REASONS TO BUY
Warm during motion
Strategically placed breathable panels
Fitted hood
Large chest pocket
Hand pockets
Lightweight
REASONS TO AVOID
Lacks thumb holes
Materials are not plush or thick
Rab Ascendor Hoody - Women's Review
Blending breathability, warmth, and protection, this high-end fleece is specially designed for technical performance
Credit: Trish Matheny
By Trish Matheny ⋅ Review Editor ⋅ October 31, 2025
RELATED: The Best Fleece Jackets for Women
Our Verdict
The Rab Ascendor Hoody is our go-to when we need a high-performance, technical fleece. It's lighter-weight, offering an impeccable balance of warmth and breathability for active pursuits, and is specially cut to comfortably wear with a hip belt or harness. The hood easily fits underneath a helmet, and other features include an insulated chin protector and a large chest pocket. While the synthetic fabric can provide some protection from wind and light rain, this layer performs best while you're in motion, harnessing body heat and wicking moisture on cold weather days. We only wish the functional design included thumb loops to better cover the hands and make for easy layering. Overall, the Ascendor earns our accolades for its breathable and protective design.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Rab Ascendor Hoody stands out for its technical performance. The lightweight design is crafted to keep you warm while providing breathability, to keep you comfortable in all types of weather events. We like this jacket as a standalone layer during cool mornings and evenings at the change of season or within a layered cold weather system. We also appreciate that this garment is eco-friendly and made with a high percentage of recycled materials.
The Rab Ascendor Hoody quickly became the favorite lightweight and technical fleece of our testing team due to its excellent breathability and the soft, stretchy material that's comfortable next to your skin.
Credit: Trish Matheny
Warmth
Given its lightweight design, the Ascendor Hoody supplies a surprising amount of stand-alone warmth during cool weather days, but performs best when your body is in motion. The 235 g/m2 fabric combines with a low-profile hood that traps body heat while releasing any excess moisture from intense activity. The recycled polyester fabric overlay offers increased wind resistance for your core on those blustery days. We really appreciate that the hood fits underneath a helmet, and we love how the insulated collar helps keep your chin warm while standing still for long periods. Despite the improvements of the latest iteration that include thicker grams per metric, this fleece still lacks the warmth of heavier options, making it best for high-output activities and not so great for hanging around camp.
We tested this fleece while cross-country skiing, rock climbing, trail running, biking, and hiking in the mountains of Southwest Colorado, California's Eastern Sierra, and Yosemite Valley. We noticed that during fast-paced activities – where our bodies put out a lot of heat – the layer excelled at breathability, keeping us from getting sweaty and cold. On colder days of rock climbing, the Ascendor kept us warm while we were climbing, but we needed another layer of insulation to stay warm at belays. Of all the fleece jackets we tested, this one is our favorite technical fleece for providing mid-layer warmth for bodies in motion.
The full zipper, stretchy and spacious hood, along with superb thermoregulation, make this a great standalone layer during cool weather seasons.
Comfort
Comfort is key on any adventure, and the Ascendor provides a nice level of comfort for all-day wear. The tiny polyester pockets in the material form a soft and cozy grid pattern on the inside, which feels super comfy against the skin. The insulated chin protector is even cozy enough to zip up during cold-weather outings. The previous version had no hand pockets, which we really missed, but Rab's updated version of this fleece includes them. The pockets are mesh-lined with zippers that are accessible even when wearing a harness. The jacket still includes a large chest pocket that helps block wind and is big enough to store a smartphone. The fit feels true to size, if a little large.
The materials are soft and don't feel itchy against the skin. The hood offers a spacious fit that can easily layer with a helmet. Movement while running, climbing, and hiking never felt restricted, and the fabric doesn't bunch in weird places. The shoulders are spacious, and extra-long sleeves and a longer torso provide coverage in all the right places. Although the face fabric wicks away water relatively well, it's far from water resistant, so make sure you pack a rain shell or other outer layer if you're expecting precipitation. For a technical fleece, this jacket sure doesn't skimp on comfort next to skin.
Thanks to a relaxed fit and stretchy fabric that offers excellent movement and coverage, this fleece provides all-day comfort.
