Páramo WILL fail DRASTICALLY in heavy & persistent rain. Watch before buying!

My passion for mountains began when I moved to the Lake District in 2003. Over the years I completed my summer mountain leader training, various courses in navigation, first aid and winter mountaineering in Glen Coe. These courses were usually through the National Mountaineering Centre at Plas Y Brenin, Snowdonia. I consolidated this training by exploring the UK mountain regions as much as I could. In 2018 I spent a short time on Swaledale Mountain Rescue team before moving back to Tyneside.

I have also completed the West Highland Way twice, the C2C walk twice, the Cumbrian Way and in 2017 did the Everest Base Camp Trek.

I by no means consider myself an expert at anything, but I do feel to be in a position to offer my humble opinion on kit and clothing, based on those years of experience.

In this video I set out on a trip to Scafell Pike with my partner. Such was the challenging conditions, I decided we head back not long after reaching the stretcher box.

In this video I inadvertently test the Paramo Alta III in driving rain and significant winds. The jacket was only a few weeks old and this is its first test in the rain. I have owned Paramo jackets in the past.

The jacket really is tested in some awful conditions and you will see the results for yourself.

I must emphasise that the moisture inside the jacket wasn’t because of an incorrect mid layer, this has been verified by Paramo. The jacket was absolutely drenched.

I contacted Paramo who watched the video and they acknowledged that their jackets are NOT waterproof. They could offer no explanation to the poor performance of the jacket and there is no need to Nikwax the jacket under these circumstances. If one understands the technology of the system, you will understand that it is actually impossible for the garments to stay dry in persistent driving rain.

They work by allowing moisture to become trapped inside the inner layers. This moisture is heated up and released to the outer layer when vaporised. This system catastrophically fails when the inner layers are becoming saturated. The only way to ensure some measure of high water resistance is to repeatedly wash it in Nikwax, but this only provides a temporary water resistance.

I love my Paramo Alta III for a few reasons, but not in heavy rain! Paramo did offer to replace the jacket but I declined, explaining that the individual jacket isn’t at fault, the system of keeping of water out is over hyped. They didn’t respond to this claim.

I filmed this video with the GoPro 10

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