Patagonia Super Free Alpine Jacket – Light and Durable

Drew Thayer

The Patagonia Super Free Alpine Jacket is an alpine climber’s hardshell jacket: light and durable, purpose built for swinging tools, and fully storm-proof. What’s more, it’s made of next-gen materials Patagonia developed with Gore to get full waterproof/breathable performance without PFCs and PFAs, “forever chemicals” that will keep bioaccumulating in the ecosystem until we stop manufacturing with them. It’s a meaningful step forward in sustainable clothing that Patagonia has figured out how to build garments to a high athletic standard without these chemicals. But fancy textile engineering is only worth it if the jacket performs, so let’s take a look.

Patagonia Super Free Alpine Jacket Review

Fabric: durable and more supple than the old school shells

The Super Alpine Free jacket inherits the core climbing DNA from the classic Super Alpine jacket from last decade, but is now “free” of PFA/PFCs and a bit lighter. The classic was built with Gore Tex Pro Shell, which was the fabric of choice, typically in 100-150 denier weights, for most of the core climbing hardshells from the 2010s. Pro Shell jackets of this era were super durable – I once double-ejected from my skis with a heavy ice pack on and skidded over several boulders while descending from a climb in Rocky Mountain National Park – my pants ripped but not my Pro Shell ArcTeryx Alpha SV jacket.

These jackets were also very stiff. I always felt like I was pulling on a mantle of cardboard; the jacket really crinkled while moving and wasn’t much fun to walk in for an extended period of time. In contrast, the new “Free” cousin of this jacket is made entirely of 40-denier 3-layer Gore Tex – think of it as the softer parts of the Super Alpine jacket without the more rigid reinforced segments on the shoulders and elbows.

This fabric is much more supple and comfortable to wear; it’s also quieter and doesn’t tend to swish or crinkle like the Pro Shell fabrics. I can’t say if it’s quite as tear resistant in violent collisions as the thicker stuff, but I’ve skid through sharp branches, stood on it while changing, and ice screws have jangled around the hem without any rips or tears. 

With a claimed weight of about 15 ounces, this jacket is 2-3 ounces lighter than classic Pro Shell jackets, but brings significantly more durability and coverage to the table than lighter 10-12 oz summer-weight jackets that are more about protection from a passing thunderstorm up on the wall. Those 3-5 ounces make all the difference for all-day protection in harsh winter or alpine environments, while keeping the jacket under 1 lb, which is impressive considering the burly feel of this jacket. 

High performance for alpine climbing

Unlike the majority of hardshell jackets on the market which are multi-purpose or perhaps cater to the resort skiing crowd while squirreling “alpine” or “climbing” into their marketing material, this jacket is really built for alpine climbing, meaning you are wielding tools, wearing a helmet and a harness, and need to reach above your head. The jacket is articulated to provide plenty of range of motion in the shoulders and the waist hem is longer than a standard raincoat so it stays tucked in when you reach above your head – critical, because this is how you spend most of a pitch while ice climbing. 

Like most newer Patagonia garments this piece is fairly light on bells and whistles, but a few unique design elements help the cause when climbing in harsh environments. The coolest is probably the small elastic spindrift cuffs inside the wrists and lining the top of the hood. These thin cuffs are unobtrusive but do a lot to keep wind and blowing snow out, which is awesome. The hood cuff makes a good seal against a helmet, which seems trivial until you take a full blast of spindrift to the face and don’t feel icy snow creeping down the back of your neck – win!

The wrist cuffs work great; they’re large enough to fit over gloves and it’s easy to open and re-close the hook-and-loop closures so I tend to re-cinch them over my gloves for each pitch. They close tightly and guarantee that no water or snow will sneak down my sleeves – much appreciated.

The hood fits great over a helmet and allows full range of motion with the neck, up-down and side to side, which is crucial. It’s a little big for a head without a helmet, but so is every helmet-compatible hood. This can be mitigated a bit for hiking with the hood on with the elastic strap in the back and it’s not too cumbersome. The pocket design on this jacket is smart: exterior pockets sit above the harness and waist belt line so you can keep using them while climbing, and on the inside there are ample yet lightweight mesh drop pockets, which I love.

My routine while ice climbing is to always have my belay gloves warm in my jacket while climbing, then I switch climbing gloves to the inside for belaying or rappelling, so it’s great to be able to securely stash a pair of gloves on my chest and never worry about them falling out. There’s one more interior pocket behind the left chest that fits a phone or some snacks, but you wouldn’t want to put much bulk in it.

Stormproof and breathable enough

You know the drill, 3-layer Gore Tex keeps rain out until it gets waterlogged, then condensation on the inside starts to become a problem. This fabric is as waterproof as you would expect, which is to say mostly, but it’s not sailors’ foul-weather gear. Regular washing and drying (correctly! read the label) and re-application of the DWR with a spray product will keep jackets like this performing for the long term.

For breathability, let’s just say this jacket needs the pit zips – but it has them, and that’s what I expect from a storm-proof shell. 

Fit: a bit baggy to make room for layers

The Super Free Alpine Jacket is cut something like medium-loose, which is to say when sized right it will fit over several layers including medium-weight puffy insulation but still slip into an oversized down belay parka with no problem, which is just about perfect for an alpine climbing shell. It tends to fit slim on top of these layers, which reduces the chance of snagging on tools and ice screws and makes it easier to clip gear onto your harness without contending with extra folds of clothing.

I’m 6’ and skinny and fit a size medium well; folks who are thick in the chest might want to err on the larger size if they are near the boundary between sizes to keep enough freedom of movement.

Bottom Line

With an MSRP of $600 this is hardly an affordable jacket, but when you consider that the median technical hard shell (including Patagonia’s Triolet jacket) runs north of $400 and the new ArcTeryx Alpha SV goes for $900 (!!!), this is good value for the money. I’ll hazard a guess that folks looking at this jacket will have a closet full of sharp metal objects and dream at night of blue ice tucket into frozen corners, so they know what they’re looking for and are willing to pay for quality. The Super Free Alpine jacket is an excellent alpinists’ harsh-weather shell, and represents the vanguard of sustainable textiles in high performance clothing.

Drew Thayer