Feminine-specific gear might be exhausting to return by within the mountaineering area — however immediately we’re one step nearer. On October 7, The North Face (TNF) leveled up its Superior Mountain Package (AMK), launching the two.0 model, which features a ladies’s-specific package.
Constructed for high-speed mountaineering, the ladies’s AMK assortment contains 12 items. It’s designed for layering and swapping to match virtually any circumstances and exercise stage.
“Regardless of the place I’m going, I throw your complete modular AMK in a bag and know I’ll be set,” skilled alpinist Christina “Lusti” Lustenberger stated throughout a TNF athlete panel concerning the launch.
Lustenberger labored intently with TNF to develop the layering system. Throughout her first descent on Trango Tower in Pakistan, she even despatched TNF product director Kyle Parker satellite tv for pc messages concerning the package’s real-time efficiency.
Constructing a ladies’s-specific package meant tailoring every bit to suit a feminine physique and help pure mobility — fairly than Lusti “displaying up in an extra-small males’s package” (which she beforehand did).
Designers thoughtfully positioned the pockets and mapped the insulation particularly for ladies. They added much less insulation within the chest and decrease again, informing the design with gender-specific thermal testing.
“We’ve been working with TNF on this assortment since day one,” Lustenberger stated. The method has empowered feminine alpinists to offer enter by each iteration of growth. Past Lustenberger, TNF labored with Chantel Astorga, Anna Pfaff, and Brette Harrington to dial the ladies’s AMK package.
Years of Discipline & Lab Testing, New Innovation
The ladies’s-specific AMK contains the Summit AMK Cloud Down Parka ($1,200) and Jacket ($700), Cloud Down Pant ($1,000) and Cloud Down LT Pant ($600), Futurelight Climb Pant ($600) and Futurelight Ski Pant ($600), the 5050 Hoodie ($650), Futurefleece Hoodie ($325), DotKnit Crew ($175), Vest ($250), Shorts ($400), and DotKnit Tights ($175).
Initially launched in 2020, the up to date males’s assortment has the equal items alongside an AMK Assault Tent, Superlight Sleeping Bag, Duffel, AMK Backpacks (in 23L, 40L, and 55L sizes), a Down Mitt and Overmitt, Verto FA climbing boots, a DotKnit Wool Beanie, Balaclava, and Liners.
Now, the Futurelight electrospun membrane is PFAS-free. The AMK carries over revolutionary supplies, together with Spectra yarn (rated to be stronger than metal), DotKnit Wool — which wicks moisture from pores and skin to the surface — and loftier Cloud Down insulation.
Each bit additionally underwent rigorous lab testing on the VF Corp Lab in Denver. The lab ran abrasion exams for sturdiness, snagging exams with spiky balls, and rain room exams with gender-specific manikins. If it didn’t go muster, the product went again to the event staff for tweaks and enhancements.
The result’s a package that high-performance mountain athletes can belief to guard them from the weather, irrespective of the place they’re.
“With AMK I can pursue my wildest targets,” Lustenberger stated in a press launch. “As a package deliberately made for winter alpinism, it permits me to discover my excessive limits with absolute confidence and ease.”
