The Austrian Mountain M65 jacket. Here’s why I chose it.

When it comes to bushcraft activities, you can forget about down. First of all you need a jacket that is sturdy. It should be able to withstand embers from the fireplace hitting you, it should be able to withstand you walking into or lying on top of branches and it should maintain it’s function even if it get’s dirty.

The Austrian Mountain Jacket M65 was used by the Austrian mountain troops in the Alps where, most of the time, the weather is cold, wet and windy. Just like here in Denmark.

Cotton kills.
The Austrian Mountain Jacket M65 is made from a cotton polyester blend. Yes cotton. Why did I choose a cotton jacket? “Cotton kills” you say. That is true if all you’re wearing is cotton and it hasn’t been treated in any way. Then cotton will leave you with hypothermia. This jacket will work as an outer layer to protect against the wind and rain and has already been surface treated to be highly water and wind resistant. I’m curious to test how well it works though. Otherwise I will have to wax it I guess. The reason why I chose cotton is that it is heavy duty regarding the functions I mentioned above, it is wind and water resistant and it is easy to fix if needed.

There is no such thing as waterproof clothing.
Let’s face it. If you’re in the rain for a longer period of time, you’re going to get wet no matter what. Whether from the outside or from the inside. The trick is to layer up in wool to stay warm and enjoy the water coming at you.

Modern materials such as Gore-Tex will loose it’s capablities if it gets dirty and leave you wet and cold. If you accidentally rip a hole in it, it is hard to fix. With this jacket you can just stitch it back together.

I wanted a long jacket.
This jacket is quite long. The disadvantage being that it can be difficult to access the pockets in your pants and your knife. But since it is so long, you can just wear your belt on the outside of it, giving you very easy access to your knife and axe. Also it has four big front pockets for other things you might need to access easily.

The advantage of it being so long however is that it gives you more protection against the wind. And you also get extra protection from any cold surface you may be sitting on. This jacket also has two strings that you can tighten to prevent air from entering from below. One at the bottom and one right above the two bottom pockets.

The zipper is very sturdy and since it starts higher up the jacket is easy to move around in. Furthermore the jacket is very roomy, leaving plenty of space for layering up underneath it. and it has a light hood stoved away in the collar.