Down and Insulated Jackets

The North Face Summit Pumori Down Parka | Review

A warm, snug and lofty, and packs down to an impressively small size

The North Face Summit Series is the brand’s premium range featuring highly technical products which deliver in the most challenging and hostile conditions, and the Pumori parka is the loftiest and warmest of the lot.

Designed for mountaineering, the Pumori is a seriously warm, technical, and packable down layer. Filled with a super lofty 800-fill power responsibly-sourced goose down, the Pumori is made to be worn over layers, including harnesses, mid layers or even a hardshell. And it can pack down into a small package and then return to a large, lofty jacket in a matter of seconds. The women’s version comes in radiant orange and sizes XS to XL.

Materials

The essence of the Pumori is in its 800-fill down construction, which offers deep winter warmth and compressibility. It features The North Face’s Cloud Down technology, which is a unique construction whereby the compartments containing the down are offset from each other allowing for maximum space for loft and to maximise the thermal properties too. This helps to reduce cold spots and increases the jacket’s packability overall.

The outer shell is made from 100% recycled nylon and has a non-PFC durable water repellent treatment which is able to deal with light drizzle. Here at Outdoors Magic we often advocate using Nikwax’s Down Proofing solution for giving down jackets a bit of extra wet weather resistance and we found using it with this jacket, once its original resistance had started to wear out, upped the threshold by quite a bit.

To the touch, the outer shell feels very thin and I found I didn’t want to test it too harshly against rough rock or while bushwhacking through branches (it’s an expensive jacket after all). Still, it seemed to hold up well when I wore the jacket underneath a heavily loaded backpack. You do get the sense that it’s actually tougher than it looks.

Features

The women’s version of the Pumori is specifically shaped for women, most notably with a specific shaped lining which helps retain warmth and offers a more personalised fit to the wearer.

The parka has an adjustable internal hem cinch cord plus elasticated cuffs to help keep the warmth in but overall the fit is relaxed, leaving plenty of room for layers underneath, and the Pumori’s hood is helmet compatible and has a drawcord adjustment to help keep out any battering wind.

The hood is brilliant, it’s huge and encompassing but
without being overbearing, and hugs the face just the right amount.
The parka also features two concealed zipped hand pockets with YKK zippers which are plenty large for phones, satellite devices and more and there are also two internal mesh drop pockets that are handy for stashing gloves that need drying out. The main parka zip is two-way with a snap tab at the hem. I found all the zippers were easy to use when wearing gloves.

Related: Best Women’s Down Jackets

A final feature is the lightweight stuffsack, which the Pumori fits effortlessly into and means the jacket packs down very small considering its lofted size.

Verdict

I am a size 12 tall woman and tried this jacket in a size L. It was a good fit with room for plenty of bulky layers underneath, and most importantly it is an incredibly warm jacket. I would happily sleep in it. At 538g, the warmth-to-weight ratio is excellent, and it packs down to an impressively small size. This jacket is versatile, it’s at home up a mountain and it’s a great option when temperatures drop elsewhere too.