Best Women’s Lightweight Rain Jackets for Hiking in 2022

Over the years I’ve carried out my share of mountaineering within the rain. Apart from the 5 years I lived within the Pacific Northwest, on a Bearfoot Theory group journey to Alaska, we spent 8 strong days backpacking within the rain. Hiking within the rain and staying comfy is a little bit of an artwork, but it surely all begins with having the appropriate gear.

To aid you keep dry in no matter situations chances are you’ll face, we put collectively this checklist of the perfect rain jackets for girls which have withstood the check of the path by the Bearfoot Theory crew. At the very backside, we speak in regards to the supplies and technical options of mountaineering rain jackets that can assist you decide precisely what you want.

Best Women’s Rain Jackets At A Glance

Best Women’s Rain Jackets Comparison Table

See the comparability desk under for a fast abstract of every of the highest ladies’s rain jackets. You can click on on the columns to type by what’s most vital to you.

Best Rain Jacket for Downpours

Arc’teryx Beta AR Women’s Rain Jacket

Great for: mountaineering in downpours, folks dwelling in wet climates

Pros: most waterproof jacket on the checklist, “Lifetime of product” guarantee, very sturdy

Cons: costly funding, heavier and bulkier than different jackets

Arc’teryx is among the costlier outside manufacturers, and for years I questioned in the event that they have been well worth the value. Then proper earlier than my Alaska backpacking journey the place I wanted to be ready for the weather, I discovered the Arc’teryx Beta AR rain jacket for 30% off at REI and determined to strive it out. After mountaineering by downpours 8 of 10 days on that backpacking journey, I’m so completely happy I made the funding. I by no means felt clammy, damp, or chilly sporting the Beta rain jacket and the waterproof zippers prevented water from seeping in. It stored me utterly dry, the jacket itself dried shortly, and the pit zips have been important for avoiding feeling sweaty and clammy. This jacket additionally holds up in opposition to the wind very well.

If you reside within the PNW or one other moist, chilly local weather or have a backpacking journey the place the climate is a significant concern and wish one thing that can maintain up in opposition to a number of rain and wind, this jacket is an superior selection. For drier climates, lugging this jacket round could be a bit overkill, relying on the season. I took it on a backpacking journey within the Sierras final summer time and it was undoubtedly greater than I wanted for the occasional sprinkle for the reason that Beta jacket is stiffer and doesn’t pack down in addition to extra light-weight choices.

Overall, I’m so completely happy to have made the funding on this rain jacket and it’s my go-to for mountaineering within the PNW and different wet climates, but it surely’s not the rain jacket I pack for each outside journey. If you need one thing a little bit extra light-weight, try the Arc’terx Beta LT.

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Best Ultralight Rain Jacket for Backpacking

Outdoor Research Women’s Helium Rain Jacket

Great for: ultralight backpacking, tossing in your daypack or automobile for emergencies

Pros: packs right down to pocket-size, one of the light-weight jackets on our checklist, breathable

Cons: no hand pockets, not a ton of additional options

This Outdoor Research Helium Rain Jacket is nice for backpackers and hikers who need to shed weight from their pack. Bearfoot Theory’s former group supervisor, Kim, packed this rain jacket on her Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike and liked the way it packed down tremendous small and held up in opposition to the weather. Weighing lower than 6 ounces, it’s the most light-weight rain jacket available on the market! This can also be an ideal rain jacket choice to toss in your mountaineering daypack for emergencies because it weighs subsequent to nothing.

However, the largest draw back of this jacket is there aren’t any aspect pockets, so in case you are somebody who likes to carry your keys, cellphone, or pockets in your pocket when you’re mountaineering or taking a stroll within the rain, this will not be the jacket for you.

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Best Budget-Friendly Rain Jacket

REI Rainier Women’s Rain Jacket

Great for: funds buys, summer time journeys, light-weight backpacking, mountaineering, and tenting

Pros: versatile for a lot of outside adventures, holds up in windy situations

Cons: doesn’t maintain up in heavy rain, not properly vented

The REI Rainier Women’s Rain Jacket affords implausible worth at a funds value! At lower than $90, it’s among the finest rain jackets for girls on a funds and is the rain jacket that Linda, Bearfoot Theory’s Director of Operations, presently sports activities on wet day adventures. She’s been utilizing it on all her mountaineering, tenting, and backpacking journeys since getting it final yr and completely loves it.

The Rainier Rain Jacket is light-weight and does an incredible job at repelling rain and blocking out wind. It has all of the options we search for in a rain jacket, like pit zips, an adjustable hood, and pockets in all the appropriate locations, plus it additionally comes at an incredible value level. She loves this rain jacket a lot that she additionally purchased one for her husband for Christmas. You can discover the lads’s model right here.

