Why we chose the Cortazu Mountain Hardshell: Tough, protective, nice protective details
You’ve probably arrived here off the back of some social media advertising, haven’t you, and you’re wondering whether this waterproof jacket that looks pretty decent in the pictures is in fact decent.
Well you’re in the right place, because we’ve been testing this out over the last six months and we’ve got a verdict for you.
Who Is The Cortazu Mountain Hardshell For?
Super tough, very protective and with some nice technical details, this is the kind of jacket that’s going to suit everything from backcountry skiing and alpine climbing through to just bimbling around the city when some downpours are expected. You know the Arc’teryx Beta AR or the Mountain Equipment Lhotse? It’s very similar to them.
Materials
Cortazu have used Toray’s high spec Dermizax material here, a three-layer waterproof fabric that has a 25,000mm hydrostatic head rating and a breathability rating of 25,000 g/m2/24 hrs. Not far off the same levels of protection and breathability that Gore-Tex offers then, at least on paper anyway.
“To the touch it feels very tough and reliable”
To the touch it feels very tough and reliable, but there’s also a nice bit of stretch to it as well. That durability is increased at the shoulders, with a printed PU pattern providing an extra shield for the fabric against the type of abrasion you can sometimes expect from the straps of a heavily-loaded backpack.
Features
Pockets abound on the Cortazu Mountain Hardshell. They include two large zipped handwarmers and two external pockets on the chest that’ll easily accommodate your wallet, sunglasses and snacks (though not an OS map). There’s a dump pocket and zipped phone pocket on the inside of the chest – the latter of which has a little hole that you can thread a headphone cable through. You have one small pocket on the arm for a lift pass, one with a key clip inside and there’s even one with a little cloth stowed inside it for when you need to wipe your goggles or sunglasses.
Other details include a three-way adjustable peaked hood that’s easily big enough to accommodate a helmet. Glove-friendly tabs allow you to close up the cuffs and the hem adjustment is equally glove-friendly too. The jacket also has two-way zipped vents at the armpits for when you’re working hard and need to dump heat. There’s a tiny RECCO reflector built into the fabric.
