This All-New Alpine Kit From The North Face Is Weird, Pricey—and Sometimes Brilliant
The Advanced Mountain Kit might just be the most expensive line of climbing clothing ever made. The all-new collection from The North Face includes 11 pieces of apparel ($6,100 for a complete outfit with no redundant layers), plus two pairs of boots, three backpacks, a tent, a sleeping bag, and a duffel bag. The latter is apparently designed to be “tossed from helicopters.” That direct quote from the brand’s official marketing copy, gives would-be buyers an idea of who the Advanced Mountain Kit is for: someone lucky enough to fly into their objective by helicopter and not think twice about hucking their cargo to the talus below.
Really, the Advanced Mountain Kit, or AMK, is built for ice climbers and mountaineers pushing limits in cold alpine terrain. While the price tag might mean the AMK will appeal to guided high-altitude clients, I think there’s another clear user, having tested the kit extensively over the last five-and-a-half months: the broad, capable shoulders of technical alpinists and ski mountaineers.
I have tested nearly the entire AMK line, including its baselayers, hardshells, insulated midlayers, belay parkas, gloves, mountaineering boots, and a backpack, on everything from snow-choked ridgelines in the Swiss Alps and alpine couloirs in the Canadian Rockies to steep, splitter rock routes in Patagonia. It was soon obvious which AMK items were brilliant and useful—and which were not. The vest, for example, fundamentally shifted the way I think about organization on frigid winter climbs. The boots, meanwhile, made me grateful to return to my standby pair.
The Advanced Mountain Kit (which is part of the brand’s broader “Summit Series” mountain line) is by turns good, bad, and weird. The good parts boast an enviable marriage of smart design, real-world problem solving, and legitimately excellent materials. A portmanteau for the ages. The bad misses at least one of these key elements—and the weird throws in a proper curveball. Below, I review the six most memorable products from the AMK line.
The good in The North Face Advanced Mountain Kit
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