Used and abused: Aclima Lightwool
It seems that more and more Scandinavian brands are appearing in the UK. In from Norway we have Aclima, with their Lightwool, which is a 130g merino. It’s one of the lightest and thinnest merino base layers I’ve seen.
When this first arrived I stuck it on for an evening’s cragging. It’s since become the staple climbing top, I wear it for both indoor or outdoor stuff. The feel is very soft, seams are cleverly placed to avoid irritation, you get the usual benefits of merino in terms of stench management and it’s a perfect weight for summer or indoor use on it’s own or as a base for something warmer.
I got a comment from a passer-by on the Buachaille a while back that I was wearing thermals even though the sun was beating down. The reality is that I was really comfy, this handles warm temperatures very well. In terms of durability, I’ve been wearing it climbing a lot and it’s handled me falling on rocks and wearing harnesses and the like and so far no holes, which is a first for me and merino. There is a bit of bobbling where my rucksack straps go, which you can see in the ‘after’ photo below, but it’s definitely more durable that I expected.
So it’s light, warm, durable and a bit of a standard now. If all Scandy kit is this functional, this new wave of gear will be a win for us all.
Thanks for the review. I’ve been looking for thin and not so warm merino layer for some time and this sounds good. How many full days in use have you got with it? Any holes yet? At least Icebreaker 150g/sqm merino develops holes allready after a few dozen days of use and I’d like to have something more durable… But maybe it’s impossible with merino.
Hi korpijaakko, this top has had at least 50 days of use and other are no holes yet, all my other merino tops had holes after less than 25 days, so it is wearing well.