Great for wearing to the hill, but on the hill?

By Niall MacRae Ranked #1021 - Men's Shirts December 18, 2009

I was a little disappointed in this fleece jacket. I was looking for something to wear over a t-shirt on warm spring days, when the slopes are soft and slushy and it is too warm for a full-on shell and layers. Patagonia talks about this as a "softshell jacket," which is completely misleading in my opinion. While the jacket has a nylon outer face, which does an admirable job of blocking light winds, the face material is not DWR coated and does a very good job of soaking up water that comes in contact with it. It isn't a deal breaker, but it isn't the behavior of a soft-shell jacket either. On spring days last year, the Slopestyle was soaked through anywhere where it came in contact with the snow. It is pretty boxy and loosely cut, so while it looks proportional while you're wearing ski or snowboard boots and pants, it is a little big for me to be wearing casually unless I'm at the crags. The upside is that there is room for layers underneath and I wear it primarily as an early morning, long-drive-to-the-hill car jacket, something comfy to swap for my shell when I get to the hill. The thumbholes are too small to actually accomodate my thumbs without cutting off circulation and stressing the bartacks at the thumb openings, to the point where I am afraid of tearing the cuffholes open. So, a lot of weird things at work here. I think if you call it what it is, a nylon-face fleece hoody for the day-to-day of Fall, Winter and Spring, it is pretty good at that. Post-surf, post-ski, skatepark, tuning garage or fetching the paper and kicking it at the coffee shop, maybe. But a technical, slushy-park-and-mountain softshell hoody with slope style? Not quite.

View Details: Patagonia Slopestyle Full-Zip Hoodie - Men's

Helpful Votes: 1 Yes