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Best Eco-Friendly Rain Jacket

Patagonia Torrentshell Women’s Rain Jacket

Great for: folks trying to purchase eco-friendly gear, windy situations, mountaineering in downpours

Pros: deep pockets, Bluesign-approved cloth – produced from recycled nylon waste, good wind resistance

Cons: stiff materials, runs small (really helpful to order a dimension up)

We’re large followers of Patagonia at Bearfoot Theory, due to their sustainable enterprise practices and high-quality gear. So it’s no shock that the Patagonia Torrentshell made the checklist of the perfect ladies’s rain jackets. This light-weight rain jacket is made with sustainable, eco-friendly supplies, has an adjustable hood, and is available in quite a lot of colours. This jacket holds up extraordinarily properly within the wind, preserving you not solely dry however heat.

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Best Lightweight Rain Jacket for Travel

Eddie Bauer Women’s Cloud Cap Rain Jacket

Great for: journey, summer time use, light-weight backpacking

Pros: one of the light-weight jacket choices, adjustable hood

Cons: cloth makes a crinkly noise when sporting

Linda, BFT’s Director, wore the Eddie Bauer Women’s Cloud Cap Rain Jacket on a visit to Yosemite National Park and had an opportunity to check it out on the Mist Trail and in a summer time thunderstorm. The verdict? It’s the proper ultralightweight rain shell, particularly in heat climate and on backpacking journeys the place you don’t need to carry any further weight. She additionally wore this rain jacket in Hawaii and loves that it’s stylish sufficient to put on round city in addition to on the mountaineering trails.

Since it packs down so small and is so mild, it’s simple to throw in your daypack or journey bag so that you’re ready in case you get caught in a day downpour. It has pit-zips for air flow and an adjustable hood – two options we think about important for any rain jacket, and it folds up small into the right-hand pocket making it simple to deliver alongside on any journey.

Most Durable Rain Jacket

Black Diamond Stormline Stretch Women’s Rain Shell

Great for: outside sports activities like biking and climbing, heavy rain, light-weight backpacking

Pros: extraordinarily sturdy cloth, breathable, one of the light-weight jacket choices

Cons: outsized hood (should you’re not utilizing it for biking), stiff cloth

You would possibly know Black Diamond from their climbing or backcountry ski gear, however in addition they make implausible ladies’s outside attire. This Black Diamond Stormline Stretch Women’s Rain Shell will stand as much as no matter nature throws at it.

This rain jacket has related options to most of the different jackets on this checklist and is available in quite a lot of colours. What units the Stormline other than the opposite rain jackets on our checklist is that this jacket is tailor-made for outside sports activities like climbing and biking with ultra-stretchy cloth for added mobility and a climbing-helmet-compatible hood. If you need a ladies’s rain jacket that may sustain with all of your outside sports activities, that is the one.

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Best Value Rain Jacket

North Face Venture 2 Women’s Rain Jacket

Great for: brief hikes, dry climates

Pros: a tried and examined mannequin that has been round for over a decade, nice worth for value

Cons: can really feel sticky if mountaineering for prolonged durations of time in it

Another budget-friendly shell on this checklist of the perfect rain jackets for girls is the North Face Venture 2. This was my rain jacket earlier than I upgraded to the Arc’teryx, and I discovered it to be efficient, comfy, and sturdy. It’s an incredible rain jacket selection for shorter outings the place you would possibly encounter scattered showers or backpacking journeys in drier climates the place climate isn’t an enormous concern. It packs down tremendous small, is light-weight, and has a stretchier texture that I discover fairly comfy in comparison with different rain jackets.

This jacket doesn’t present a lot wind safety or heat and I wouldn’t depend on it for prolonged downpours or tremendous moist climates. If I hike for lengthy durations of time on this jacket, I can begin to really feel sticky, but it surely does have pit zips which helps regulate temperature. Be warned, this jacket does are likely to run small so I like to recommend sizing up to make sure a roomy slot in case you need to layer with base layers beneath.

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6 Factors to Considering When Buying a New Rain Jacket

1. Price

The value of a rain jacket does make a distinction since you’ll get increased high quality merchandise which have gone by extra testing, analysis, and improvement to make sure they work properly. While a decrease or mid-priced mountaineering raincoat will nonetheless get the job carried out, it typically comes at the price of some consolation, whether or not that’s a sturdy Gore-tex outer layer or breathability and air flow on the within that can decrease sweating.

Although it’s robust to spend a bigger chunk of change on a chunk of substances, it’s typically well worth the cash and might prevent from having to interchange that merchandise a number of instances sooner or later. Think of it as an funding that can final you for a few years, fairly than an overpriced piece of substances. In this case, it’s price it.

If you’re on a funds, select a top quality mid-priced raincoat – the REI Rainier Rain Jacket is a superb choice – that has the options you want and use most frequently. Consider the actions you do most frequently and select a light-weight rain jacket that fits your mountaineering type. Chances are you possibly can resell it if it’s nonetheless in good situation and when you’ll want to improve you’ll know precisely what to purchase.
Another nice choice to save cash is to purchase gently used outside gear.

