If you maintain a bucket list it’s time that you get out your pen and add hiking a glacier to it.  The experience is incredible. Of all the blues I’ve seen during my travels I think that glacial blue is, hands down, my favorite.  It’s also quite possibly my favorite color.  There’s just something so deep, so rich, so pure about it – it leaves you thirsty, yearning to swim in it, and to touch it all at once. It’s also a color you can only find in the wild, flowing along the surface, or out from a fissure in a glassier’s jagged surface.

This week’s photo is of adventurers hiking the Perito Moreno Glacier in the Patagonia region of Argentina.  Ringed by sheer cliff faces and cascading waterfalls the Perito Moreno Glacier is a hulking behemoth that slowly slides its way down towards a glacial lake with blue-gray waters that seem otherworldly and which change depending on the intensity of the light.  Opportunities to hike the glacier come in the form of short, and long excursions where intrepid visitors are strapped into harnesses before lashing their shoes to crampons and striding out onto the ice.

The only thing that was missing was the opportunity to explore one of the many ice caves that thread beneath the glacier.  But, I suppose that’s the perfect reason to return.

Peter Storm Waterpoof Jacket – Product Review

The folks at Millets recently reached out to me and asked if I was interested in reviewing one of the jackets they have for sale.  After some discussion I gave them an outline of what I wanted.  A jacket that was waterproof, that was good in a mixture of different environments, that had some wind protection, and which also had excellent pockets.  I HATE how many of the jackets in this class lack usable pockets.  They are either too small, too far up on the body, or too shallow.  Another requirement was that it come in an intelligent color that was city-friendly.  Which ruled out watermelon pink, neon yellow and vomit green.

After getting the chance to try the jacket out for a month or so, I’m generally quite happy with it.  The pocket layout is excellent and exactly what I want in a jacket. The jacket itself is warm enough, does a good job repelling water, and can handle itself in the wind.  It’s a good jacket for good weather as well as mild bad weather. Exactly what I need as a backpacker. General build quality is good, and I feel like most of the jacket is built to last.  It has a well designed hood that stows away neatly and in a way that doesn’t disrupt the look and appeal of the jacket.  The jacket has underarm zippers, draw ties on the hood and other relevant places to reduce wind drag, and waterproofed zipper seams.

There are, however, two things about the jacket that people should be aware of.  The first is that they apparently run large.  The version I was provided with is a “large” which is what I normally wear. Keep in mind I’m 6’4″ and roughly 90kg with a 34 waist.  I almost went with an XL, and I’m really glad I didn’t. The cut of the jacket isn’t as fitted as I like and I feel that while I probably had to go with the large for arm length, body wise I’d have been happier with a medium.  This added size does make sense though if you anticipate wearing the jacket with bulky sweaters or run a bit thicker in the waist.     The second, which is my only real complaint about the jacket, is the quality of the main zipper.  While the pocket zippers are all high quality and seem durable, the primary zipper has taken a long time to break in, and doesn’t feel very robust. It’s always hard to judge the quality of a zipper, but in this case the teeth and zipper fit overall feels like the one weak spot in the jacket.

All in all, I’m very happy with the jacket and feel it is a solid piece of waterproof clothing.  It has already replaced my old REI jacket which had started to lose its waterproofing and failed to stand up to the wear and tear of my backpack straps.

You can find out more about the product on the Millets website.

Would you like to see previous Friday Photos? View past travel pictures here.

**The jacket reviewed in this post was provided as a complimentary sample by Millets Online for consideration.  My review of the jacket and its performance is independent and in no way influenced by Millets or Peter Storm.