Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting HPG Mountain Serape

I try not to pimp my own booshaway too much on 24hr, but we've finally gotten our longest standing project to market. Heck, I think Kifaru was evaluating a prototype of this before they were evaluating a prototype of what became the Koala. I've been using my original since 2009.

The Mountain Serape is an insulated hooded poncho liner with a couple of very unique features. You can read more about it here.

At any rate, we're taking pre-orders on this product in foliage and coyote and will be shipping them out next Monday. Wanted to give you guys the heads up before our first shipment is all sold out. It already got picked up on a military blog (Soldier Systems) and response has been strong.

nice

Interesting indeed. Not sure if it'd work well for my uses but interesting none the less.

I prefer a quilt 19 oz. a TI bivy 6 oz and a cut down z-lite 8 oz for the same weight. But everyone has different needs and uses. I am sure some out there will dig it.

Very, very interesting! I can see that being something that is always in my pack!

I like the concept. I went ahead and ordered one and will give it a try in a lot of different conditions.

Interesting. What are the specs - tempature, water resistance, etc.? I did not see them on the web link.

I pre-ordered two, its going to be a HPG Christmas at my house this year!

Super cool Evan. You guys are killing. I'm trying to cut things out of my pack, not add more. This piece of kit looks to be so versatile. I love the thought of glassing with one of those on, over all my other layers --

Evan,

Glad to see you have the Serape in production. I will be ordering one. I'm not sure where it will fit with my existing gear, but even if it's just used for day hunts from the cabin, it will be a valuable addition.

Thanks guys!

Alaskalanche, whether or not to go with this as part of your system does take some critical thinking, and won't be the right choice for everyone. If all you're concerned about is sleeping, then your system does win out in terms of weight and most likely warmth. The way I think about this for most trips is as an insulated coat replacement that also supplements your sleeping bag (leave the heavy coat at home and carry a lighter sleeping bag). I suspect that the reason is the trapped layer of air between this and an "inner" sleeping bag, but using this as an overbag is quite a bit warmer than wearing puffies top and bottom inside of your sleeping bag. In colder weather, I actually do both. When you're glassing or have taken a stand, this is a much nicer piece to have than the aforementioned puffy top and bottom. Cocoon yourself up in the thing and live it up. It's kind of like a woodstove in a tent -- Once you've experienced that, you'll be loathe to leave it home ever again even when you're pretty sure you won't need it. I really wanted this to come in at a pound and a half like my original, but the better shell material, slightly bigger size, and zipper I added at the bottom killed that. The functionality added by those features is well worth the extra half pound.

djs - as far as ratings are concerned, there is a "specifications" tab on the product page, but that doesn't necessarily answer your questions.

On waterproofness, the fabric is considered water repellent due to the DWR coating, but not waterproof. It does pass the "cup test" though -- rubber band a piece of the fabric loosely on top of a cup and pour water into the fabric and see what happens. This shell material went overnight without letting a drop through. Because the insulation is primaloft fusion (warmer per weight and more compressible than climashield), the Serape is quilted in a few places. Those quilt lines are going to be water permeable. So, you'll be plenty good in light precip, but I wouldn't expect it to shed serious rain.

Temperature rating? So variable as to be worthless hazarding a guess. I froze my ass off one night trying to use my original prototype as a sleeping bag on top of a neoair trekker in 35 degree temps. I wasn't wearing any insulated layers underneath, the original doesn't have the nice enclosed footbox, good shell material, or greater width of the final product. All of those features make a big difference. When I curled up inside of the production sample for the photo shoot wearing the same thing (longies top and bottom with very lightweight softshell top and bottom) on a snowy (somewhere south of 32f) and windy day laying directly on top of sand, I slowly started warming up and accumulating heat inside of it to the point that it was pleasantly warm inside and I didn't want to get out. Both very subjective evaluations, but it's really the best I can do. There are just too many non-garment factors that go into comfortable warmth.

Evan,

Looks like a great concept for sure. I always have my puffy pants/coat on me even when I don't bring my bivy setup. If I want a true bivy setup for sleeping then the pad and actual quilt are needed.

If its raining, a DWR coating option isn't going to keep it dry when I want to stop and glass or what not, so I'd have to opt for rain gear and puffy pants and coat anyways.

For day hunts sure it could be handy, but I can't see hauling this 2 lb overbag on 10 day hunts that I am already bringing similar gear along.

Like I said I can see it being useful for some. Just can't find a niche for it in my arsenal.

Evan,

Congratulations on getting this piece to the market - it looks fantastic!

I've got a question I couldn't answer by looking at the pictures, how does the arm opening work in this piece? In one pic, it looks like you can enclose the feet and still have the arms open for glassing/shooting.

Here in the midwest we don't do quite as much moving around as you all do out west, but we do stand hunt a lot - and that can mean hours of being completely still in frigid temps. There's a few products out that act like a sleeping bag with arm holes for times like that, but they're far too bulky and heavy for what they actually offer - not to mention overpriced IMO.

I'm about 6', if I can close the footbox up on stand and still get my arms out to draw and shoot, the Serape will be a miracle.

NXP

NXP, I'm going to have to shoot some video this weekend. It's not complicated when you see it in person, but the way the different modes work isn't super obvious from pictures. Trying to describe it in words will only confuse things!

Looking forward to the vid, thanks again Evan!

I'm really looking forward to the video too. I can't for the life of me figure it out, or figure out what I would do with it and I still want one!

No video yet, but this thread has a step by step series of pictures on how to go from simple poncho mode to greatcoat mode. Hope that makes it clear.

Now I get it, and I'll have to get one. Just got to let the CC recover from Christmas a little...

This things is awesome.

Y'all dang well know you thought of this idea when you were out there hunting, freezing when you stopped... HPG made it a reality.

I'd like to see a packed size/dimension spec. I would love some heavy duty tabs placed at the edges to allow easy use as a hammock underquilt - friggin' SCORE!!

I guess I see this as clothing first and the "emergency" application as a handy bonus. For my hunting, it's all or nothing. If I'm moving, I wear very little and if I'm stopped, I need a lot to keep me warm. Having this along on cold weather hunts to throw on when I stop to glass seems like a perfect solution. It's eight ounces more than my "heavy" insulated jacket that it would replace. So for eight ounces, I get something warmer with more coverage that could also double as a bag or boost the rating of my sleeping bag in really cold stuff. Lookin' good to me.

If we ever go hunting, remind me to make sure we're stuck in a tower blind.....