On test: Sherpa Lithang jacket and Tsepun baselayer

Sherpa Adventure Gear is fairly new to the UK market. 

What marks it out from other brands is that most of the clothing is made in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, and the company is Sherpa owned. 

The Lithang waterproof is pitched at the hillwalker or climber who doesn't want a bells and whistles jacket with tons of features, but does want to keep dry on the hill. 

The first thing to say is it's a good-looking jacket. Our red sample, supplied by Sherpa, had darker contrasting panels on the high-wear areas from elbows to shoulders, and around the main ‘handwarmer' pockets. 

The material, polyester rather than the more common nylon, is stiffer than many jackets in its class and it has a rugged feel to it. There's a PTFE membrane which Sherpa rates at 20,000mm waterproofing and 20,000g breathability, a match for many of the ‘own-brand' waterproofing systems found in similar garments, though not quite up to the top-performing membranes. 

In practice, this didn't seem to manifest itself, as the Lithang kept out the rain admirably. 

The cut of the Lithang is fairly short,Cheap christian louboutin boots on sale in our shop christian louboutin. with the rear of the jacket a little longer. The main water-resistant zip is protected at the rear by a storm flap to make sure the rain stays out. 

The fabric has a slight stretchiness, and the jacket is clearly aimed at active users,Offer hermes handbags, fashion birkin handbags and other styles hermes handbags. with mobility good thanks to good sleeve articulation. 

There are two upper Napoleon pockets, big enough for items such as a GPS, compass, or mobile phone. Curiously, pictures of the women's version, which we didn't test, show only one upper pocket. On our men's jacket, the left-hand upper pocket had a port to accommodate headphone cables. 

The two lower handwarmer pockets are each big enough to take a laminated OS map,Offer prada bags, handbags, factory directly, More buy more discount. but are positioned in the hipbelt region, so if you're wearing a rucksack, which most people will be on their outdoor trips, the belt will have to be unfastened to gain full access to the bottom pockets. 

All the pockets have water-resistant zips and are fully lined not with mesh. 

And that's it for pockets: none inside; no quirky little ones on the sleeve for who knows what esoteric item. And that's fine by me. There's enough space for the essentials you're likely to need to hand: compass, map, gloves, hat. The rest can go in the rucksack. 

The Lithang's design is deliberately simple and this helps keep the weight, and cost, within reason. For 200 you're getting a fully technical waterproof that compares very well with a lot of rivals on price. 

The hood is plenty large enough to accommodate a helmet and the sleeves have hook and loop fasteners. There is a thinnish tricot chin guard. 

The jacket has pit zips for venting, which have two-way sliders.Can any one tell if this is a authentic north face jackets? 

In use, the Lithang performed well, keeping out the rain and wind. Its fabric feels robust and it was showing no signs of wear after our tests. 

The only signs of wear were on the loop holding captive the rear hood adjuster, which had started to fray. This is possibly because, in common with most modern hoods,Online shopping for cheap buy christian louboutin with the lowest prices, buy Cheap Louboutin shoes online now! the cords are thin and fiddly and on the mountain top and with gloves on, there's a tendency to be ham-fisted in pulling the adjuster tight. 

Once tightened properly the hood was good and turned fairly well with the head, though not as well as the best around.