Review: Patagonia Untracked Jacket 23/24
What we liked
100% recycled nylon GORE-TEX and polyester, no forever chemicals, and is Fair Trade
Beautiful fabric feel inside and out - Top-quality and thoughtful construction
A touring jacket with bomber weather protection and ease of movement
What we didn’t
The fit comes up large & seems aimed more at stocky body types than tall, skinny ones
The Verdict
THE SHORT READ…
A touring jacket that oozes quality. The fabrics feels so good, you just want to stroke the fabric - and not just on the outside but having a slight fleecy inside it feels great against the skin as well. The Untracked jacket has all the features you’ll need to protect you from heavy weather, without being too heavy for touring. It has a bunch of thoughtful features that you’ll really appreciate. Not to mention it’s about as good for the planet as any ski clothing can be right now. It sizes up large and seems aimed at relatively stocky-shaped riders.
THE LONG READ …
We’ve been looking forward to trying out Patagonia’s top-of-the-line Untracked gear for 23/24, especially having got them all recycled, PFCs/PFAS-free now and all Fair Traded up too. It doesn’t dissappoint…
… and do check out our review of the matching Patagonia Untracked Bibs for 23/24
Fabric & construction - About as planet-friendly as you can get these days, with it’s recycled materials, being made without any forever chemicals and put together in certified Fair Trade factories.
The external feel of the fabris is gorgeous, soft and almost velvety, not ‘crinkly’ anymore like some earlier generations of 3-layer GORE-TEX.
On the inside, taped seams - and a slight fleecy treatment that feels great next to the skin and helps with wicking.
Being 3-layer GORE-TEX, it feels it’ll give you solid protection from the elements but they’ve managed to make it feel light enough so it won’t put you off taking it touring.
At 620g for the Medium, this might be toward the heavier end of the weight range for touring jackets, possibly overdoing it on hot spring days, but in all other conditions this could easily be your go-to back-country jacket.
Everything about this jacket feels like quality - full marks to Patagonia for that. The RRP does reflect that quality.
Fit - I’m 6-foot 2-inch tall and skinny and yet the M fitted me well - plenty of room around the body (but not too much) and good arm length. I’d usually be an L in any other brand for ski-wear. Sizing chart measurements seem accurate though so make sure you check those before ordering.
However, with a backpack on, the backpack straps tuck up all the volume under the arms and pulled the sleeves back up the arm enough that my long-gauntletted mitts could no longer cover the sleeve. The cut is clearly for a more stocky figure than mine, where that material under the arms wouldn’t move so much when wearing a backpack.
It has nicely shaped cuffs using good wide velcro that feels like it’ll keep going for years. When fully open, the cuff was about twice the volume of my hand, which made it good for sliding over glove cuffs - should you prefer your gloves to go under your jacket sleeves. The shaping is super-nice when the velcro is fully done up, giving a really snug closure around the wrist.
A built-in but low-profile spray skirt with a nicely sticky silicon band helps keep out the pow during extreme body-shots or bum-first stacks.
When the front is fully zipped up, the lip of the jacket only comes up to the top of my chin, whereas for stormy conditions I’d really want that coming up fully over my mouth, almost to the nose. Though this depends a bit on how long your neck is! (I’m pretty sure mine is a ‘normal’ length…!).
There are two bottom hem pull cords, one concealed inside each waist pocket. This works well, eliminating any external loops of cord. The releases are easy to operate buttons sewn into the hem.
Pockets - The jacket is well catered for here, with all the standard pockets you’d want.
Internally, you have a zip pocket inside on the left, and a big open pouch on the right for googles say.
Externally, there are two lower waist-level zipped ‘handwarmer’ pockets. These are arguably set a little too low - If you wear your backpack relatively high on your hips, or around your waist, the backpack belt will cover the lower part of the pockets. However, the zips close with the zip at the top, so you can still operate the zip most of the way down and be able to stash things in there if you need.
There is also a chest pocket on the left side, with it’s own internal pocket for carrying media-playing devices and has internal cable-routing as well.
There is a ski pass pocket high on the upper left arm, which is a good position for it as you can operate it one-handed by clamping your arm to your side to stop the material moving so much when the zip is pulled.
Venting - Decent, if not exceptional. There are two pit zips. Not the longest of zips but will help delay the time before you need to strip off the jacket and put it in the pack on a warm day.
Hood - Nice and large and helmet-compatible. Cleverly, it has some stretch panels that allow you to pull the hood over your head even when you are wearing a helmet and it’s zipped up fully at the front.
There are also two sets of pull-cords - one at the back of the head and one for the main front opening, which together give excellent fit around the head.
SUMMARY…
Patagonia have created a superb back-country jacket here that balances heavy duty protection with a weight suitable for touring in all but the very hottest conditions. They’ve pretty much nailed it - you will love wearing and using this jacket. It’s ecological credentials are bang on the money for where all brands really need to be, and you can be happy that the people who made it for you were paid and treated fairly.
Take care with the sizing charts, they seem true and you’'ll likely need to go size smaller than for many other brands. If you are skinny and long-armed, you may end up needing a size that will make it quite baggy around the middle and long at the back - which sounds like snowboarding style, but may not be ideal for touring.