Pioneer Camp Ski Jackets

A day on snow is a strange thermal problem: twenty minutes of standing still in wind, then five minutes of working hard, then twenty more standing still. That is why most of the jackets here are built in two parts. A 3-in-1 is a waterproof outer and an insulated inner that zip together, and it gives you three jackets: the shell alone for spring slush, the liner alone for the walk from the car, and both for a January chairlift. It costs more than a single-layer jacket and it is the reason people stop buying one jacket a season.

Everything on this page is waterproof rather than water-resistant, and most of it is taped, because snow melts on contact with a warm jacket and a shower rating cannot cope with six hours of that. The details that separate the cards are the ones you notice on the third day: a hood that fits over a helmet, a cuff cut to sit over a glove, a pocket on the sleeve for a pass. Wind, not the reading on a thermometer, sets how cold the day is: the Weather Service chart puts zero degrees with a fifteen mile-an-hour wind at nineteen below, and exposed skin freezing in about half an hour. Sizes run S to 2XL.