You can’t beat snuggling into a down jacket whenever you’re out in the frozen tundra of Lapland or even in a chilly car park in Barnsley. The Filo is a great fitting and super warm goose down jacket that is really light to wear and like all Alpkit products it comes at a bargain price (£120). The fit is superb with a long back and a good fitting hood that you can see out of when you’re cosy inside it. You’re not going to ride a bike in this jacket but it is great to have around for before, in between and after adventures. It’s a magnificent thing to have when you’re camping or just for mooching about in. There are some top features including fleece lined pockets and whopping big baffles that loft up like warm fluffy clouds.

This is cosy

This is cosy

The jacket packs down pretty small and I carried it with me for vivaxa forums the Rovaniemi 150km race up in Finland. I had it there just in case I had a mechanical, got injured or stuck in a blizzard. Luckily non of these things happened, but it gave me confidence to head out into the Arctic night knowing that I’d be OK if things went wrong. As well as wearing it round town I did wear it one night with just a cotton shirt underneath as I went out to watch the Northern Lights. The temperature was about -10 degrees C and I was warm as toast. I met a lovely old man in the park with a beard who gave me a can of beer and we chatted in broken Finn-glish about love, music and the beauty of the Aurora.

As warm as a man in a wolfskin hat

As warm as a man in a wolfskin hat

Filo is available in other colours and in men’s and women’s sizes. More details here on the Alpkit site.