skier219

Skied three days at Alta in this jacket under a variety of conditions and temperatures. From a Bluebird day to a snow squall, it handled everything wonderfully and breathed well. I like the fit (more generous that a typical softshell but a little trimmer than a harshell) and appreciate the versatility of the six different pockets, including the inner pouch which holds a water bottle and gloves. The soft inner lining of the softshell fabric provides just the right amount of insulation to go over base layers, and feels warmer and more pleasing than the inner surface of a hardshell. The hood fits fine over my full helmet, which was great for a chair ride up while it snowed heavily. At all other times, the hood stows neatly and never gets in the way. I love the feel and fit of the cuffs, but be aware that they require under-cuff gloves for a good match. Gloves with gauntlets will not gracefully fit over these cuffs. Since I like the jacket so much, I am actually buying a second pair of gloves, without gauntlet. I'll reserve my gore-tex XCR hardshell and gauntlet gloves for wet weather, and go with the Synchro softshell and under-cuff gloves for everything else.

Nice fit for large faces, and excellent sightlines through the frame. Never fogged up on me once in 4 days of skiing, including a warm day. The strap is long enough to go around my helmet, but requires the $5 Smith Universal Helmet Helper accessory to really fit correctly. This is due to the location of the goggle strap buckle in the middle of the strap, where it interferes with the goggle clip on the back of my helmet. I guess I would prefer a simple one-piece strap rather than the one with a buckle in the middle. The RC36 lens offers a good overall compromise, but can be a bit too light for super bright days. But if you want to carry just one lens around, this is a good choice. The lens itself seems very durable. I try very hard to protect the lens from abuse, but inevitably someone else will drop my goggles or bang them up. So far, the lenses are holding up great.

The construction and materials are excellent, and these pants can clearly take a lot of wear and tear. But they have an odd feature -- the entire seat zips open. Since I have no need to drop the seat of my pants when skiing, I found this feature to be strange. It contributed to a bulky feel (zipper and flaps) and it puts a non-watertight zipper in the wrong place when sitting on snowy or wet chairlifts. I am sure these are great mountaineering pants when a potty break is needed, but I found them to be ill-designed as ski pants.

After shopping around, we bought this jacket for my wife and she loves it (heck, I want one too!). It has a bunch of smart features for skiers and is very well designed and put together. Really an outstanding ski jacket, and highly recommended.