Arcteryx Khuno

Winter in the UK is a pretty rough time for me, but properly attired, it is not too much of an issue. Now Montreal presents a different situation. Temperatures that can fall way below negative in the deep of the night, and even this morning, the weather report indicated a nice frosty -1C as I left my apartment.

Fearing the worst, I decided to go with a known brand. Arcteryx. Originally, Arcteryx was not even on my list - North Face was my number once choice actually. But I happened to check out the Arcteryx store along St Catherine, and found out that Arcteryx carried a line of winter gear more suited for the more mundane needs of commuters, not base camp ascendees.

Enter: The Khuno. Its price is ouch inducing, but the known brand gives me a big peace of mind. So far, I've been fairly impressed with it.

Last saturday, it was drizzling for most of the day, and the weather report indicated a balmy +2C.

As a winter clothing n00b, I think this piece of weather gear really impressed me. The Khuno totally shed the rain coming down, and what was left simply flew off from just brushing it. Wow.

It was also very warm. With the hood in use, my head and neck were surprisingly warm. And this was with a T shirt and jeans! In fact when I was doing errands during lunch break today, with the winter sun beating down, I had to have the hood down and the front zip partially down.

 The only gripe I have with it is the pockets on the front, they've got some odd flaps I'm guess designed to keep the wind out, but I found it a bit fiddly to get my hands in at times.

I'm hoping all I need when things get really cold would be some fleece and perhaps thermals under that. I'm more worried about my face though.

I can still feel the bite of the wind on my face, and I've been looking at some ways to solve this. First off, of course is a full on balaclava, but I never liked the condensation around the mouth. I've also seen some face masks that cover the cheeks down to the neck, that's probably my first choice. Then with my trappers hat to cover my head (Khuno has some adjustability to allow for hats) I hope it will be enough to survive here!

Will post more throughout the winter!