REASONS TO BUY
Lightweight
Breathable
Fully featured
Durable
REASONS TO AVOID
Not the lightest on the market
Norrona Trollveggen Gore-Tex Light Pro - Women's Review
An incredibly versatile model that is competent for a wide range of adventures
The Norrona Trollveggen has lengthy pit zips that unzip from either end, our favorite design for efficient ventilation.
Credit: Lyra Pierotti
Our Verdict
The Norrona Trollveggen took us by storm. It is a very simple, lightweight hardshell jacket. It has a longer torso and spacious arms, making it great for extended use in alpine terrain, but the shape keeps it from feeling bulky or boxy. It's a highly versatile hardshell that is light enough to earn a spot in your summer mountaineering wardrobe but burly enough to keep you warm and dry. We also found it compact and breathable enough to operate as your around-town rain jacket or for wearing during those very wet bike commutes. See it rated versus top competitors in our review of the best women's hardshell jacket.
Editor's Note: We updated this review on March 23, 2023, with information on what other hardshell jackets we recommend.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Norrona Trollveggen is a burly shell designed for big mountains and severe weather, but it is still lightweight and flexible enough to be very comfortable.
Performance Comparison
The Norrona Trollveggen: A versatile, durable, comfortable hard shell best suited to cooler regions.
Credit: Lyra Pierotti
Weather Protection
Norwegians certainly know harsh weather. They've been braving it for centuries. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Norrona would create this burly shell jacket. The Trollveggen is made of rugged 40D GORE-TEX Pro fabric, which provides the highest level of protection for those venturing into cold mountainous regions. Plus, it is durable enough that you'll be confident when scratching around on sections of alpine rock—a hardshell jacket with a hole in it is not worth much.
The burly hood is adjustable with a single pull cord in the back of the head, and the brim is stiff to withstand strong gusts and keep precip out of your eyes. The asymmetrical cuffs are interesting; they dip lower across the back of your hand to help fling water droplets off instead of dripping them directly onto your gloves and saturating them. The fit of the jacket is roomy enough to allow you to layer warm clothing underneath, and the pit zips provide a rapid way to let excess heat escape, without letting rain or snow inside. They unzip from either end, which is our favorite design as it allows you to open the vents minimally and promotes better airflow.
The asymmetrical cuffs fall lower, protecting our gloves well from the precip.
Credit: Lyra Pierotti
Mobility and Fit
The Trollveggen provides good mobility with an athletic fit. The spacious arms allow room for warm layers without inhibiting your movement. This is an excellent jacket for technical alpine climbing. The latest model we tested feels narrower in the shoulders than its predecessor, which earned mixed results depending on the body shape of the reviewer. Climbers tend to be more broad-shouldered and prefer unrestricted movement, so this was not an improvement in our view.
The arms are long enough to seal around gloves without restricting reach or mobility, and the hood similarly allowed ease of motion even when all sealed up in the worst weather. The single cinching cord in the hood cinches the material like a crown around your head, so the hood moves with you when you look behind you rather than staying in place and blocking your vision when your head turns. We liked this jacket for ice climbing as it provided a good seal from the elements while allowing good range of motion even with layers underneath.
Testing mobility in the controlled gym environment: The Norrona Trollveggen allows great ease of movement when pulling technical climbing moves!
Credit: Lyra Pierotti
Venting and Breathability
In our experience, breathability is a combination of fabric quality, thickness, and ventilation. Norrona designed this jacket with an impeccably efficient blend of these attributes—the fabric is as light as it can be while still offering top-notch protection, and there are long pit zips that open from either end for ventilation.
With one zipper at each end, instead of both butted up against each other (as many of the other jackets with double zipper pit zips), this means you can ventilate from your core and arm at the same time, thus promoting airflow while minimizing the size of the hole necessary to ventilate. Brilliant.
The Norrona Trollveggen has lengthy pit zips that unzip from either end, our favorite design for efficient ventilation.
Credit: Lyra Pierotti
Weight
Norrona designed this jacket to have everything you need to withstand the worst storms while still being reasonably lightweight to earn a spot in your technical climbing kit. Weight was shaved through thoughtful design, like removing unnecessary pockets and using small, simple drawcord adjustment points. At 13 ounces, this jacket falls between our light and nimble climbing specialist jackets and our expedition-savvy shells, and that pretty well describes its utility.
Features and Design
The Norrona is full of thoughtful features—not too many, but just enough to offer everything you want in a durable, reliable hardshell without adding unnecessary weight or complication.
Nicely sealed from the elements, helmet and all, in the Norrona Trollveggen.
Credit: Caitlin Ames
The hood is very storm ready but has only one drawcord adjustment that cinches the cord, which is in a circle, so it wraps like a crown around your head. We love the simplicity and weight savings and found the adjustability adequate for our various climbing adventures and weather. A flap inside the hood, under the brim, helps seal out precipitation and wind as well. The cord feels thin for the resistance it takes to cinch the hood, however, which raises long-term durability concerns. On the inside of the hood, there is a large patch of soft material where the collar touches your face—always a favorite feature in cold regions.
The Napoleon-style pockets are high enough to allow access even when wearing a harness. They are not designed to tuck your hands into—rather, these are stormproof pockets for quick access to navigation tools or small snacks. And if you need something to be extra safe in that pocket, there is an additional zippered pocket inside the left chest pocket as well. The pocket design is optimized for technical climbing—we loved it for this purpose. And even around town, we didn't miss the “handwarmer” pockets. The zippers are waterproof, but there are also storm flaps over them. This inspires confidence when tucking our phone inside, but it does make it a little more cumbersome to get into the pockets.
The double chest pocket is novel, but we're not convinced it's better than an interior chest pocket.
Credit: Lyra Pierotti
The drawcord hem is reasonably well-designed. You simply grab the loop of cord to tighten it, and when you want to loosen the fit, there is a more sizeable release button sandwiched inside the fabric (so it doesn't get iced up), which is easy to operate wearing gloves. The tightening had a little more resistance to the pull than we think is wise for the thickness of elastic cord used, similar to the hood cinch design, raising similar durability concerns.
And that pretty much sums up the features in this jacket: streamlined, efficient, simple, and thoughtful. Great for technical climbing and anything else where you prioritize simplicity, utility, and ease of movement.
The Norrona Trollveggen is great for all mountain use, but also useful on cold and wet adventures in more moderate altitudes and latitudes.
Credit: Lyra Pierotti
Should You Buy the Norrona Trollveggen GTX Light Pro?
The Trollveggen is one of the more versatile jackets in this review. It is burly and storm-ready, yet streamlined and lightweight enough to earn a spot on expeditions and fast-and-light adventures alike. It is breathable enough for high-level aerobic activities and rugged enough for severe storms and rough conditions. This is an excellent all-around hardshell for just about any mountain adventure. However, if it's out of your price range, there are other options you might consider.
What Other Hardshell Jackets Should You Consider?
If you can't fit the Trollveggen into your budget, check out the Patagonia Triolet, which is a great all-around hardshell with price tag that's a bit easier on the wallet. For an excellent option for high output activities, take a look at the Rab Kinetic Alpine 2.0, an uber-breathable jacket that protects like a hardshell but feels like a softshell. Alternatively, if you want the ultimate in durable mountain protection, we recommend the quality (yet pricey) Arc'teryx Alpha SV.
—
Lyra Pierotti
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