NRS H2Core Silkweight Hoodie

A super comfortable, sunproof, and fast-drying hoodie that works as well as for home, hut, and camp lounging as on the river.

On our May 2018 raft trip through Cataract Canyon, most of the guides and some of the repeat clients wore these hoodies all day out on the river, often with the hood up as full protection from the relentless Utah sun. My wife and I ordered a pair after getting back to Tucson and haven’t been out on a river since. But right now these shirts are on closeout at NRS for a nice price, so maybe it’s worth sharing what experience I have with it. The rugged guides and clients from the river trip will model the shirt in various colors.

That experience would mainly be lounging around in the evenings at home or in the occasional Norwegian hut. The silkweight fabric (92% polyester/ 8% spandex, SPF50) and loose fit are just so darn comfortable that it’s the only thing I want to wear around the house. It's cut especially loose under the arms for paddling comfort, but that also contributes to its lounging comfort.

With the wood stove fully cranked now in November, I find it comfortably cool, and I can easily imagine myself back on the raft, lounging under the desert sun with a cold NA beer in hand while the oarsman toils away. Or maybe freshly soaked and adrenaline-jacked after running a class III rapid in a packraft (that’s about my limit), the shirt chafe-free and drying fast under my life jacket.

Given the actual, not-so-extreme test conditions, I haven’t had much use for the hood, but I kind of like the way it hangs stylishly over my shoulder. Ditto the thumb holes—not much use for watching TV, but they still shout “rugged outdoorsman”.

I haven’t gotten around to testing its dryability, but I expect it’s in the same league as other lightweight polyester shirts. One downside that has to be recognized these days is that it’s made of plastic and so may contribute to microplastic pollution, but the tight weave of the fabric may mean that it sheds less than other polyester layers.

For my purposes, I think this shirt would be too warm for warm weather backpacking but might make nice camp wear if you can afford the weight of an extra shirt (my size L weighs 315 g /11 ounces). Although NRS’s size chart would put me in an XL, the sleeves and body are plenty long enough for me. I did try it out on a sunny spring ski tour, on a charismatic peak called Ringstind in Jotunheimen, and again found the loose fit and sheer fabric deliciously comfortable, with no sign of sunburn through it after a full day in sun and snow (although I think cotton would do that part of the job just as well).

I am actually a little reluctant to wear it hard in other seasons because I want it to last forever. Or at least until we get back to Utah to do that dream trip down the Green River to the Confluence.

Background

Lounging around at home and in huts and one spring ski mountaineering day trip over about a year and a half.