Mammut is best known for its mountaineering range, but in 2021, they also introduced a small gear collection for (mountain) fast hiking.

It consists of the Sertig shirt and shorts, Convey WB hooded jacket, Ducan Boa High GTX (and other) shoes, and Ducan (Spine) backpack.

With a main colorway in the black-and-white that’s a trend these days, but with a fluorescent orange twist, I liked the look alone.

The intent and technical details for the intended purpose are what is really great.

Mammut’s Fast Hiking Gear Collection: Sertig and Convey WB

All together, as mentioned above, the Fast Hiking collection includes the

• Ducan (and other) backpacks (of which I found the Ducan Spine 28-35 so interesting, I bought it myself), the
• Ducan Boa High GTX shoes (and others, but these have a really cool style…), and the
• Sertig shirt and shorts and
• Convey WB hooded jacket

Full disclosure: I received the Sertig shirt and shorts, Convey WB jacket, and Ducan Boa High GTX from Mammut as PR samples, for review.

I liked the Ducan Spine 28-35 backpack so much, I bought it myself to complete the collection.

In this post, I want to focus on the Sertig shirt and shorts first. I will add my review of the Convey WB jacket as I get more experiences with it.

The Ducan Spine backpack and the Ducan Boa High GTX shoes will get their separate posts.

Fast Hiking?

Shirts and shorts are just shirts and shorts on first look, which is why I immediately mentioned the looks.

Only looking closer and learning more about them in practical use does it become apparent what the differences between different versions of such pieces of clothing are, how they fit what kinds of uses.

Fast hiking as intended use is something that appealed tremendously to me because this is, really, how many of my tours in the mountains should be described.

Overnighters aren’t really trail running; most of my mountain trips, in fact, are hardly ever runs.

With trail running having its races and thus its heroes, it is much more prominent in marketing and the sports market.

Hiking is trending, but still something kinda old and certainly without standout figures that appeal as easily.

Fast hiking is particularly strange in all that. It’s too much for most, but too little (too slow) to impress.

Exactly what impresses me, seeing an outdoor gear brand use this practice as example and intent. Even if I am probably reading too much into it…

The Sertig shirt and shorts are, of course, usable for any kind of hiking. Or for trail running.

In fact, outside of the mention as part of their Fast Hiking collection, Mammut describes these pieces more generally as technical clothing for mountain sports.

The Mammut Sertig T-Shirt

The Sertig T-Shirt is made from Polartec PowerDry in a tight weave.

This gives it a silky feel and stretch, but also makes it relatively thick compared to many summerweight shirts.

The potential downside to be aware of – especially as it can become quite apparent – is that lots of sweating, especially in humid or wet conditions, mean that water does accumulate in the material.

The One Weak (Wet) Spot…

It is wicking and fast-drying, but has its limits.

I have, for example, had a wet feeling from the shirt over my stomach when mountain hiking in heat, sweating a lot.

The shirt also reminds me of the similar silky shirts I’ve had before, which become like wet bags in rainy tropical summers.

… That’s Quite Okay

But of course, we are not talking about a shirt made for summer running in the tropics, we are talking about a shirt for fast hikes in the mountains.

Here, that wet spot over my belly only felt like a cooling patch, and as soon as I was going slower and not sweating buckets, it was fine.

The rest of the shirt was fine anyways. (Well, except for the wet spot where the backpack has its support resting on the small of one’s back, but that’s a wet spot even without any shirt.)

More Use Experiences

I have only been out in rather warm conditions, so we will still have to see how the shirt performs when hiking into cooler nights and starting out on a multi-day fast hike on cool mornings.

Probably, in combination with the Convey WB (Hooded) jacket, which also belongs to Mammut’s Fast Hiking collection, it will perform well – and that jacket is a piece I also yet have to try out in worse conditions.

In rest and moving through cooler night wind, the combination certainly worked very well; it quickly got rather too warm again.

Details

The seams, parts of which are quite high on the shoulders, concerned me a little at first.

They are flat and have been absolutely unproblematic with the backpack straps, though.

The cut overall is very nicely athletic, not as flabby as clothes have often become. It is not tight, but comfortably slender. The material’s stretch helps with fit and movement. There are no issues whatsoever with that.

The way that the shirt is constructed may actually have helped notice the 1-2 wetter spots, because it helps keep everything that can work, work well.

The back is not just in black color for contrast, it is also in a more meshy material.

A chevron of material at the top of the back / base of the neck is built thicker than the rest; if that is just a design choice, a construction artifact, or a deliberate and functional bit, I am not sure. It might protect the protruding bones at the lower neck from (gear on) a backpack…

The shirt is also cut long enough to work well outside or tucked inside the shorts.

The Mammut Sertig Shorts

Like the Sertig shirt, the Mammut Sertig shorts are cut and constructed very nicely for their intended purpose.

Material and Fit

The material is really quite thin, but the way the shorts are made, they feel burly in a good way.

They fit tighter than most shorts I have recently been wearing, and they extend rather further along the leg, to just above the knee.

This feels more protective and wicking (and probably warming, if need be) than shorts that are wider and more airy, while still being looser than (shorts) tights.

Pockets

This is good and needed also because the Sertig shorts have two zippered front pockets up top, down far enough to be below a hip belt, but high and frontal enough to be in a good place (and they are only big enough for smaller items, which I also find good for their use).

One pocket lies on the right leg’s lower part, also zippered; this pocket is big enough for a decently large smartphone (like my Xperia 5 II). It swings around a bit, but thanks to the cut, not too much; a phone in there almost always lies against the leg so that it does not move too much.

Inner and Comfort

There is no extra inner slip in these shorts, but it would be unnecessary given their length. You will want to wear thin underwear in the Sertig shorts, though. You won’t ever really feel the seams of the pockets, but they are there and could potentially chafe (if you went commando).

On the Sertig shorts, I also like that the waistband in back is built with a good layer of material that is elasticized, making them fit tightly enough in the waist, have some give anyways, and work nicely with a backpack (and its hip belt).

There are no pockets in back, and for hiking, that’s a good choice.

Closure

In front, there is a zipper for quick calls of nature; the waist closes with a nicely thin snap button (which feels a bit finicky to close sometimes, but generally works well; it certainly has never opened by itself).

There is also a drawcord inside to cinch the waist tighter.

The way to do that is to make a knot into each end of the cord at a place that makes the whole waistband (now shortened by the cord’s new length) sufficiently tight but still comfortable.

This needs a bit of trial-and-error and could potentially produce hot spots where the knots are (and possibly rub) between shorts and skin.

No problems have occurred in my use of the shorts; the cords are made in a flat material that seems to work well – but I also tend to experience very little or no chafing, so this may be a problem to others.

Use

I have been wearing more and more shorts, and the Mammut Sertig are the ones I easily like best for the fast hiking they are meant for.

Trail running is still better with thinner shorts and more storage options on them – itself a bit of a problematic balancing act, or with tights.

For hikes I also liked to use my running tights, but I think I prefer the Sertig shorts in most conditions now.

And so, here we are…

Next up (for fast hiking), the Ducan Spine backpack.

And let’s hope for some bad weather to see how this all holds up then, also in combination with the Convey WB Hooded Jacket that completes the look, uhm, equipment.

I have been enjoying fast hiking with this gear. It’s been performing and holding up very nicely; materials and construction are great.