Gear Review: Norrøna Trollveggen Down850

Made for the Arctic and high altitude mountaineering, this just may be the best parka ever made.

Have you ever wanted to go to the top of Mt Everest? Or maybe the South Pole is calling you? Either way, if you are looking for the best parka on the market, look no further than the Norrøna Trollveggen Down850.

I have a personal connection to Norway. Part of my heritage is Norwegian; I take some pride in telling the story of how my family was exiled from Norway when the country turned socialist in the early 20th century. It’s a great story for another time. Here I am a few generations later, with a passion for cold mountains and exploration and needing gear that can stand up to frigid temperatures. Who else would I look to for my most important piece of cold weather gear, but a Norwegian company? Enter Norrøna.

Who is Norrøna?

Norrøna is a company created and run by actual outdoor recreationalists and their big claim to fame was creating the first Gore-tex clothing in Europe. Athletes and explorers have worn Norrøna clothes to both Poles, the tops of highest mountains in the world, and while surfing raging arctic waves. If you want to know more about this company, go to their website and check it out.

Introduction

While researching the best parkas for Denali (and beyond), I found some awesome reviews for many brilliantly designed parkas, but very few for the Trollveggen Down 850 Parka. Not being a person who gets the most obvious choice in anything, I took this as a sign that these are niche, and probably better than the more common models everyone from America wears on Denali. One downside of the lack of available reviews was that I didn’t know what features the jacket actually had. Therefore, now that I have one in my hands, I can pass on that information. If you like surprises (and believe me, this one has only good ones), stop reading here and just buy the parka!

Norrøna's Specs

First, let’s start with the tech specs from Norrøna's website:

• 5 colorways: orange and teal (pictured) for men, pink and lighter teal for women, and a dark blue for both genders

• Materials: 30D Pertex Quantum (Bluesign Certified) shell / 850 RDS down insulation (287g in men’s L; 248g in women’s M) / 100g Primaloft Gold synthetic insulation inside pockets and on shoulders (because why not make it warmer?)

• Weight (size M): 760 grams/26.8oz (men); 660 grams/23.3oz (women)

• Hand-warming packets

• Internal chest pocket

• Power stretch arm cuffs

• Storm hood fitted for freeride helmet (fits over my Grivel Duetto helmet which probably is the largest climbing helmet on the market)

• "Our warmest mountaineering down jacket"

For those who haven't made gear research a part time job like I have (without the pay), many of these stats are on par with the leading competition. Something that should not be missed is Norrøna’s dedication to responsible sourcing and manufacturing. The synthetic material is made of 100% recycled polymers, the down is humane, and Norrøna lists all of their factory locations on their website.

Other Features

Now, I want to talk about what features I have found in this jacket that are not listed.

Cuffs

The “power stretch” cuffs are almost identical in material and design to the cuffs on the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer /2. They are quite functional, though if I had to be picky, I like the inner elastic cuffs that are on my Columbia ski jacket and the Mountain Hardwear Nilas.

Zippers

The zippers are all plastic. This is an industry standard but should still be noted, as I see a lot of heavier casual-wear parkas still using metal zippers. Plastic zippers don’t stick to your skin when it’s below freezing and they don’t get cold and stay cold like metal zippers do. Again, this is not uncommon, but it’s hardly ever spoken of in reviews and it’s an important feature. The parka also has a double zipper on the front, typical but not always present on parkas, even when they are advertised as "belay parkas".

Draft Tube

It has a full-length insulated draft tube to block air from entering through the zipper area. Another feature that has become common among the main parka models, but a feature that is incredibly noticeable if it is not there once you get into a cold climate. This one is nice and doesn’t seem to snag when using the zipper.

Neck Material

Soft cloth at the portion of the neck that touches your face. This is slowly becoming the norm but was not so just a few years ago. It’s a nice feature to have.

Outside Pockets

The two front pockets are massive. Not only are the zippers long, but the pockets go up and down from the opening at least 2 inches. You could easily fit an entire Stanley thermos in each pocket if you wanted to. The red dotted lines in the photo below show just how big the pockets are. The pockets are also set high enough to still be usable when wearing a backpack, which is nice.

Inside Pockets

Two inside pockets, one upper that is large enough to fit my Samsung Galaxy S10 phone (and maybe a granola bar, but not much else) and one lower that makes up for the fact that there is only one inside dump pocket. Seriously though, this thing is larger than it looks in the pictures and can hold a 1L Nalgene, pair of Temres gloves, and my Ghost Whisperer /2 (not packed into its pocket, but loosely crammed into the pocket). With all these items, the pocket would still zip. I also tried putting two 1L Nalgene bottles in there and they fit (though it did not want to zip with two rigid bottles in it).

With the outside pockets being much larger than other Belay Parkas in this range and the inside pocket being as big as it is, I don’t think I will miss the right side dump pocket that seems to be missing. I especially love that it is a zippered dump pocket as I can store things in the pocket without being concerned whether they will fall out. This feature adds negligible weight but seems like it could come in handy when needed.

Looking Forward to the Future

When the box arrived at the house, my wife grabbed it and asked what it was, and was concerned that they had sent us an empty box. The Norrøna parka was in fact in the box but is incredibly light. It seems cliché to say, but it feels like a hog when you put it on. The sleeves are not adjustable but cinch closed enough that they won’t interfere with my gloves with gauntlets. The jacket packs down and I’ve heard that it will pack into a 3L stuff sack (though I am hesitant to do that right now and make it look all wrinkly).

I have yet to use this parka outside and, frankly, don’t know when it will be cold enough to use this before Denali, but I am beyond stoked to have this in my arsenal of cold weather gear and have no fear that this will come in clutch when the wind howls at the top of Denali.