Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer/2 Review

As one of the best lightweight down jackets on the market, the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer/2 takes a technical approach to ultralight warmth. It's stuffed with high-quality down and made of lightweight yet durable recycled ripstop nylon. This jacket is the lightest jacket we've seen but is surprisingly warm considering the weight. It's simple yet effective, fits well, and moves even better. This is a no-brainer when considering what to pack for your next lightweight backcountry adventure.

Performance Comparison

Warmth

The Ghost Whisperer/2 packs significant warmth for its minimal weight. This isn't as warm as a big, puffy, down jacket, but it's plenty warm for summer nights in the mountains and shoulder season adventures.

The jacket's strong warmth-to-weight ratio comes from its high quality down. It is stuffed with 800-fill RDS-certified down. So even though there isn't a lot of down insulating this jacket, it still lofts enough to keep you warm in mild to moderate cold.

This jacket works best while moving. We wore this on challenging alpine climbing routes in Rocky Mountain National Park. And despite the cold early morning temperatures at 13,000 feet, the jacket kept us warm enough. When you combine this jacket with a lightweight fleece, it's more than warm enough for most conditions where you're moving.

It has a drawcord at the bottom to trap the heat that adjusts easily with a single pull. It has no other adjustment features to help seal in the heat, but the hood fits snuggly around your head and neck. The jacket only has a single zipper. If you're standing in sub-freezing temps, then make sure to layer with a few more pieces of clothing. But for such a lightweight piece, this jacket offers plenty of warmth.

Comfort

The Ghost Whisperer is an extremely comfortable jacket overall. It's made of soft material that feels good against your bare skin, and the light weight of the garment adds to the overall comfort. You won't feel weighed down while wearing this jacket.

Having a comfortable fit in a technical jacket is crucial, as it allows for mobility in the mountains. The Ghost Whisperer/2 fits close to the body without any extra space or excess material. But even with this alpine fit, it still allows for a full range of motion.

Our testers, most of whom have wide backs and shoulders, found decent mobility in this jacket. The sleeves don't ride up too much when we put our arms overhead, and the jacket doesn't expose much torso when reaching above you either. This makes it a great jacket for ski touring, hiking, or climbing, where freedom of movement is essential.

A very thin fleece, a base layer, or a t-shirt is best for wearing under this model. If we planned to wear a thicker sweater underneath, we would get one size larger than we normally wear.

While the jacket lacks much in adjustability, especially in the hood, we find a reassuring comfort in its simplicity. The no-frills features, as well as the quality of its construction, make it a go-to jacket for backcountry adventures or multi-pitch fun.

Portability

On our scale, the Ghost Whisperer/2 weighs a mere 8.3 ounces as a men's small. This is the lightest jacket we tested. It packs into its own pocket to a size that is the smallest of any jacket as well.

The Ghost Whisperer/2 is as packable and portable as it is because it is a simple jacket. There aren't extra zippers, pockets, or extra adjustment features that might help you dial in the fit. It has two hand pockets, a waist hem cinch cord, and nothing extra. However, this minimalist design approach makes this jacket the unquestionably best choice for ultralight missions.

It is made with thin 10-denier recycled ripstop nylon. This ultralight fabric choice is durable enough, but we definitely recommend carrying a stick-on patch for longer adventures with this jacket. While our testers didn't have any mishaps while running through brush and talus in Rocky Mountain National Park, we definitely have a couple of small snags from a long-distance backpacking trip on the Arizona Trail with this jacket.

The Ghost Whisperer/2 fits inside one of its zippered hand pockets. When compressed, it easily stuffs into a backpack or suitcase. This is the smallest compressed jacket we tested. The high-quality 800-fill down and the lightweight features of the jacket make it very compressible. This is a great piece to toss in and forget about until it gets cold.

Weather Resistance

The Ghost Whisperer/2 has a DWR coating on the exterior shell material. This makes it relatively water resistant but not as weather resistant as a few other down jackets.

One of our testers wore this jacket in an afternoon storm in Colorado and, unsurprisingly, ended up drenched. The DWR treatment helped keep the jacket dry in the torrential downpour for a few minutes, but eventually, the water soaked through.

This is common with DWR coatings on down jackets, though. They aren't rain jackets, after all. Most DWR coatings help with keeping a jacket dry in light precipitation, and this jacket does well to make the initial sprinkles of the summer alpine thunderstorms just bead on the coat. However, a deluge of any kind will soak through most down jackets, and the Ghost Whisperer/2 is no exception. If there's serious precipitation in the forecast, bring a rain shell.

In our spray and rub water-resistance test, the Ghost Whisperer/2 performed better than many jackets. It wasn't the most water resistant, but it performed just above average in this test.

It also does a fairly good job of blocking the wind. We regularly use this jacket in lieu of a windbreaker while backpacking. In our wind resistance lab test, it performed better than most other jackets, too.

Breathability

The Ghost Whisperer/2 is one of the most breathable down jackets we've worn. We regularly hike long distances and climb hard in this jacket, and it doesn't cause us to overheat nearly as quickly as other jackets.

Most of its breathability comes from the simple fact that it isn't as warm. A thin layer of down is more breathable than a thick blanket of it, after all. It has no other breathability features other than the full-length zipper, which is easy to operate thanks to an ultralight cord zipper pull.

The warmer a jacket is, the faster you're going to overheat when you start a high-output activity. This model is perfectly insulated for moving. In fact, you'll likely get cold if you stop moving. This is breathable enough for uphill skiing or heavy hiking in moderately cold temperatures. And it's breathable enough to wear as your only layer for summer alpine missions, too.

Should You Buy the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer/2?

The Ghost Whisperer/2 takes the cake in terms of being a light, compressible, warm jacket with decent weather resistance. This is one of the best overall down jackets on the market. While it's a bit thin for extreme cold weather, it excels for high-output cold weather activities like winter hiking or backcountry skiing. If you're looking for a technical piece for lightweight mountain adventures, the Ghost delivers.

What Other Down Jackets Should You Consider?

If you're shopping on a budget, the REI Co-op 650 Down and the even less expensive Wantdo Packable Down Hoody are worth a look. If you need something lightweight but don't care as much about weather resistance, check out the more affordable MontBell Superior Down.