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A little disappointed with my first "premium" ski jacket.

François Pugh

Skiing the powder
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Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Posts
7,615
Location
Great White North (Eastern side currently)
That bag is a joke. Good for car camping I guess. But no way would I trust it with my life in the backcountry during the winter. Yes, there are some good 0º rated synthetic insulated bags (like the Marmot Trestles) but in practice they are about as warm as a good 15º rated down bag like the Marmot helium (which I own) but the synth. bag weights twice as much and takes at least twice the amount of space.

View attachment 37422
Not something I would "risk my life" with, but I have used a decades older version of same, sleeping in the back of the Wally Wagon at 40 below, and it was fine; I had options available had it not been fine.

As I said above, for summer and shoulder seasons canoeing a 20 F rating (TNF Cat's Meow) is good enough for me. If I were going to use it winter camping, I would get one of the down bag inside an external bag from the Canadian Millitary. My wife has an ancient down bag (not military, sports and rec.) the kids used for their school winter camping trips down to about -30 C, but they had tents with wood stoves.
 
Thread Starter
TS
TonyPlush

TonyPlush

Getting off the lift
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Joined
Jan 4, 2018
Posts
492
Location
Minnesota
Well, an update to this thread:

I definitely jumped the gun with all my concerns. I wore my Helly Hansen Alpha 3.0 for three days last week in Steamboat, and I had zero complaints. In fact, the jacket was pretty awesome.

Temperatures ranged from 5 degrees to 30 degrees. Layers as follows:

Baselayer: Under Armour Cold Gear
Midlayer: Old Navy Go-Warm Thermal
Outerlayer: HH Alpha 3.0

And I was comfortable throughout. I took off the midlayer on day two, when it was sunny and 30 degrees, after I had been aggressively skiing moguls. I was only cold once... on a chairlift when temps were probably 7 degrees, no sun, and blowing snow at 20+ mph winds. Probably not the fault of the jacket though, since it was mainly my hands getting cold.

Compared to my old jacket, I was really impressed with the breathability. I could feel my body sweating a couple times because of how hard I was skiing, and yet I never felt wet. The sweat seemed to just disappear, and pretty quickly.

Solid jacket. Plenty warm, and yet keeps you from overheating. Very satisfied.
 

Mikey

Getting on the lift
Skier
Joined
Aug 26, 2016
Posts
151
I bought one as well this season and my experience is the same as your last post.

Base Layer: Columbia Omni-Shade
Mid Layer: Smartwool Merino wool

Skied in 0 degrees yesterday and the only thing cold was my hands. 20 degrees today (sunny and no wind) and had the pit-zips open and just wearing a light Merino wool glove. Anything warmer, and I'm unzipping the jacket a bit and/or losing the Mid-Layer and might even ski without gloves

It's a great fitting jacket. Just enough room to layer comfortably. Really happy with the purchase.
 

jmills115

Making fresh tracks
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SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Apr 25, 2017
Posts
1,158
Location
Salt Lake City, Utah
I bought one as well this season and my experience is the same as your last post.

Base Layer: Columbia Omni-Shade
Mid Layer: Smartwool Merino wool

Skied in 0 degrees yesterday and the only thing cold was my hands. 20 degrees today (sunny and no wind) and had the pit-zips open and just wearing a light Merino wool glove. Anything warmer, and I'm unzipping the jacket a bit and/or losing the Mid-Layer and might even ski without gloves

It's a great fitting jacket. Just enough room to layer comfortably. Really happy with the purchase.
In Utah and have been using the Alpha since Christmas with an R1, nano-air, thermoball, or with just a base layer under it and have been happy.
 

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