The North Face Summit Series Celebrates 25 Years of Relentless Pursuit

Need top tier gear to match your objectives? Summit Series has you covered with heritage gear that sports cutting edge tech.

Cast your mind back, if you can, to the year 2000. For me it’s the Sydney Olympics aesthetic, Mum’s ‘Millenium gold’ Toyota Echo, the launch of the PlayStation 2, and joy that the Y2K bug didn’t nuke all of our computers.

But in the outdoors big things were shifting. Technical clothing was allowing people to explore like never before and expeditions were finding new limits at the edge of human endurance. 

The North Face chose the year 2000 to launch their Summit Series, a range of gear aimed at alpine climbers, trail runners, skiers and snowboarders chasing FKTs, race wins, and brand new objectives. 

Summit Series is made for the days when others stay home

It only takes a quick look at The North Face’s YouTube to see that the ‘Athlete Tested, Expedition Proven’ motto is woven into their fabric.

Now they’re celebrating 25 years of the Summit Series with a limited alpine, run, and snow range.

New Tech, Iconic Look

The range sees heavy use of ‘summit gold’ paired with striking black across the shoulders and arms. Meridian blue is also strongly featured, along with the new Flora Alpina print that’s quickly carved a place for itself in trail running culture.

A quick look at the launch vid confirms that the colours pay homage, with archive footage capturing a quarter century of athletes in similar garb.

The Mountain Jacket harks back to 1985 where it began life in The North Face Expedition System. The iconic silhouette and blocks of primary colours have wooed the gorpcore and streetwear crowd recently, but the jacket is still right at home in the high alpine.

They’ve also reintegrated Gore-Tex waterproof tech into key pieces. Gore-Tex is still hard to top and lends a bit of extra oomph to their range topping products.

Read more: What is gorpcore?

Key Pieces from the Summit Series 25 Year Range

Alpine

Summit Series Mountain Gore-Tex Pro Jacket 

The jacket so good I couldn’t wait ’til this section to start talking about it. You get top tier Gore-Tex Pro fabric, tough Spectra ripstop panelling on the sleeves, drop tail, and hood, and articulated shoulders to keep you moving freely. Harness and helmet compatibility is almost a given but underarm vents and a non-PFC DWR finish round out the offering. Whatever you’re planning to throw at it, this jacket’s designed to take it.

Summit Series Pumori Down Parka

Tell me this isn’t the poofiest thing you’ve ever seen. Pumori is a 7165m peak in the Himalayas and translates from the Sherpa language to ‘mountain daughter’. The parka length ensures no cold spots around your waist and a two way zip allows you to access pockets or a harness if needed.

Offset ‘Cloud Down’ baffles provide further protection from the cold and 800 fill hydrophobic ProDown keeps trapping heat in wet conditions. Environmentally-friendly PFC-free DWR and recycled nylon Pertex® Y Fuse ripstop fabric help lower the jacket’s footprint while maintaining toughness for big expeditions.

Comes in a brilliant Meridian Blue in mens and TNF black in womens.

Summit Series FUTUREFLEECE™ Full Zip Hooded Jacket

Think of this as a thermal booster, for those days (or nights) when a regular thermal won’t cut it on its own. It’s a body-hugging hoody with flat-lock stitching and no shoulder seams so that it disappears under your pack or heavier layers. 

The Futurefleece insulation at 124 g/m² strikes a powerful warmth-to-weight ratio while still including a thin protective layer that’ll help it last when you inevitably wear it around camp or in the hut.

The pre-tensioned hood is basically an on-demand beanie and thumb loops help keep your wrists warm or help the jacket lock into your gloves.

Summit Assault 2 Futurelight Tent

Wahey, you don’t often see single wall tents in Australia. Made for hardcore mountaineering adventures, these tents ditch the traditional tent + fly design for a simpler, lighter single wall of waterproof, breathable fabric – in this case it’s The North Face’s own ultra-breathable Futurelight three layer recycled nylon.

I particularly love the removable vestibule, allowing you to choose a fast and light bivy-style setup, or use it as an expedition-style basecamp tent. It’s not pretty, but the white fabric allows some much-needed light in on tentbound blizzard days.

Multiple decent internally controlled vents help manage moisture and carbon fibre poles keep the weight down. This is a true snow camping and mountaineering tent with an adaptable and free-standing design. There’s a reason you see North Face tents all over alpine camps at the world’s highest peaks.

Run

Summit Series Superior Futurelight Jacket 

At only 211g for a women’s medium, this jacket is mind-bendingly light for a true three layer Futurelight rainjacket. Featuring a standard-fit that helps with airflow, water-resistant zip and seam-sealing to tick race mandatory gear requirements, it’s a stashable jacket made for runs and safety when the weather has turned sour.

It’s also packable to stash in your running vest and made with 100% recycled nylon and non-PFC DWR. Good stuff.

Summit Series Run Vest 10

This pack recently proved its credentials at UTMB where the striking Flora Alpina stood out from the pack. Made of FlashDry material that wicks away sweat and doesn’t hold onto water, this 10 litre pack is just enough to carry an optimised loadout for the world’s toughest ultras.

Two 500mL soft flasks are included and inclusions like horizontal trekking pole stowage, a whistle, loops to hold a hydration tube and chest pockets for snacks round it out. Put it on, adjust the fit to snug, and go run!

High Trail Short Sleeve Tee

How techy can a tee get? The Summit Series High Trail goes all the way. The back panel and underarms are made of FlashDry Pro, offering the best possible sweat wicking, while the front and sleeves utilise recycled FlashDry that increases comfort, especially with a pack.

A split hem keeps things flowy and aerated while reflective accents help people spot you through the fog.

Read more: Check out our first look at the Summit Series Vectiv Pro 3 trail runner!

Snow

Verbier GTX Pro Bib

Did ya know it’s bib season? (It’s always bib season!) The Verbier Pro Bib levels up with Gore-Tex three layer waterproof fabric that’s still recycled and PFC free. The ingenious spring-loaded locking cam allows you to adjust and self-equalise the suspenders with a single pull (this is awesome) while heaps of zippered pockets keep your gear safe. I particularly like the included internal gear clip for things like an avalanche beacon, and the vents on the inner thigh.

Summit Series Verbier GTX Jacket

If you just want to go all out on a fit, cop the Verbier GTX jacket as well. With the same Gore-tex fabric, articulated design with seamless shoulders for a pack, and a powder skirt, you get to focus on riding.

Casaval Hybrid Hoodie

What’s better than insulation? Laser perforated insulation designed to stretch and breathe with movement. That’s what Ventrix does and combined with 12% elastane and Flashdry, you get a flexible, warm hoody that’s ready for anything.

Like all the jackets in the Summit Series range, this one has seamless shoulders to increase comfort with a pack and subtle additions to the zips and pockets to maximise warmth and water resistance.