Jöttnar Fjörm Down Jacket

The original Jöttnar Fjörm Down Jacket was the second piece of Jöttnar kit we reviewed on CGR eight years ago. Dave was suitably impressed although he did find one or two little niggles. When the opportunity came around to review the current iteration I jumped at the chance, after all this is the premier down piece from one of the UK’s premier manufacturers.

The Fjörm is clearly a serious jacket, it is not aimed at keeping you warm between reappoint attempts or sessions on your local bouldering project – obviously it will do that but that would be the very definition of overkill! As Jöttnar say;

“Built in the name of one thing: warmth.”

The Fjörm is aimed at mountaineers and winter climbers using 275g of hydrophobic 850 fill-power down with the addition of 140gsm synthetic fill at the cuffs and front collar. My size small came in at 667g sans stuff sac. The synthetic fill is targeted at areas that are likely to get wet such as the cuffs and front collar where your breath would wet out the down. This is indicative of the thoughtful design evident throughout the Fjörm. The down meets the RSD standard and uses the Downtek permanent hydrophobic treatment. Construction wise the Fjörm uses box baffles for the body minimising cold spots and maximising loft whereas the arms are stitched through as is the hem baffle. Like most climbers I have certain preferences regarding belay jackets features, that is not to say these are the only ‘best’ way of designing a jacket, just what I’ve come to prefer. Anyway mine are:

• Elasticated cuffs – not velcro tabs so that it is quicker to pull on and off and no build up of snow on the tabs.
• A helmet compatible hood that also works without a helmet – because you’ll be wearing your belay jacket at lunch stops, setting up your tent etc. and you don’t want to be wearing a helmet all the time!
• Single outside chest pocket – food, topo etc to access whilst belaying.
• Double ended zip – open from bottom to belay allowing jacket to still lie over hips/backside.
• Press stud to fasten under belay device after opening zip – gives better seal if I can be bothered which is rare.
• Inside dump pockets for belay gloves or leading gloves – though often these just go inside the hardshell in Scotland (mmmm… damp base layers!)
• Hand-warmer pockets big enough to get gloves in.

How does the Fjörm measure up? Well it ticks every item on my wish list so even before I took it out it was shaping up as a potential personal favourite in the belay jacket stakes. The cuffs rate as the best designed I’ve used, just very simple elasticated and using synthetic fill in a vulnerable area prone to getting wet – perfect! You can bull the jacket on or off with belay mitts/gloves on without issue. With the gloves on the sleeve does invert but I find this happens with velcro tabbed sleeves too and with simple elastic theres nothing to fasten or pick up snow etc.

Now full disclosure I didn’t get to use the Fjörm anywhere near as much as I’d like. If you’re a Jöttnar fan you’ll have seen that deliveries were a little delayed at the start of the season so the Fjörm wasn’t available for my early season trips, a family issue then curtailed my climbing till February whereupon Scottish winter decided to disappear in terms of worthwhile climbing. Nevertheless the Fjörm came along for some bothy trips and even a jaunt skiing in Norway. An overnight trip in the Cairngorms in February gave me a chance to assess the Fjörm’s credentials, deliberately stopping for lunch in a hoolie on top of Ben Macdui, it wasn’t raining but the damp sleet made it unpleasant enough. If you check the photo you’ll see I hadn’t pulled the hood up properly but even so I was completely cocooned from the elements. The physical and psychological security that a top end belay jacket like the Fjörm gives you should not be underestimated – on a big day out or long alpine climb that reassurance will allow you to push on whereas without it those doubts about being stationary (or benighted) and freezing the proverbial off might have you turning back.

The DWR coating and the hydrophobic treatment of the down meant that even though things were getting damp there was no discernible loss of loft in the Fjörm. Now great though hydrophobic down is I would still opt for a synthetic belay jacket 98% of the time in Scotland but heading to drier climes such as Cogne or Kandersteg for some cascade climbing then the Fjörm would jump to the top of my list as gram for gram you just cannot beat the compressibility, warmth, weight combination of down. Later that same day in the bothy when I pulled the Fjörm from my sac there was no evidence of the lunchtime dampness and the jacket felt dry to the touch. The fit of the jacket is superb and actually a slight step up from Jöttnar’s normally slightly boxy fit. The cut is still generous enough to go over mid-layers and hardshell but articulation of the arms is great and though this is not a jacket aimed at active use you could certainly climb reasonably technical ground in it after freezing at the belay whilst your mate inches his way up that technical horror show. My rather unscientific assessment of hydrophobic down’s strengths over the years are that it is fantastic at fighting that accumulated dampness after multiple days in a tent or out on the hill which would normally kill the loft of conventional down. What hydrophobic down is not is it is not a replacement for synthetics in truly damp conditions. The fact that Jöttnar and other top manufacturers who understand the use of down jackets out on the hill choose to employ synthetic insulation in the most damp prone areas of their damp jackets illustrates this.

The Fjörm is a super warm jacket, I’d confidently say it’s the warmest jacket we’ve reviewed on CGR. For me this is pretty much the perfect down belay jacket. Any ‘improvements’ would really be balancing trade offs. You could make it lighter using a lighter face fabric but then you loose durability. The only nit pick I had was the stuff sac which could do with a pleated ‘handle’ on the base (as Rab do) which would make pulling the jacket out easier, a small thing but I need to find at least one issue! Talking of the stauff sac I’d also like to see the clip in loop beefed up a bit – I personally wouldn’t trust such an awesome (and expensive) jacket to the single row of stitching! Something to seriously consider is just how warm the Fjörm is. Ask yourself do you really need this much of a jacket? A case in point is I took it to Norway at Easter and it spent the trip just hanging up on a hook in the accommodation as conditions were never cold enough to warrant packing it for the day, rarely dipping below -5°C. There are lighter and more compressible down jackets in the Jöttnar range that may fit the majority of usage scenarios better. However if you want the best, are winter climbing in the Alps or heading into the Arctic circle you will not be disappointed. This is a jacket that is going to last you a long time and the initial investment will be worth it.

Pros

• Awesome quality
• Thoughtful design
• Great warmth/weight/compressibility

Cons

• Slightly pricey
• Stuff sac needs an upgrade.

Stockists

SRP £495

Disclaimer – CGR reviewers are never paid to provide a review and the website does not take advertising. We are a bunch of keen climbers and outdoor enthusiasts that accept sample products and offer an honest and independent review of the item. The reviewer will often keep the sample after reviewing it for both hygiene reasons and more often they’re in no fit state to return!