Soft Shell Jackets

[CantDog]

The Beyond Fleece Cold Play is also Extremo dryskin and its custom fit. Thats the jacket I'm going to go with, sounds like a good deal, and custom is always good....

www.beyondfleece.com

[Red Baron]

The Helly "Storm" series stuff is incredible...saw it at OR, really nice...

[seldon]

I've got a mountain hardware windstopper fleece thats worked pretty well. i've gotten dumped on (it went from rain->sleet->snow, and we ended up with 6 inches on top of a solid piece of sheet ice cause the temp went from 50 to 20 over 2 hours) and with it combined with a fleece vest (over the top) i stayed perfectly dry. its officially "windstopper" but it worked just fine against the rain
http://www.mountainhardware.com/www/...layNode?id=538

/i have the "windstopper tech jacket" fyi/

[Dr. Crash]

Anybody has tried (in real life / outdoors) the Arc'Teryx Sigma LT jacket? It's Windstopper in front and Wind Pro fabric in the back.

And a similar question for the Ibex Neve... How's the fit? I like the Arc'Teryx fit a lot. But the Ibex should be more breathable since it doesn't have a laminate layer like the Windstopper in the Arc'Tery jacket (or that's what the soft shell purist at Second Ascent told me).

End of season, looks like both jackets can be found on sale for about $150.

drC

[Innominatus]

And a similar question for the Ibex Neve... How's the fit?

I've found Ibexes (Ibecii?) to have excellent fit. Sleeves not too long, but plenty of torso length so you don't get snow seepage down your ass crack when you hunch over on the lift.

As a side note, not sure I'd advocate a softshell for the PNW unless I already had some 3-ply mountain armor for the truly damp days. Schoeller is great stuff, but better suited to the occasional dry day or Rockies-type environs, I'd say.

[ski_alaska_tahoe]

Keep the dwr up on this jacket and you have a winner, super durable, mine has been through heavy brush, super heavy wind/rain, skiing and backpacking, remains heavy duty. Awesome helmet hood, 5 pockets, low weight athletic design. Did I mention how well it breathes? Polartec power shield lets 2% of the wind through, kepping you cool, and totally dry.

[endoverender]

I have the cloudveil zero-g. it's the insulated soft shell and damn is it warm. it has a tall collar, which is nice for skiing cold days but it's kind of weird for casual wear.

also have a arcteryx gamma sv. nowhere near as warm, but then it's not really designed to be. good if you have monkey arms like myself.

[LightRanger]

Did I mention how well it breathes?

Are you serious? I like my Gamma MX well enough (that I bought a hoody when I found a deal, and now I have two), but seriously, it doesn't breathe that well. It's a laminate. Better than Goretex, but still.

I've used 4-5 different Powershield pieces extensively since the spring of 2001 and none of them breathed well.