Over recent months—well, years, actually—the debate concering hardshell fabrics and their capabilities has been “The inner laminate is comfortable against my skin, so I often wear the jacket over nothing but a t-shirt,” Andrew said. “Also, on a couple of occasions, I hiked wearing just the shell pants and boxers and I was perfectly comfortable.” Forsthoefel appreciated the simplicity of the setup. “Your average through-hiker doesn’t need a safari-vest smorgasbord of pockets. We’d rather save the weight. The two napoleon pockets and inner mesh pockets were more than sufficient and helped keep the jacket at 500g and the pants at 470g.” Fit was also excellent: “The cut was athletic and unrestrictive. When I had to wrestle on my 50-pound pack, I could really feel the advantages of the slight give in the fabric.” Available now, $365 (jacket), $299 (pant); . —Berne Broudy & Andrew Freeman