Breathability
The Ascendor Hoody breathes exceptionally well. The polyester fabric is composed of a brick-like design with thinner channels surrounding fleece islands. These channels allow heat and sweat to escape during high-output activities. While previous iterations of the Ascendor included grid patterns of various sizes on different parts of the jacket, the latest version has uniform fleece squares, providing warmth to all body parts inside the design. This jacket is thinner than most of the lifestyle fleece jackets that we tested, allowing its lightweight, grid-pattern construction to release heat and moisture generated during activity.
During our rigorous testing period, we took this layer rock climbing, trail running, hiking, and cross-country skiing. We noticed that we could keep this fleece on when hiking up a very steep trail in 40°F weather without getting too sweaty, but it was too warm to run in on sunny, desert days in the 50s. In colder weather, especially when combined with a vest, it was a nearly perfect layer. Even when sweaty, the fabric dries out quickly. The Ascendor Hoody's balance of breathability and warmth is what ultimately makes it an excellent option for technical performance.
The brick-patterned fleece tufts provide warmth while the channels between them provide exceptional breathability. The perforated hand pockets also offer some ventilation.
Layering Ability
Layering over and underneath this fleece is a breeze. When pulling it over long-sleeved base layers and T-shirts, it slid over the top of them with ease. We didn't notice the jacket catching or bunching, which is not always true with gridded fleeces. We also appreciate that there is extra room in the shoulders, providing a roomier yet athletic fit.
This lighter-weight fleece can also easily layer beneath another jacket or insulated coat. The harder face fabric slides well and doesn't catch or bunch. The only caveat to the otherwise easy layering is the absence of thumb loops, which are always a nice option for keeping hands warmer and facilitating easier layering. That said, we love that you can wear the hood comfortably underneath a helmet. While the hood isn't big enough to fit over a helmet, it articulates well when pulled over a ball cap or beanie.
The slim fit and thin fabric make this fleece easy to layer beneath a harness, backpack, or jacket.
Weight
Another reason we absolutely fell in love with this fleece is the lightweight design. While the thicker fabric included in the latest iteration upped the overall weight of the design (and warmth), it still weighs just 11.5 ounces (for a size small), making it a truly lightweight hooded fleece.
While it doesn't come with a stuff sack or a pocket that it can stuff into, it can roll up surprisingly small into its own hood. We could stuff most of the jacket into the chest pocket, which is pretty neat, and speaks to both the size of the chest pocket and the compressibility of the Ascendor Hoody.
The lightweight design, along with thin material, makes this a very packable layer for trips into the mountains or abroad.
Should you buy the Rab Ascendor Hoody?
This is the fleece to choose if you need a mid-layer that offers excellent technical performance. The Ascendor Hoody stands out for its ability to thermoregulate, making it our favorite for more technical mountain pursuits. The updated construction offers increased protection from the elements by releasing sweat and trapping body heat garnered during fast-paced activities. Because this hoody is lightweight and designed to perform while you sweat, it's not the fleece we'd recommend if you need a fall fleece for the bleachers at a football game or standing stationary in the cold. This is our top choice if you're willing to trade cozy, thicker materials for a lightweight technical performance.
If you're looking for an awesome technical fleece for traveling in the mountains or abroad, the Rab Ascendor provides top notch performance.
Credit: Trish Matheny
What Other Fleece Jackets Should You Consider?
We also love the Patagonia R1 Air Full Zip Hoody for its excellent thermoregulation and balance of comfort and performance. If you need a technical fleece but want to save a little money, we also like the Outdoor Research Vigor Grid Quarter Zip and REI Co-op Flash Hyperstretch. If technical performance isn't a priority, the REI Co-op Trailmade Fleece is a cozy, stylish fleece ideal for hanging out in town or around the house.
Our testing team loves the Rab Ascendor for its technical performance. It's the perfect standalone layer during athletic pursuits in cool weather.
Credit: Trish Matheny
Side-by-Side Comparison
Compare Rab Ascendor Hoody - Women's versus top competing products:
—Trish Matheny
You Might Also Like
