Mountain Hardwear Crater Lake Long Sleeve Hoody - Women's Review

The Crater Lake Hoody is a super stretchy, relaxed sun shirt with a feminine cut. It's made of 88% polyester and 12% elastane and features a hood, thumb holes, a hem cinch, and a zippered hip pocket. The fabric is thin, breathable, and dare we say cooling, making it a great choice for hot climates.

Comfort and Fit

The Crater Lake Hoody has a slim fit with a feminine cut. Our lead tester found the fit perfectly true to size, with a long length in the sleeves and torso for additional coverage. We also had several of our friends try on this shirt, and those who had extra upper body muscle or more curves noted that they might prefer to size up for a more relaxed fit. The soft, silky, uber-stretchy fabric is comfortable to wear — we love the feel of it against our skin. The amount of stretch it offers not only allows it to move well, but also means you can use the thumb holes without the sleeves digging into the skin between your joints. Even our long-armed testers think the thumb holes are comfortable to wear for everything from biking to paddling, and the sleeves overall provide coverage well past your knuckles.

This shirt is also thin and flexible, adding to how comfortable we find it. If you're taking it backpacking, it's even easier to sleep in while camping, and it's just as easy to wear for extra-long travel days. If that's not enough, we're quite impressed that despite the thinness and many light colors, the fabric is not sheer at all; you can't see the colors of a sports bra showing through, but you can see the outline. There is a drawstring at the hemline to tighten the bottom of the shirt, which can be a fun style feature, but we didn't use it much.

Sun Protection

With a UPF of 50+, the Crater Lake has one of the highest UPF ratings of the shirts we tested. Not stopping there, this shirt is chock full of features to keep you safe from UV rays without needing sunscreen or causing excessive sweating. It has a roomy hood, thumb holes, and an optionally cinched bottom that have all got you covered no matter what you decide to do outside.

While the hood fits easily under a hat (or over, since it's so stretchy), it doesn't have a taller neck in front or any way to tighten it, meaning it can come off in the wind or when running or biking. Very few of the hooded options we tested have a cinching mechanism on the hood, but many of the other models have taller necks in front to help keep the hood on, no matter what. The lack of a taller neck on the Crater Lake also makes this shirt just a little bit more comfortable to wear — though it does leave the front of your neck exposed.

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Breathability

Another area in which the Crater Lake excels is allowing easy airflow through the fabric. This shirt is made of a permeable elastane-blend fabric, and the looser hem facilitates airflow, making it feel cooling on warmer days. The thin material also helps wick sweat away from your skin, and if it absorbs any moisture (under a pack or in the pits), it dries quickly in the sun or a breeze.

This shirt is one of the few models we tested that didn't leave us too warm on very hot afternoons. We could keep this on without wanting to push our sleeves up to cool down. We find this incredibly impressive, as it can be incredibly challenging to wear a long-sleeved shirt on a triple-digit day, no matter what your dermatologist recommends.

Versatility

Like most of the hooded shirts in this review, the Crater Lake Hoody is a specific sort of sporty style. The tie hem can be cinched and tied into a bow to add some feminine flair. We find this hoody to be less flattering with the hem cinched up, but that may also be a personal preference. The cinch along the hemline certainly does come in handy when you need to be inverted and still protected — outdoor yoga or high altitude bouldering, anyone? We also appreciate how easy it is to move in this shirt — we even happily slept in it.

While we appreciate the hip pocket, it does look rather awkward if you put anything in it because the fabric is so thin and stretchy that it's fairly obvious what you're carrying; however, it's great for a trail run when you need to stash a key or an energy gel to fuel your efforts. This shirt is so thin that, even though it's not see-through, you can very clearly see the outline (but not the color or pattern) of whatever bra or tank top you're wearing (or not wearing) underneath. The darker colors are a bit less revealing, but the shirt itself is still quite thin.

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Durability

This shirt is thin, and the extreme stretch also makes it more vulnerable to wear over time relative to stiffer fabrics. We do have some doubts about the longevity of a fabric so thin and malleable. That said, we now have several colors of this shirt that have been worn and tested regularly for years — one is now six years old — and none of them have shown any concerning signs of wearing out too quickly.

Most of the seams of the Crater Lake are reinforced, including a super beefy covered seam that holds the hood on. Unlike some of the other hooded options we tested, the fabric of this shirt is very tight-knit and seems to be more difficult to catch and snag in the wash or out in the world. That said, while wearing this hoodie while rock climbing, we were concerned that the thin fabric would easily snag on sharp limestone as we made our way up the wall (especially where it's looser at the waist). Potential concerns aside, our biggest durability issue with this model is how quickly the light colors pick up dirt and dust from every adventure. It always came out in the wash, but we did find ourselves washing this shirt more often, which could potentially shorten its lifespan.

The Crater Lake features a super thin construction that may not last as long as its thicker competitors but the tight knit and flatlock seams increase its longevity.   Credit: Trish Matheny

The highly breathable fabric also dries quickly.   Credit: Trish Matheny

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Features

This hoody is full of useful features. It has a hood, thumbholes, a hem cinch, and a zippered hip pocket. It's also insanely stretchy, to the point that we think this is a major feature of this shirt, as it adds a huge range of motion that comes in handy for climbing, biking, and reaching things on the top shelf.

Should You Buy the Mountain Hardwear Crater Lake Hoody?

The price of this shirt is about in the middle of the pack of our tested shirts, and for what it brings to the table, we think it's a fantastic value. It's versatile across many activities, more accommodating of diverse body shapes, and breathable enough for even the hottest days. We think you'll be so glad you added this shirt to your life that you might need it in more than one color.

What Other Women's Sun Shirts Should You Consider?

If you need something with even more breathability and a less clingy fit, perfect for long, midsummer trail runs, check out the Outdoor Research Echo Hoodie. Heading out on the water for a paddling adventure? The fabric weight of the NRS Silkweight Hoodie offers a little extra protection from your PFD and features a tied hood for days when you have to battle the winds. We also tested the "Active" version of the Crater Lake Hoody, which is a very similar shirt without the hem tie and with slightly shorter sleeves and slightly thicker material.