The award-winning Gore-Tex ePE alpine shell is down to $311.99, half its $625 list

If you buy something from a link in this article, we may earn a commission. Learn more

Patagonia’s Super Free Alpine Jacket is $311.99 in women’s Amanita Red right now, half off the $625 list, with XS, S and M still selectable on Patagonia’s own site. This is the shell that carried Gore-Tex ePE into the world a few seasons back, so the markdown lands on a jacket with a real résumé.

The reason for the price is the calendar, not the jacket. These are past-season colors moving through Patagonia’s sale shelf, which means the size run is whatever is left. The women’s run is still healthy. The men’s side is nearly gone, and I’ll get to that.

Patagonia Women’s Super Free Alpine Jacket, Amanita Red
3-layer Gore-Tex ePE shell · 100% recycled 40-denier nylon face · Sizes XS, S and M
Price: $311.99 $625.00 (save $313.01, 50% off)
Where to buy: Buy at Patagonia

A quieter kind of Gore-Tex

ePE stands for expanded polyethylene, the membrane Gore built to keep storm-level protection while dropping intentionally added PFAS from the fabric, the membrane and the DWR finish. The Super Free Alpine was one of the first jackets anywhere to ship with it, and the build picked up an ISPO award.

A three-layer build bonds the face fabric, the membrane and the backer into one piece, so there’s no loose lining to bunch or tear. The face here is 100% recycled nylon at a light 40 denier, and the inside runs Gore’s C-Knit backer, a soft knit that slides over a midlayer instead of crinkling like a chip bag. Quiet fabric on a windy ridge is a bigger deal than it sounds.

Rain beads and rolls off the face because of the DWR finish, instead of soaking in and chilling the shell. Keeping that finish free of intentionally added PFAS was the hard part of this membrane generation, and it’s the reason this jacket got the attention it did.

Built to clear a harness

The handwarmer pockets sit extra high on the torso, up where a climbing harness or a pack hip belt can’t block them. You can warm your hands and keep your gear on, which is the design brief in one move.

Inside there’s a zippered chest pocket for the small stuff and mesh dump pockets sized for gloves and skins. The cuffs run internal gaskets that keep the sleeves where you set them, and a concealed RECCO reflector is built into the shell for organized rescue.

Two-way pit zips earn their keep here. Crack them open from the bottom and you dump heat on the skin track without unzipping the front of the jacket into the weather.

A hood with insulation of its own

Most shell hoods are just more shell fabric. This one packs a Storm Seal gasket lightly insulated with 65 grams of recycled PlumaFill, so the hood seals around a helmet without a cold ring biting your forehead.

It fits over a helmet, adjusts at two points, and runs Cohaesive cord locks you can work with gloves on. The high collar zips to the chin, and the gasket does the sealing work a balaclava usually handles.

The men’s side is thinner

Men’s Clement Blue is also $311.99 at 50% off, and it’s the same three-layer ePE build in a two-tone blue. One catch: size S is the only size left, so that route works for a narrow slice of readers and nobody else.

Patagonia Men’s Super Free Alpine Jacket, Clement Blue
3-layer Gore-Tex ePE shell · 100% recycled 40-denier nylon face · Size S only
Price: $311.99 $625.00 (save $313.01, 50% off)
Where to buy: Buy at Patagonia

Sizzle Red is the men’s buy with an actual size run, XS through XL with XXL sold out, at $436.99. That’s 30% off the same $625 list for the same jacket, and the men’s cut weighs 14.81 ounces.

Patagonia Men’s Super Free Alpine Jacket, Sizzle Red
3-layer Gore-Tex ePE shell · 100% recycled 40-denier nylon face · Sizes XS through XL
Price: $436.99 $625.00 (save $188.01, 30% off)
Where to buy: Buy at Patagonia

Both cuts run a regular fit with room for layers under the shell, which is the correct shape for a jacket that has to go over insulation at a belay. The full-price range runs XS through 3XL, and the shells come out of a Fair Trade Certified factory.

Patagonia built this one for modern alpinism and hard alpine-style climbs, and it works just as well as a storm shell for winter hiking when the weather turns mean. The RECCO reflector is passive, so it needs no battery or charging to bounce a rescue detector’s signal.

Half off an ISPO-winning ePE shell doesn’t need much of a pitch. The women’s red at $311.99 is the clean buy, the men’s blue is a one-size lottery ticket, and the men’s red at $436.99 is there if your size survived.

Patagonia Women’s Super Free Alpine Jacket, Amanita Red
3-layer Gore-Tex ePE shell · 100% recycled 40-denier nylon face · Sizes XS, S and M
Price: $311.99 $625.00 (save $313.01, 50% off)
Where to buy: Buy at Patagonia

Past-season colors are how a $625 alpine shell ends up at $311.99. If your size is in the run, this is the easiest gear math of the week.

Love our content? Sign up for our newsletter today. No ads, no spam, just links to our latest articles!