The women's medium jacket weighs 11.9 ounces, which is not super light, but it is comparable in weight to other high-end hiking jackets, like the Arc’teryx Zeta SL. Outdoor Research MicroGravity ...

A soft shell would be very different from his Columbia. I had one of those too, a 3-in-1 jacket with the zip-out fleece liner. Very useful piece (and they still do make 3-in-1s).

On the soft shell front, Mountain Hardwear s Women s Synchro ($185; mountainhardwear.com) comes with waterproof-breathable laminate bonded to a fleece liner. Plus it s really quite nice-looking.