Why We Chose The Montbell Alpine Thermo Bottle 0.9L: Sleek design, world-class temperature performance
It’s probably fair to say that Japanese brand Montbell aren’t particularly well known in the UK so you could call them a bit of a hidden gem to some extents. Mountaineering is primarily their focus, in fact it has been since 1975 when the brand was founded by Isamu Tatsuno, one of Japan’s most revered climbers and founder of the country’s first ever climbing school.
Take a look through Montbell’s website and you’ll see they make some very, very nice kit. There’s high spec sleeping bags, down jackets and backpacks, and there’s also some extremely well-made equipment, like this insulated flask called the Montbell Alpine Thermo Bottle 0.9L.
Who’s The Alpine Thermo Bottle For?
This isn’t any old flask. It’s designed for those heading high up in the most testing of conditions; the kinds of places where people want equipment that delivers but that also won’t weigh them down. It’ll serve particularly well, we reckon, for those day-long mountain missions when you want the sustenance of a hot drink right through until the end of the day.
Materials and Design
At 390g this really is phenomenally light for an insulated flask. To give you some perspective, Sigg’s Hot & Cold 1.0L Flask weighs 728g, the Primus Trailbreak 1L weighs 740g and the 946ml Hydro Flask is 444g.
As is the case with most insulated flasks – the good ones anyway – the Alpine Thermo features an inner chamber that’s surrounded by a vacuum within two walls of stainless steel. Montbell have gone one step further than most of its competition by making this vacuum super thin, they’ve also lined the inner chamber with a copper plate so that it’ll reflect heat back.
“Montbell have gone one step further than most of its competition by making this vacuum super thin”
Then there’s the cap. Normally this is a bit of a flash point for heat loss but Montbell have got around this by injecting an insulating fill into its walls.
A three-part system is involved. You’ve got the main body of the flask, an inner sealed cap that you twist to pour and then a top outer cap that doubles as a cup. It’s easy to use with gloves, though we will say that you’ve got to be mindful that the sleek metal casing doesn’t cause it to slip out of your hands.
Like most insulated flasks, it’s not machine washable but it’s pretty simple to wash by hand – you can get most scouring brushes right down to the bottom.
