Erris Softshell Jacket - Portwest

The Erris Softshell Jacket is one of the pieces of gear from Portwest I have been using over the past months and is rapidly becoming my favorite piece of kit; bar my flask of tea!

I have worn a few softshell jackets over the years and this is my favorite and best performing.

It fits nicely and has a tapered body, so does not get buffeted on a windy day in the hills. The arms have good length to them and the cuffs close really well with good grippy velcro. On climbing courses, especially on a cold or wet day, when reaching outward or upward sleeves can often ride up; same with the waist of a jacket. Great thing about the Erris is neither sleeve nor waist rides up.

Super breathable. Warm to wear, without being heavy. Good chest pocket for my compass or my session plan! The zip on the chest pocket is waterproof and I imagine the jacket would let in water before the zip would. Good draw cord at the bottom to keep the wind out and having had a couple of wet days in it I can testify to how efficiently it drys out. In fact on a recent rock climbing course and a wet wet day, I gave away my proper waterproof coat to a student who had forgotten their coat. I therefore ended up wearing the Erris in proper wet rainy conditions beyond what it is designed for and was super impressed with how waterproof it proved.

The final thing I really like about this softshell is that the hood pulls snugly over a climbing helmet, which is a great little design feature.