Intended Purpose: This knitted neckwarmer is built for the rugged cold of the mountains. It’s best for the chilly negative temp days because the material in thick but breathable.
Appearance: I received the Frena in the turquoise color choice which happens to be my favorite option. The rest of the color choices are bright colors that stand out or your typical neutral colors. I love the color I got.
Best Used for: The Frena is a thicker neck warmer so definitely meant for the colder chilly days around town, on the slopes and in those deep powder conditions. With the thickness, you’ll have some space where your skin is showing so it’d be best not to use this on any Everest missions or where you might encounter major frostbite if your skin is showing.
Fit: This neckwarmer stretches to pull over your head and when it’s around your neck it’s there but not tight or loose with gaps. You can pull it out to give more breathing space.
Durability: The Frena is a knitted neck warmer so definitely a snag can be a bad thing. Luckily for me, this neckwarmer has been protected and kept away from materials like velcro/sharp objects/knives. It’s still in great condition after last season’s powder days. No visible wear/tear, only one spot where the material has gotten fuzzy from something touching it. Seams are intact. Another thing I’d like to point out, it smells pretty good.
Thoughts: You know your favorite warm blanket as a kid? Well imagine a neck warmer that reminds you of that warm blanket wrapped around you on a cold winter day. That’s the Frena neckwarmer. Quite honestly, it’s a thick blanket for your neck. It’s 100% acrylic but doesn’t bother your skin, it stays dry even when you get frozen wet snow stuck to it and it’s breathable. You can wear it over your face and not feel suffocated.
By accident, I received the Frena at day two of the SIA on-snow in January of last year. It was a miserable day, temps were negative 10-20 degrees and lightweight masks were not doing the job of keeping me warm. I said something to one of the C3 guys about how cold my face was and my other mask wasn’t working for these cold of temps. They pulled out the Frena mask, handed it over and my face was warm and snuggly the rest of the day. Since then I’ve only ridden the Frena on the really cold blower pow days that hurt your skin, you know those days…it sucks but the pow is so good, you have to stay out.
During the really cold snowy days, there was some frozen snow to the neckwarmer where it builds up from the powder continuously getting it. It didn’t impact the riding that much and I’d try to get the chunks off if they did build up. At the end of the day when your hair is all crusty/frozen, the neck warmer went up over the head to be a semi-hat to keep the hair away from the face. It’s definitely a thicker material so tucking it under your goggles is less likely which means you’ll have skin showing on your cheeks and nose when you ride. But you can pull it up and over when you need to. I probably wouldn’t suggest it on the frostbite days on the slopes where any skin showing will get frostbite but on most cold temps you’ll be fine with coverage.
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On-Snow Photo
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After a cold powder day, some frozen snow on it
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Sunny cold day
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Coal Frena Neckwarmer Description
Review Disclosure: This product was given to me by Coal…but not sure who gave it to me or if they expected it back. Sorry, I am keeping it.