2. Waterproof vs. Water-Resistant

If you’re investing in a sturdy and efficient rain jacket that can stand as much as the wind and rain, you’ll need one thing that’s waterproof. While waterproof raincoats are good for mild wind and rain, they don’t have as many technical components and the material gained’t do you a lot good in a storm.

A light-weight windbreaker is an effective instance of a waterproof jacket and you may think about how that may fare should you get caught in an sudden thunderstorm on the path (spoiler: not properly).

3. Fit

A mountaineering rain jacket ought to match free sufficient you could add further layers beneath and have vary of movement that lets you transfer your arms round comfortably. It must also match cosy sufficient so that you don’t have an excessive amount of further cloth getting in the way in which as you’re mountaineering.

4. Jacket Materials

If you’ve ever been for a hike within the rain, you then would possibly know the way uncomfortable and distracting it’s to really feel moist from the rain whereas additionally struggling by that sticky feeling of your jacket clinging to your pores and skin out of your sweat. 

raincoat will assist hold you dry by preserving moisture out from the surface whereas additionally permitting sweat or different water vapors from the within to evaporate.

Here are the most typical waterproof materials you’ll discover when selecting a mountaineering raincoat.

• Gor-Tex: We typically point out Gore-Tex right here at Bearfoot Theory as a result of it’s a preferred technical cloth that’s generally utilized in waterproof outside gear. Gore-Tex is an artificial, waterproof cloth that retains you dry within the rain or snow. Its light-weight building makes merchandise with Gore-Tex nice for breathability and air flow so that you gained’t get overheated while you’re scorching on a wet hike. A raincoat with Gore-Tex is a sturdy, waterproof choice that helps hold you cool and dry.
• Durable Water Repellent (DWR): DWR is an additional coating that gear firms add to mountaineering raincoats that enable them to actually repel water from the jacket. As water hits the floor of the material it beads up and rolls proper off fairly than getting absorbed or evaporating. DWR undoubtedly retains you dry, nevertheless, it may well make a raincoat barely much less breathable. It additionally requires a little bit of repairs as a result of the end can put on off over time, so chances are you’ll have to reapply a brand new DWR coating sometimes. Either approach, DWR is a superb choice for staying dry and sometimes comes at a cheaper price than Gore-Tex.

There are a number of different supplies that main outside manufacturers are utilizing, resembling DryVent, eVent, and so on, typically with proprietary expertise, however Gore-Tex and DWR are probably the most generally utilized in the perfect rain jackets for girls.

>> Read Next: Tips for Hiking within the Rain

5. Number of Fabric Layers

Most raincoats have a 2, 2.5, or 3 layer building to them that sandwiches the a number of completely different layers or membranes of material collectively to create a water-resistant jacket. Here’s a fast breakdown of the three sorts that can aid you navigate the product description and the value if you end up selecting a mountaineering raincoat.

• Midweight 2 Layer Rain Jacket: The midweight 2 layer raincoat is a extra budget-friendly choice that normally prices underneath $100. It’s the least technical model and has a mesh liner, in order that they are typically breathable, however don’t have as strong of waterproofing. It’s good for sporting round city and shorter hikes the place it would rain. (Example: North Face Venture Rain Jacket)
• Midweight 2.5 Layer Rain Jacket: The mid-range 2.5 layer raincoat is a greater waterproof choice and barely much less breathable than a 2 layer. However, it’s a good selection for longer wet hikes and backpacking journeys. These rain jackets are light-weight and compact with extra technical options like pit zips and DWR. 2.5 layer rain jackets can price over $100. (Example: Outdoor Research Helium Rain Jacket)
• 3 Layer Rain Jacket: The most sturdy and technical choice is the three layer raincoat, also called a hardshell, which affords final safety, typically in a light-weight package deal. This is a superb choice for backcountry and harsh climates and might price $150-$300+. (Example: Patagonia Torrentshell)

6. Important Features

Before you buy a rain jacket, be sure you take into accounts what options you need and wish resembling:

• Adjustable Hood:  Having hood to guard your face and eyes from the weather is a crucial function of a mountaineering rain jacket. Look for one that’s adjustable and has a brim to protect your eyes from wind and rain.
• Armpit Vents: This is a MUST for me with any rain jacket I purchase. When there’s an excessive amount of humidity within the air for simply your mountaineering raincoat to do the trick, strategically positioned vents, particularly across the armpits, will likely be your new greatest mates. Pit vents launch heat air, and a few even have vents within the hood or the pocket linings.
• Adjustability drawcords: If you end up out in gale-force wind and rain, and even one thing rather less intense, adjustable drawcords within the hem or waist of your raincoat will cinch within the cloth to assist hold the weather out.
• Sealed Zippers: Zippers are locations the place moisture can seep into the within of your rain jacket. Bonded seams on the zippers will assist hold the rain out, and issues like laminated zippers and a zipper storage (a small flap of material to cowl the zipper when zipped) will hold you dry.

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What is your favourite light-weight rain jacket for mountaineering? Tell us within the feedback under!