Softshell Jackets

OMM Ava Jacket | Review

Built for mountain running in extreme weather conditions, the OMM Ava Jacket is packed full of smart technology

When running a mountain marathon, you want to wear the lightest gear money can buy. Whether it’s through Iceland’s lunar landscape or along a steep alpine trail in Switzerland, no one wants to be weighed down when you’re pacing 10 miles uphill at a time on scree-ridden terrain.

If you haven’t heard of OMM, well then where have you been? OMM stands for Original Mountain Marathon, a two-day marathon covering over 50 miles. Each team must have excellent navigation skills – the course is only disclosed on race day – and carry all of their own gear, including overnight camping equipment. It’s one of the best-loved (but also the most hardcore) trail running races in the world.

OMM not only run the event (and now its various international spin-offs), they also make high-quality trail running gear to use on it. Everything they make is built specifically to use on the OMM, but the gear they design is so light and the quality is so high that it’s become popular with trail runners across the world. The Ava jacket is their lightest waterproof mountain running jacket for women, weighing a mere 200g.

“With that kind of attention to detail, it’s no wonder the Ava picked up a prestigious Outdoor Industry Award at last year’s Outdoor Show.”

To achieve this weight, the guys at OMM looked at every single element of the jacket and thought about ways to shave off a few crucial grams. But while it might be super lightweight, OMM haven’t sacrificed technical performance either. The Ava is made from triple-layered DVStorm, a waterproof yet highly breathable material making it perfect for intense mountain activities like the OMM events.

It has a 10m hydrostatic head. The hydrostatic head is a measurement of how tall a column of water the fabric can hold before water begins seeping through the weave. So 10m is pretty darn impressive. Whether you are running in wind, rain or even sleet, the Ava jacket will keep you dry to the core. It’s also highly breathable, allowing a whopping 31,000g of water vapour to pass through a square metre of DVStorm fabric from inside to outside in a 24 hour period.

The Ava jacket is made from triple-layered DVStorm, a waterproof yet highly breathable material that's perfect for intense mountain activities. Photo: Chris Johnson.

OMM have looked at every single element of the jacket and thought about ways to shave off extra grams. Photo: Chris Johnson.

The Internal Face Gasket is a compression system inside the hood that provides a tight seal around the face and a at the back, allowing easier water run-off Photo: Chris Johnson.

The Ava jacket picked up a prestigious Outdoor Industry Award at the latest Outdoor Show. Photo: Chris Johnson.

Special attention has been paid to features such as the hood which has an Internal Face Gasket. This is a compression system inside the hood that provides a tight seal around the face and also tightens at the back, allowing easier water run-off. OMM have also redesigned the wrist closure to include a thumb loop, so you can strap the jacket around your wrist and it’ll keep your knuckles/hand warm while you run.

With that kind of attention to detail, it’s no wonder the Ava picked up a prestigious Outdoor Industry Award at last year’s Outdoor Show, and has now been selected the Outdoor 100 as well. So if you are mountain running in extreme weather conditions this year, then make sure you give the OMM Ava jacket a try. It’ll keep you dry and wind-protected on those days when no one else dares venture outside.