ProView – Outdoor Research Foray Super Stretch Jacket Review

Outdoor Research says their Foray Super Stretch Jacket was “built with mountaineers, climbers and hikers in mind, where range of movement is critical as well as waterproofness from the elements.” I wore a large Foray Super Stretch Jacket on all of my mountaineering, skiing, and ice climbing days in Colorado for a full month. It performed admirably and I especially appreciated its flexibility for layering and dynamic climbing moves thanks to the stretch panel in the back. 

Features

The Foray Super Stretch Jacket uses 3-layer, fully seam-taped GORE-TEX Paclite fabric with a GORE-TEX stretch panel in the back. GORE-TEX Paclite has a bit of stretch to it for a freer range of motion. The addition of the stretch panel on the back allows for even more freedom.  The Foray Super Stretch jacket offers a helmet compatible hood that only minimally restricted my vision and did not restrict head movement at all thanks to a wire brim and was easily adjustable, it has pockets that were placed above the hip belt of my pack and harness, and nicely adjustable wrist cuffs that fit over a wide variety of gloves. It also has TorsoFlo venting that allowed the jacket to unzip from my armpit to the hem of the jacket. 

FABRIC 

Waterproof
Windproof
Breathable
Fully Seam-Taped

DESIGN FEATURES

GORE-TEX® PACLITE
Waterproof Breathable GORE-TEX Stretch Panel at Center Back
Fully Adjustable Hood with Wire Brim
YKK® Aquaguard® Vislon Center Front Zipper
Internal Front Storm Flap
TorsoFlo™ Venting – Hem-To-Bicep
Zip Chest and Hand Pockets
Key Clip

Durability

Despite a month of thrashing this jacket on ice, rock, and snow while guiding in Colorado it still looks brand new. Time will tell how it holds up in the long run, but I have no doubt of its durability given the level of materials used. 

Weight: 14.4oz 

This is a relatively lightweight piece of kit that is suitable for most mountaineering, skiing, and climbing trips in the continental US and Europe. I’ll reach for the heavier duty OR Archan for long expeditions on bigger peaks but I appreciated the light weight and packability of this jacket otherwise. 

Comfort/Fit

At 5’9” and 185-190lbs I’m a bit stockier than a lot of other guides and climbers. I wore a size Large in this jacket and it fit well. I’ve never owned a hardshell jacket that has enough stretch to never restrict movement climbing. I especially appreciated this when I had a thin down jacket layered underneath. The wrist cuffs stayed put when climbing and coiling rope despite my +2 ape index. The stretch panel in the back is a game changer for a comfortable fit. It allows for easy layering and allowed me to bring this jacket instead of a soft shell. 

Performance

The Super Stretch Foray jacket held it’s own in the mountains no matter what the conditions. I’d originally planned to just climb in this jacket but March gave us a record snowfall. When avalanche conditions meant that ice climbing was too dangerous I’d use it for my backcountry ski missions as well. It’s rare to have one jacket that can do both well but the Foray performed admirably. I especially appreciated it on windy ridgelines where a softshell wouldn’t have cut it. 

Room for Improvement

The only downfall I could find with the OR Super Stretch Foray jacket is the TorsoFlo zippers on the hem of the jacket. They would unzip on their own even with a harness or backpack on. Occasionally that meant flaps of the jacket would interfere with clipping and unclipping gear from my harness. I tacked along the hem of the jacket to prevent this but a small snap here would go a long way to making this the perfect jacket. 

The Final Word

The Super Stretch Foray jacket fills a great niche in my gear room. When modern soft-shell jackets came out most of us switched to them in lieu of bulky and restrictive hard shell jackets. The Super Stretch Foray brings this evolution full circle and lets me climb with hard shell like performance and soft shell like flexibility. There are small places for improvement but overall, it will be my go-to jacket for 1-2 day alpine climbing and mountaineering missions. 

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