I have two of the NWA belay jackets, one for everyday wear including working in the woods (I'm a forest ecologist in New England) and a second reserved for ski patrolling. The everyday jacket has been beaten to death, thrashed and trashed, poked, punctured, soaked, frozen, and occasionally left outside for days. It is still intact and warm as **** even though it has never been washed other than river dunks. The patrol jacket is going on its 4th season as the colder-weather layer under my patrol parka, and although I absolutely baby it as much as possible, this is New England and it's been soaked, frozen, draped over hypothermic patients, and coveted by other patrollers. The damn thing looks like it just came off of the factory floor. The left-side pocket works for me as I like to keep my phone warm and on the L side because my patrol parka's phone rig is on the R side. As far as warmth goes, the everyday jacket is usually accompanied by a polypro under-hoodie and that's good for most dry conditions and temps < 15deg F. Below that, I usually add a shell and I'm good to go. If NWA made pants to match, I'd probably live in them and demand that I be buried in them.

Excellent fit and finish. Great to have it made in the USA. NW was great to purchase from. Chest pocket is too small and on the wrong side for right handers. I would not consider this a belay jacket by any means. Not a garment that you'd take into cold weather (sub 25 degrees F) without another jacket with you. Overall, I really like the jacket and will probably contact NW to custom fabricate me a warmer jacket in the future.

The jacket arrived on-time with a hand written note thanking me for my purchase (nice touch). Extremely warm and very high quality.