With the The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 Down Jacket you get a faithful companion for all your outdoor tours. It is warm, lightweight, easy to stow and extremely breathable. The perfect prerequisites for an insulating jacket on the mountain. In our test, we found out what makes The North Face jacket so special and how it helps you on the mountain. Find out everything about The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 Down Jacket here.
About The North Face Summit Series
For many years, The North Face has done everything in its power to support you on your outdoor adventures. The North Face Summit Series was created through feedback from numerous professional athletes on expeditions to the highest mountains and most remote areas of the world.
The robust products can be optimally combined with the layering principle and thus protect you from the elements even under extreme conditions. Performance and the best functionality always play the decisive role. The North Face knows that the success of expeditions often lies in the details. That's why low weight is important, along with breathability and warmth.
You can be sure that all products with the Summit Series label offer you the best technical conditions for your outdoor adventures. The North Face Summit Series and The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 down jacket stand for optimal performance and protection against all adversities.

Revolutionary Insulation: The North Face 50/50 Down
When you are on high mountains or even in the snow, one function is indispensable: insulation. With the 50/50 Down, The North Face has developed a new technology that delivers the best insulation with extreme breathability.
The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 down jacket also has chambers filled with 800-cuin ProDown. This down filling is certified by the Control Union according to the Responsible Down Standard (RDS). This ensures that down is used from animals that have not been subjected to unnecessary torture, such as force-feeding or live plucking.
An extremely breathable outer material has been placed between these chambers to achieve the best of both worlds: Warmth and breathability. This 50/50 down construction is applied to the entire jacket, including the sleeves and hood.

More features of the The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 Down Jacket
In addition to the innovative and technologically outstanding insulation, the The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 down jacket offers other practical features for your next outdoor adventure. These include the large, pre-tensioned and helmet-compatible hood of The North Face outdoor jacket. The down chambers make it warm and it can also be adjusted to fit your helmet or head with a cord at the back of the head.
Another feature is the thin and lightweight pack sack in the right outer pocket of The North Face down jacket. This allows the The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 Down Jacket to be quickly and easily stowed in its own pocket. This means it takes up very little space in your backpack and is always quickly to hand if you need it.

In addition to breathability and insulation, the jacket is also protected against moisture with a durable water-repellent (DWR) impregnation. This prevents moisture from penetrating through the outdoor jacket into the down chambers or even onto your body. Optimal protection from all the elements.
The zips of The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 down jacket can also be counted as two practical features. They are very smooth and can be easily opened and closed even with gloves. They are also water-repellent so that no moisture can penetrate.
With two large pockets, the insulation jacket from The North Face also offers enough space to store small items and personal belongings safely and dryly. The fit of the jacket is rather tight, which is very practical, as you can still put on a hardshell jacket over the insulation jacket.

The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 Down Jacket at a glance
Windproof | 9 |
Pack volume | 8 |
Freedom of movement | 9 |
Warmth | 10 |
Breathability | 8 |
Fit | 8 |
Comfort | 9 |
Gender | Women & Men |
Category | Insulation jacket |
Special Feature | 50/50 Down insulation with 800 Cuin ProDown |
Fit | rather tight-fitting |
Application | Mountain Tours & Ski Tours |
Price | 399,90 € * |
Conclusion
In our test, the The North Face Summit Series L3 50/50 down jacket was completely convincing. The jacket feels very comfortable. The first impression is that the jacket is very thin. But once you put it on, you immediately notice how warm the The North Face jacket is.
It's no coincidence that The North Face won the Product of the Year Award at ISPO 2020 with the Summit Series L3 50/50 down jacket. We look forward to wearing The North Face jacket on many mountain tours.
Tested under extreme conditions - The Summit L3 Down Jacket by The North Face [2018]

This year too, our Keller Sports Pro Julian decided that the end of January was the perfect time to go ice climbing. This time he chose to visit the Reintal valley in South Tyrol. Due to the icy temperatures and extreme conditions, he had the perfect opportunity to try out the super lightweight L3 down hoodie midlayer for us. This is what he has to say about his trip and the hoodie from The North Face’s Summit Series:
“Our destination was the furthest corner of the Reintal valley - the ‘origin’ of the icefall. This waterfall is definitely one of the classics of this part of the Reintal and it’s approximately 2,100 metres high. It snowed a lot on the days before our trip, so we were the first to make tracks on around 1.2 metres of fresh snow. Kitted out with touring skis and all of our ice climbing gear, we set off from the Jausenstation Angerer mountain lodge towards the ‘origin’.

The Summit L3 Down by The North Face made an impression right away during our 90-minute tour. Whether you wear the down jacket or store it in your rucksack - it’s extremely light! It also compresses into a very small size and can be stored in its own pocket, so it barely takes up any space in your rucksack. It’s perfect for those trips where you have to be careful how much bulk you carry around with you.

After climbing around 500 metres above sea level we finally reached the approx. 170 ice wall. The climbing route we took to go up and down the wall has a difficulty level between WI 2 and 4. Thankfully, the North Face jacket was very comfortable to wear throughout and offered optimal freedom of movement. The large hood fitted perfectly over my climbing helmet and kept the snow from getting down my neck. The hood’s flexible adjustment system provided a perfect fit.

Just before ending this magical trip by climbing back down to the Jauenstation, we enjoyed a relaxing break with hot tea and cheese! As far as the Summit L3 Down jacket is concerned, on the whole, it performed well during the descent, but I was a little disappointed. Its relatively slippery material meant that my fully-packed rucksack moved about a lot on my back. After about 6.5 hours, we were back at the starting point. We really enjoyed the tour and would strongly recommend it - however, do keep an eye on the avalanche risk, as there are large slabs of snow on top of the icefall.

My conclusion:
I really liked the Summit L3 Down hoodie by The North Face. It keeps you very warm and it impressed me! When you climb ice, you spend a lot of time standing against the ice wall, fastening your climbing buddies. You soon get cold and wet and it can be pretty windy too. With this jacket I felt warm all the time, so I could climb and take care of all security measures in comfort. Unfortunately, this down jacket doesn’t have any inside pockets, but you can deal with that easily. What I liked the most about the jacket was how small a space it fits into, the heat output it offers and the freedom of movement it allows. I would definitely recommend this jacket for all kinds of winter sports.
* The actual price may differ from the one stated here. It depends on current offers and the model.