A review of the Vesper Vest

Having been asked if I’d like to do a review of my new Vesper vest, I decided to test it in the most miserable cave I know… and it was slightly less awful. This cave, which involves many hours of crawling in water, interspersed with some energetic climbs and squeezes, is truly a layering challenge. Don’t wear enough layers and you get cold during the crawling and surveying, wear too many and you get too hot for the climbs and squeezes. Although I was still never quite comfortable, the extremes of temperature were definitely less than they were with any other layering combo I’ve tried so far.

The Vesper is made from Polartec Powerstretch (the same material as the AV undersuits), which I find to be pretty ideal in these settings. It dries quickly, so if you end up getting sweaty while moving, you don’t end up absolutely freezing when you stop. This makes it particularly great for surveying, rigging, or any other trips where you alternate between moving a lot and staying still.

The fact that your arms remain free is also a significant plus, meaning you can avoid that ‘Michelin Man’ feeling when trying to move about! Also the new version of the Vesper is considerably shorter in the body than the previous “little black dress” version, meaning it doesn’t bunch up under your undersuit nearly as much. It does still have a tendency to ride up occasionally, but I found that tucking it into my thermal leggings was enough to stop this being a huge problem.

I wore mine under my Illamina undersuit, however I imagine that this would be a particularly good investment for those who are still sticking by their old threadbare furries, it being a much cheaper introduction to the wonders of Powerstretch than buying a full new undersuit would be.

And finally, it’s light and easy to bundle into a tacklesack, meaning there’s very little reason not to bring it with you.

Overall, I would say that this is a very useful layering piece, especially if one struggles to maintain a consistent temperature underground 🙂