The Kryos was informed by feedback from some of the world’s best Alpinists, climbers who were increasingly pushing lighter jackets onto ever higher and more technical routes in the search for low weight and pack size with ever diminishing margins. Through extensive R&D, and using all our insulation expertise, we wanted to build a jacket that would make the cut on the hardest routes at 6 and 7000m and the biggest modern Alpine winter lines whilst offering a much greater level of warmth and protection.
They key to this lay in the development of our FIRESTORM™ construction, the use of a drop outer WINDSTOPPERⓇ shell that radically reduced heat loss whilst offering a much greater level of weather protection that’s vital on the most committing routes. Underneath this lies a hybrid layout of stitch through and pleated baffles that are optimised to give the absolute maximum loft and warmth from the 234g of goose down.
As Uisdean Hawthorn commented after using a final prototype of the Kryos on Pakistan’s Koyo Zom: ‘I was genuinely shocked at how much warmer this was in the real mountains compared to what I’ve used before… It’s considerably less bulky than anything else I’ve used meaning it’s easier to second in after a particularly long belay.’
Amongst an ever lengthening list of some of the hardest ascents in recent years, the Kryos has been used on Paul Ramsden and Tim Miller’s Piolet d’Or winning first ascent of Jugal Spire, Tom Livingstone and Matt Glenn’s first ascent of the North East Pillar of Tengkangpoche, Freja Shannon’s multiple hard first ascents in Arctic Norway and Uisdean Hawthorn’s Piolet d’Or winning First Ascent on Mount Robson’s Emperor Face.