Fjällraven Abisko Trail Fleece review: I lived in this jacket for the trek to Everest Base Camp, and it's perfect

Meet the reviewer

Julia Clarke

Julia Clarke is a staff writer for Advnture.com and the author of the book Restorative Yoga for Beginners. She loves to explore mountains on foot, bike, skis and belay and then recover on the the yoga mat. Julia graduated with a degree in journalism in 2004 and spent eight years working as a radio presenter in Kansas City, Vermont, Boston and New York City before discovering the joys of the Rocky Mountains. She then detoured west to Colorado and enjoyed 11 years teaching yoga in Vail before returning to her hometown of Glasgow, Scotland in 2020 to focus on family and writing.

Fjällraven Abisko Trail Fleece: first impressions 

Named for the Swedish National Park, the Abisko Trail Fleece is all about keeping you comfortable in changeable outdoor conditions.

The construction of this fleece jacket is savvy: the hood, shoulders, and chest are made from flat-knitted polyester fleece for warmth with a soft brushed inside that feels great against any bare skin, while the sides and underarms, lower torso, and forearms are made from a lighter grid-structured fleece with superior ventilation. The result is that when it's chilly, it keeps you warm for quite a while before you need an outer layer, but when you're hiking, you can dump heat easily.

The fabric has just enough stretch for the jacket to be really functional when you're hiking and climbing, without being so stretchy as to lose its integrity, and the slim fit looks great and leaves just enough room for layers.

A super snug hood stays put in the wind and fits under your helmet, and the thumb loops help you negotiate gloves without walking around with gaping holes in the cuffs of your jacket.

Pockets abound, with deep, zipped handwarming pockets that aren't much good with a backpack, and a spacious zipped chest pocket for your phone.

The face fabric is very tough and resistant to pulling and pilling, and for a synthetic fleece, it doesn't hold onto much odor.

There are lots of recycled fabrics on show here, and while we won't lie and say it's cheap, it's certainly a nice price for Fjallraven and for a fleece that you can wear from Himalayan peaks to backyard bonfires.

Fjällraven Abisko Trail Fleece: in the field

I got this fleece for trekking to Everest Base Camp this year. The journey entailed 11 days of walking over 80 miles, starting in T-shirt weather and getting increasingly cool as we ascended. We were lucky with the weather and didn't experience much rain, but started at 9,383ft above sea level, and the highest point of the journey for me was 18,519ft at Kala Patthar, so the nights were always frigid.

All of that meant that I had to be especially vigilant about layering, so my plan was to wear this over a merino wool short-sleeved top, then have both a down jacket and a waterproof jacket to layer over the top.

When I first put this fleece on, I nearly squealed with delight at how well it fitted me. I own a lot of fleeces, and very few are particularly flattering, seemingly designed for a cereal box. This one, however, actually looks nice on. I tested the women's small, which is my usual size, and it's quite slim fitting, but I can easily wear it over a light mid layer, and its fairly low profile doesn't make it difficult to layer over.

Some fleeces are of the deep pile variety and better for coffee walks by the river, while others are super technical and almost flimsy, but this one falls right in the middle and provides tons of technical prowess whilst also being quite useful for wearing around town.

The first few days in the Himalayas were mostly warm and sunny enough not to need this when we were walking through the valley, but as soon as we got to our teahouse and stopped moving, I was really glad for the warmth that it provides. On our acclimatization days, where we climbed up quite steeply to higher elevations then came back down to help with altitude adaptation, I kept it on while I was moving and was really impressed by how well it breathes, wicks and dries. This is all down to the placement of panels of different types of polyester that lend both insulation and breathability.

Considering I wore this for 11 days and did a fair amount of sweating in it, it really didn't get too smelly (or maybe we were all so smelly I couldn't differentiate?) which is a welcome surprise, give that it's made from synthetic fabric.

The hood is also fantastic, soft on the inside and super snug when I'm all zipped up to keep the wind out of my ears, but it's not so tight that it pulls on the fabric of the shoulders. I didn't need a helmet on that expedition, but I've tested it out with my climbing helmet, and I can keep my hood up quite comfortably, which bodes well for winter mountaineering.

I don't love the way thumb holes look, even if I can appreciate their purpose, so I'm glad Fjällraven has gone with thumb loops on the inside of the cuffs, which made it easier to get my gloves on during one frigid alpine start.

The pockets are spacious, although the hand-warming pockets aren't really accessible when I'm wearing a backpack, and I kept my phone in my chest pocket most of the time. Speaking of wearing a backpack, the face fabric is really tough, and the shoulders don't show any signs of my straps rubbing.

If you forced me to gripe about this fleece, I suppose I could suggest a two-way zipper might enhance it, but in all honesty, it's my favorite fleece for hiking and I'm looking forward to many more adventures in it.

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