One of the most important items to get right is your waterproof jacket, if you get wet during your expedition it can be a miserable experience, if it’s glorious sunshine then you don’t want to be carrying a big, thick heavy jacket that you’re not going to use.

A good waterproof jacket should be light, windproof, breathable and most importantly waterproof.

The best jackets are very expensive and you need to weigh up the cost against the amount of use you will get out of it, if it will only be used on expeditions and you progress from Bronze level right through Silver to Gold then it will only get a maximum of 18 days use, if you are lucky enough to get warm dry weather on all expeditions then it may not be used at all!  Unfortunately we have no control over the weather and it is a required part of D of E kit that nobody can do without.

Gore-Tex material is one of the best, at the cheaper end of the range they start at around £150 and go    up from there but you can guarantee that you will get a decent waterproof jacket that will do exactly what it needs to there are several different manufacturers that use this technology so shop around and find the one that suits best. There are other types of material used for waterproof jackets such as eVent, Neoshell and Paramo, apart from the features mentioned above there are some other things to look out for when buying your jacket:-

• Does it have a chest pocket that you can put your map in without undoing the main zip?
• Will it go over your base and mid layers?
• Is it long enough to keep you completely covered?
• Is it short enough so as not to restrict movement?
• Does the zip go right up to your chin? (It should)
• Do the cuffs fasten snugly? (They should)
• Does it have usable pockets?
• Does it have a hood with a peak and drawstring to keep in in place on windy days?
• Do you like it? That may seem daft but you won’t wear it or look after it if you don’t have any respect for it.

A waterproof jacket is one of the single largest expenses when kitting up for D of E so if there is an option of borrowing a suitable one then that may well be a better alternative.