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.
We loved the soft, stretchy breathable fabric of the Crater Lake for all kinds of sunny activities.
Credit: Kaylee Walden
Comfort and Fit
The Crater Lake Hoody has a slim fit with a feminine cut. We had several female testers 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 makes it move well, but also means you can use the thumb holes without the sleeves digging into your hands. Even our long-armed testers think the thumb holes are comfortable to wear for everything from biking to paddling, and they provide excellent coverage past your knuckles.
The long sleeves and comfortable thumb holes provide great back of hand protection.
Credit: Kaylee Walden
This shirt is also thin and flexible, adding to how comfortable we find it. It’s even easy to sleep in while camping or wear for extra-long travel days. If that’s not enough, we’re quite impressed that despite the thinness and many light colors, you can’t see the colors of a sports bra showing through. We also appreciate the option to tie the bottom hem tight for climbing, yoga, and other inverted activities while leaving it open and breathable for everyday use — though the tie occasionally gets in the way.
The Crater Lake has long enough sleeves for pretty much anyone, yet they manage to not get in the way of shorter-armed folks.
Sun Protection
With a UPF of 50+, the Crater Lake has one of the highest-rated UPF protection 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 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 under a helmet (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 during forward motion — like running or biking.
The stretchy, loose hood doesn’t inhibit movement.
Credit: Kaylee Walden
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.
The sleeves are nice and long and offer full hand protection while still being comfortable. They’re also fully functional while wearing the thumbholes.
Breathability
Another metric in which the Crater Lake excels, allowing easy airflow through the fabric. This shirt is made of permeable elastane-blend fabric, and the looser hem facilitates airflow throughout. The thin material also helps wick sweat off your skin, and it dries quickly in the sun or breeze.
This shirt is one of the few models we tested that didn’t leave us too warm on very hot afternoons, and 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.
For sunny long trail runs, this hoody has top-notch breathability.
Credit: Kaylee Walden
Versatility
Like most of the hooded shirts in this review, the Crater Lake Hoody is a specific sort of style.
We find this hoody is 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!
The tied bottom hem can help keep you covered when inverted.
Credit: Maggie Nichols
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. In fact, 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.
From the plant nursery to the garden, the Crater Lake Hoody can keep you cool and covered.
Credit: Maggie Nichols
Durability
This shirt is thin, and the extreme stretch also makes it more vulnerable to wear over time versus stiffer fabrics. We have some questions about the longevity of fabric so thin and malleable. That being 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. Actually, 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.
Darker colors resist stains better but add heat. We still love wearing this lightweight hoody for day hikes and backpacking trips though and have no issues with pack straps rubbing or causing pilling over the shoulders.
Credit: Maggie Nichols
Features
This hoody is full of useful features. It has a hood and thumbholes as well as a hem cinch and zippered hip pocket. It’s also insanely stretchy, to the point that we think this is a major feature of this shirt, and it adds a huge range of motion that comes in handy for climbing, biking, and reaching things on the top shelf.
The small zip pocket on the hem is useful for small essentials, like cards, cash and chapstick.
Credit: Kaylee Walden
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.
We enjoyed all kinds of adventures in the Crater Lake.
Credit: Kaylee Walden
What Other Women’s Sun Shirts Should You Consider?
If you need something with even more breathability 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.
