We’ve been on expedition to the Lake District where we had a sneak preview of the new Haglöfs spring 2013 kit – more about that later, but as a taster, check out the new Gram Comp Pull, the lightest Gore-Tex Active Shell top in the world – probably…

Haglöfs has form in this area, the original Oz Pullover was a brilliantly light and packable waterproof pull-on with sub-200g credentials, but the Gore-Tex Paclite fabric it used, meant that it wasn’t the most breathable thing out there.

Stripped-Down Simplicity

The new Gram Comp Pull is built using the same principles, most obviously the use of just two main fabric panels to minimise weight and bulk and the stripping off of unnecessary features, but is made from a special lightweight version of the impressively light and breathable Gore-Tex Active Shell fabric.

The face fabric is so fine – 7D in fact, if that means anything to you – that the material is semi-translucent and the normally brilliant yellowy-green colour, which Haglöfs calls ‘Firefly’ looks slightly subdued. It comes the Japanese arm of Gore and despite it’s lightness, uses Polyamide, which Haglöfs says means it should be rather tougher than you might expect.

And because of the enhanced breathability, it should be far more of an all-day top for lightweight freaks than the mostly emergency only Oz.

How Light?

Haglöfs claims 190g for the large size, so the medium and small versions should be lighter again. How minimal? One small simple chest pocket. The LIM-style 3-way adjustable hood with external drawcord, elasticated Lycra hem and cuffs and a droptail. And that’s just about it.

The price of translucent lightness once it’s available early in 2013? Around £250, which from memory is about £30 more than the now discontinued Oz.

Go Lighter Still…

Incidentally, for real gramme-counters, there’s also the Gram WS Hood, which is even lighter at a mere 135g. The drawback is that technically it’s not waterproof, being made from the lightest 2.5-layer version of Gore’s Windstopper Active windproof fabric.

In reality, the actual fabric is effectively waterproof, so while it will eventually leak at the seams in real deluge conditions, it should cope with most normal raininess quite effectively with the bonus of being both lighter and more breathable than the Gram Comp Pull. The drawback? A price tag of £230.

More about the spring 2013, which is out early next year, and some autumn 2012 stuff too shortly. Current Haglöfs kit details at www.haglofs.se.