Whether or not you need this, ultimately depends on your preferences. We highly recommend this if you are learning to snowboard for the first time as you will spend a few days on your rear! It usually has a snap system to attach it to your pants, so that snow access is sealed off. The powder skirt is a piece of cloth with elastic on the bottom side that keeps snow from getting in under your snowboard jacket. It’s often easier to just buy a snowboard jacket which comes with insulation – one less thing to think about when heading to the slopes early in the morning. These are meant to be used with an additional layer of fleece underneath that you can take off when it’s warmer. Some snowboard jacket are just a hard shell membrane that protect you from wind and water, but leaves you open for the cold elements. Soft shells can come in handy in the warm spring days, but even then, you’ll be better off with a nice breathable hard shell and less layers underneath. As the name suggests, hard shells are the ones providing good wind resistance and if you’re looking for a good all-around jacket, you should look for such. Snowboard jackets are generally divided in hard shells and soft shells.
We recommend searching online for Gore-Tex snowboard jackets to get the best deal. Manufacturers such as Bonfire, Burton, Quiksilver and North Face use Gore-Tex is some of their snowboard jackets. A jacket with this fabric must meet very specific requirements from Gore-Tex. I would feel confident in any coastal snowstorm in a 20K jacket.įor a jacket that is guaranteed waterproof (and breathable), go with Gore-Tex. A manufacturer that bothers to make a jacket from 20K-rated fabric with a membrane is probably going to cover every seam and use waterproof zippers and storm flaps. Do take note of its construction for example, are its seams taped? Does it have waterproof zippers? Does it have a membrane construction?Ī 20K jacket will keep you dry in nearly any condition. But it might not hold up to wetter coastal snow or hours in the rain on the Olympic Peninsula. With a 10K snowboarding jacket you can confidently wear it out on a powder day in Utah or Colorado or wear it during a short cloudburst. The 5K jacket is typically a lifestyle piece or a jacket to wear on sunny days-not one I’d rely on for waterproof protection in the backcountry or on poor weather day on the slopes. If it dumps snow, you probably won’t stay dry very long. These jackets often have a waterproof coating (DWR or Teflon, for example) instead of a waterproof membrane integrated into the fabric (like The North Face’s HyVent). So a 5K jacket’s fabric can withstand 16 feet of water but manufacturers generally don’t tape all the seams (if at all). A 20K waterproof jacket is virtually pointless if the seams aren’t taped. So if you want the best waterproofing for you snowboard jacket, look for a fully seam-sealed jacket (also called fully taped).
A jacket’s fabric might be able to handle several feet of snow, but if the seams aren’t sealed, then snow/water can usually get in. You should also know that a jacket’s waterproof rating is for the fabric, not the entire jacket. Given that the record for the most snow in a day is about 6 feet, both options sound pretty damn waterproof. So a 5K jacket can take up to 16 feet of rain in 24 hours.
Some of the best materials out there like Gore-tex and Event reach about 30k or 30,000mm.Ī 20K rating or 20,000mm means that a jacket’s fabric can withstand 20,000mm (almost 66 feet) of rain in 24 hours before its wearer gets wet. Now unless you are a weekend snowboarder that spends half the day in the bar, you shouldn’t seriously consider anything with an index below 10k or 10,000mm. The snowboarding conditions you will likely be faced with is an important factor is looking at which jacket to buy.
The waterproof rating is for the outer shell material and it basically stands for how many millimeters (mm) of water it can withstand for a 24 hour period before leaking. You need to check the waterproof index of the snowboard jacket you are looking to buy. There’s nothing worse than being wet on a cold winters day on the mountain and therefore your jacket needs to be very waterproof. Up in the mountains you are exposed to the elements such as the wind, cold temperatures and snowy conditions so you need protection from all of these. The second most important function of a snowboard jacket is to keep you warm, dry and comfortable all day long when snowboarding.
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