in it.

All in all I would highly recommend the L.I.M. Barrier Pro Hood as a super simple, versatile insulation piece for just about any mountain activity. It’s Less Is More simplicity is it’s strength. I rarely leave for a day in the hills without mine. At £200 it’s not the cheapest jacket out there and it isn’t the toughest either, but it definitely won’t slow you down on your adventures!

• RRP: £200
• Find out more at the Haglöfs website.