Ridgeline Ascent Camo Jacket

Ridgeline Clothing has firmly established itself as a company with a respected pedigree in the manufacture of hi-performance outdoor wear. Now, they have designed a new camo called DIRT, a digital pattern that they’re using across their range of jackets. Those being the Monsoon, Grizzly and as featured here, the Ascent.

Dishing the dirt

Digital camo is often referred to as being designed with the aid of a computer, using colours of the natural world, which are then generated into a random pixilated pattern. DIRT is quite an involved design that uses a colour mix of greens, beige, fawn, browns and black. It uniquely doesn’t lean towards one specific colour but does have certain areas of pixilation where a colour is more dominant. The colour range incorporated makes for a very useful non-terrain specific, more general-purpose camo.

The build-up

The Ridgeline Ascent is manufactured using a stretchy polyester/elastane softshell outer. Generally, softshell jackets aren’t fully waterproof but are water-resistant. They’re highly breathable, keeping you dry by wicking sweat to the outside of your jacket, where it spreads out and evaporates.

Its 2-layer build includes a grid back fleece inner with 1000g of insulation. To aid its waterproof properties, it boasts a waterproof membrane plus is treated with DWR, a durable water repellent coating that is added to fabrics to make them water-resistant. It helps moisture bead up and roll off the outer fabric; this prevents soaking from the outside and the user from becoming cold, clammy, or wet.

Stay active

The active fit, slight fishtail cut jacket, fastens with a double YKK zipper with pull assists. A nice touch is although the lined hood is fixed, the front fastens up to a very high collar, giving full neck and chin protection when required. The hood is generously sized so doesn’t feel claustrophobic, but should you require it to be cinched to the head, there are strong toggle fasten elasticated cord adjusters. One is positioned at the rear top and there are two on either side. There’s also an elasticated drawstring at the neck area, which can be used to adjust the height of the collar. The jacket also includes underarm vent holes.

Storage is catered for via a collection of well-appointed mesh-lined pockets. The two lower ones are deep and have strong, covered zip fasteners with pull assists. The lower pocket on the left is complemented by an internal, open-top drop pocket, plus there’s a single vertically placed chest pocket on the upper left. There is also a zip fastened pocket on the upper left sleeve with five internal cartridge holders.

Conclusions

The Ridgeline Ascent Soft Shell Jacket is a versatile and useful garment as its waterproof, breathable and windproof. The build quality and design are very good, plus it’s comfortable to wear, warm, silent in use, offers a high level of protection from the elements and comes in a very useful and versatile new camo design.