Golite Roan Plateau 800 Hooded Down Jacket
I am very happy with my new Roan Plateau Hooded Down Jacket from Golite which is replacing the Mountain Hardware Phantom Down Jacket that I used for winter backpacking and mountaineering last year. The Phantom is a fine jacket, but it doesn't have a hood. I made do last season with various headgear workarounds, but ultimately decided that I'd rather have a fully integrated unit.
There's another more esoteric reason I wanted the integrated hood. I'm beginning to get very interested in the prospect of using down quilts in my sleep system instead of sleeping bags, particularly during shoulder seasons. I'm working on a followup post on this topic which documents some of the weight savings possible, but one of the requirements of camping quilt use in cold weather is a down hood or a balaclava. Having one built into a outer thermal layer like the Roan Plateau, helps eliminate the need to carry a separate down filled balaclava, like the one sold by Nunatak, and also opens up the option to use a half sleeping bag, further reducing pack weight.
Golite Plateau Roan turned inside out
Weight-wise, the Plateau Roan, which was just introduced to market this autumn, is 21.7 oz in a men's XL, just a few ounces more than the Phantom. It is tricked out with the features that you'd expect on a outer later for winter backpacking and mountaineering.
- Insulated pockets with side zips keep your hands warm and let you stow gloves or maps for easy reach.
- The hood system has a built in draft collar and soft fabric lining to prevent chin chafing.
- Stretch knit cuffs and cinch cords on the hem eliminate windy gusts from penetrating to your core.
- The external fabric is 100% Nylon Mini Ripstop with DWR to keep you dry in wet snow.
- Internal media pocket with internal cord routing for your iPod.
- Wide internal pocket for stashing gloves, hats, or warming a hershey bar.
The hooded version of the Plateau Roan, shown here costs $275, but a non-hooded version is also available for $225. Online availability is limited because this is a new product, but Altrec.com has a great selection of sizes and colors, if you're intersted in scoring one of these before the winter backpacking season starts.
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How many gram of down are in the jacket, that would be interesting to know. 615 g for a XL is alright for a hooded jacket, and as you I will combine my hooded down jacket with a quilt to save weight. Where did you buy the jacket?
Excellent question and I don’t know the answer. Let me shoot off an email to Altrec customer service and see if I can get a quick answer.
Altrec doesn’t know. I posted a question on golite’s facebook wall – let’s see how well social media works!
Here’s a response from Golite via their facebook fan wall: “Hi Philip, There are 165 grams of down in the Men’s med. So it’s a little more than that in the XL. I hope that helps.”
Phil,
Do you envision wearing this down jacket on while hiking or doing stops or just when setting up and breaking down camp?
Last year did you need both to wear both the Mountain Hardware Phantom Down Jacket and the Gore-tex rain shell / Polarguard vest combo while hiking – stopped – setting camp?
My winter layers have been somewhat cobbled together and I am trying to rationalize the layers:
wicking underwear
wool long underwear, midweight, smartwool
hiking pants, nylon, half zip
fleece bib pants, full zip, army surplus
ski bibs as w/p hard shell
wicking long sleeve t-shirt with 1/4 zip
wool long sleeve t-shirt, midweight, smartwool
wool sweater, hvy weight, EMS
fleece jacket, EMS
down vest, LL Bean
ski jacket as w/p hard shell, Columbia
Thanks,
Tommy
I feel your pain – my layers were kind of cobbled together last year too. I plan on wearing this coat mostly in camp, at stops or in high wind. I don’t think I ever combined my gore-tex shell with the down jacket last year. I also ended up not using my polarguard vest except for sleeping and then usually as a pillow!
This year, I’m going to try to get away with two capilene 1 jerseys (worn at the same time), a marmot driclime jacket with plush liner, and the roan plateau down jacket with hood, augmented with various odd head ornaments, like a windproof balaclava and shades. For my legs it’s high gaiters, compression shorts, mistral pants, capalene 1 long underwear (optional), and a pair of insulated montbell pants, mainly for camp.
165 g isn’t enough for my needs.
Hendrik – If you are sleeping with a quilt it will be snapped around your neck, so technically the only thing exposed is your head. In addition, one part of you will be touching a pad, compressing all of the down underneath at that point and providing no insulation value whatsoever. How can you tell if any jacket would work based on the number of grams of down it has? Just curious. Seems like something you actually need to test first hand.
Besides for sleeping I also need it for the use in breaks and in camp, and also when its just too cold to walk without something warm on. I’m speaking of average temps of -20°C which can drop down to -40°C, excluding wind. And that’s just in my area – if I go north, as I plan, we approach -50°C. Therefore I find the more, higher quality down in a jacket the better. It gives me peace of mind, you could say.
I have a Montane Antifreeze and I have to admit that the only thing i don’t like is the lack of a hood. Having said that Montane have now released The North Star jacket that does have a hood. I will have to compare and contrast that jacket with this one. I like Golite kit in general and the jacket looks pretty good. A bit of research needed I think…..!
@Dave – the North Star looks like a sweet jacket too. Comparable weight to the Golite. It might be worth your upgrading. At $167 (US), the North Star is very affordable.
@Hendrik – Got it. You’re talking like Mountain Hardware full down suits, where you’re going. Brrr.
Is the Roan Plateau shell fabric as soft and silky as the Phantom’s? What is the lining like in this jacket? The lining in the Phantom was actually not nearly as nice as the shell. It actually seemed like a really cheap nylon you’d find in $20 Walmart jacket. Did they actually use a nice silky lining fabric in the Roan Plateau? I have enjoyed my Phantom overall though, and like you, wished it had a hood. Maybe this is what I’ve been waiting for. A Phantom with a hood, with a nice lining would be perfect.
Same issue with the Golite. The external shell is far silkier than the internal lining.
Stupid name for a great coat.
Altrec loses some reputation points for keeping the grey for sale on their site and canceling orders 2 days later saying it’s out of stock. Over to Amazon for some honesty.
You can also buy direct from Golite – this is a great coat. I was in some crappy hiking weather last week and it kept me very warm.
Thanks but…aaaahhhh…
http://www.sunnysports.com/Prod/GOLRPHM.html?Search=op%3ddtSearch%26Term%3dgolite%2broan%26SearchFlag%3dall%26AdvSrchSortField%3dRelevance%26DescSort%3d0%26Description%3don%26Hit%3d1
On sale $154.95…I feel warmer already.
Correction $153.95. Very light and comfortable; I can see myself sleeping in it. At 26*F with just a ss T-shirt under it, my torso was still warm after an hour and a half of inactivity. I can probably ditch my fleece jacket and maybe use a lighter sleeping bag. Downside was the annoying 2-way zipper that takes me numerous tries of quick ramming to insert it completely to the bottom to get it to start zipping.
Just to let people know; a couple dozen cycles got the zipper loosened up and working right.