Bought the Steep Tech jacket when it first came out and loved it! Now im getting my second, still have the 1st one although its a little smaller on me now..(years = lbs). About the jacket; it is TOUGH!! When blasting through the trees this jacket brushes off those branches that are dying to reach out and grab ya, WIND...what wind? Material is thick enough to stop a gail force and it is nice to have a hood big enough to fit over a helmet. Also, zip this thing up and bury your face in the collar for those great lift rides into the artic, ZIPPERS..alot, figure out how you want to wear em for your comfort/style, I like putting down both front/side zippers and tucking in the flap, WARMTH...layers people, layers..seriously use layers as needed for the weather, POCKETS..lots of them for your needs, but if you plan on carring alot use a backpack, and regarding pockets being kind of small for your hands....you are skiing right!! Who skis with their hands in their pockets?!! and when not skiing use gloves, VENTING..if you sweat when you ski open them you, they do a nice job, figure out how open you want them and when, you wont have the jacket soaked from sweat, powder maybe but in my opinion that's worth it!! LOOKS...You will catch people's eyes in this jacket. Like I said a serious jacket for serious skiers, people will notice, and you wouldn't be thinking about this jacket if it didn't catch your eye right? SEE YA ON THE SLOPES!! p.s. I'll be the one in the ST jacket, check the trees.