In one word: toasty. The sort of jacket you can wear when you are on belay on a winter’s day, in the shade, and don’t need to shiver yourself warm. The sort of jacket that makes lunch breaks while ski touring a pleasant experience, rather than one to be rushed through.  The sort of jacket where you can be happily out of your sleeping bag past dusk on a winter camping trip.

Black Diamond's historical excellence in ice climbing equipment has (in my opinion) been on the decline for a number of years with the last truly excellent tool being the second generation Cobra which was released around 2010. Black Diamond recognized this and a few years ago started designing and testing their latest ice tool—the Hydra.