The Burgeon Franconia Fleece Hoodie is a form-fitting Polartec Power Stretch Hoodie that’s a warm four season mid-layer that’s particularly well-suited for winter hiking and climbing. It has an under-helmet hood, a built-in balaclava mask for face protection, dual zippered chest pockets, two interior drop pockets, and thumb-loops for wearing under a shell. This hoodie also works well when worn with a backpack, with an extended length doesn’t ride up under a hip belt. I often wear it as a mid-layer on “warmer” winter hikes because its so functional and because it looks great at the pub afterwards.

• Gender: Men’s Only
• Size: XL
• Weight: 17.2 oz
• Pockets: Four: two zippered chest, two internal drop
• Fit: Snug, size up if you have a dad bod
• Hood: Non-adjustable under (climbing) helmet hood
• Face protection: Stretch fabric inside the hood
• Thumb loops: Yes
• Material: Polartec Power Stretch

The built-in face mask is inside the back of the hood and easily stretched over your face when needed

The Burgeon Franconia Fleece Hoodie is well on its way to becoming a winter classic because it so well designed for winter sports and so functional. It’s made with Polartec Power Stretch Fleece, which is soft like a mid-weight fleece but very stretchy, making it good for dynamic activities like hiking, climbing, and skiing. Like regular fleece, it absorbs moisture from the skin while continuously wicking it to the outer layer for fast evaporation. But it’s outer surface also has a low-friction finish, so it can layer perfectly with others and resist abrasion on its own. It even provides a modest amount of wind protection so you can wear it as outer layer on warmer days.

I really like fleece hoodies that have chest pockets and the Burgeon Franconia Fleece scratches that itch for me. They’re very handy for carrying items that you want to access, like a phone, compass, map, or snacks, when you’re wearing a backpack hip belt, which makes it impossible to access handwarmer pockets along the side of your torso. The Patagonia R2 Techface Hoodie I recently reviewed also has two chest pockets.

The Franconia Fleece also has a thumb loops, which are useful to prevent the arms from riding up when you pull on a hardshell. The hood is human-sized, as opposed to helmet sized, so it will keep your noggin and neck warm in the cold wind. But the most unique feature of the Franconia hoodie is a swathe of stretch fabric in the back of the hood which you can stretch over your face, like a face mask to prevent sun or wind burn. It’s pretty porous, so it doesn’t provide full face protection like a Serius neoprene face mask/balaclava, but it cuts the wind enough to make you more comfortable on those days when you want more protection, but don’t need a full mountaineering face mask.

Thumb-loops keep the sleeves from riding up when you put on a shell.

The Franconia Fleece is form fitting so you may want to size up. I normally wear a men’s large and I even find the men’s extra-large a bit close-fitting. It’s designed that way to facilitate wicking, but if you like looser fitting mid-layers, it may be uncomfortable.

Recommendation

The Burgeon Franconia Fleece is a Polartec Power Stretch hoodie with two zippered chest pockets and a face mask built into the hood. It’s a great mid-layer for active winter sports such as winter hiking, ice climbing, or skiing. Burgeon Outdoors is a small but growing cottage clothing company located in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest, whose apparel is optimized for four-season self-powered sports. Check out their entire product line at Burgeon Outdoors.

Disclosure: Burgeon donated a hoodie for review.

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