 Poster: A snowHead
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I've just bought an alpine climbing jacket that has to serve for both climbing/ice climbing (Mont Blanc in April) as well as skiing.
Because it's a climbing jacket (Arc'teryx Beta AR), it lacks the multiple pockets of the skiing jackets I looked at. What, exactly, does everyone carry in all those pockets when out skiing?
As a newbie skiier who has yet to ski in the mountains, I'm wondering if the jacket will be appropriate and if I should consider taking a small backpack?
Am also dreading the flack I might take from the hardened climbers - the danged thing is bright fuschia (that's pink, men) - a woman wearing pink on the mountain.... talk about fulfilling a stereotype 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I always ski with a backpack so the only things in my jacket pockets are lip salve, a piste map & my lift pass. I've never liked anything in my pockets, especially when you take a heavy fall. With your jacket being a hard shell a small pack to carry a spare layer is really useful & you don't have to make a compremises furst thing in the morning on what gear to take for the rest of the day.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Zero-G, I've seen those Arc'teryx jackets - they are very 'fuschia' aren't they  Still at least if you are in the unfortunate situation of needing a helicopter they will be able to find you. There are some threads round here about do you need rucksacks and what people take on the mountain with them. Personally I was advised at my novice level to not struggle to balance the added weight of a rucksack, so I fill my pockets with all the junk I think I need during the day - phone, wallet, choccy, drink, camera etc. I use all the pockets I have.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I'd agree with Megamum, . I wouldn't say I was a novice but I am nervous enough round chairlifts to not want to have to be pfaffing on taking a pack off and on , then spending the duration of the chairlift ride imagining the blimming bag falling out of my hands along with the ski poles of course. [lots of paranoia there]. Of course, I do usually have DH with me, who doesn't mind the rucksack thing. I would stuff the essentials like suncream, the phone, cash, maybe goggles depending on weather, maybe hat if the weather was looking dodgy, maybe camera...hanks for sniffly nose...
Have only occaisionally worn the pack, and it was odd having it on, but DH seems to not mind as I said.
And I would not worry one bit about the FUSCHIA jacket when out skiing. Having seen some of the men's gear in Ellis B the other week, that would probably be pretty conservative.
Enjoy your trips.
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| spyderjon wrote: |
| I always ski with a backpack so the only things in my jacket pockets are lip salve, a piste map & my lift pass. I've never liked anything in my pockets, especially when you take a heavy fall. With your jacket being a hard shell a small pack to carry a spare layer is really useful & you don't have to make a compremises furst thing in the morning on what gear to take for the rest of the day. |
S'funny..I'm trying to do the reverse (at times).
I've got the classic dakine backpack with camelbak carrying functions, and tended to take goggles, spare fleece layer, sunnies, multi-tool, couple of scooby snax and some suncream/lipsalve, spare contacts, couple of cable ties, small bit of rope, snowboard binding spares, insulated blanket.. (blimey sounds like the 'conveyor belt' on a Brucie Gameshow!)
3 issues with the backpack
1) Some lifties don't like you riding the lift with it on your back, and being a border it just adds to the whole getting on/off issues if you have to carry a pack separately
2) If you do get away with it then you get cold back syndrome when on the lift as the pack rises your jacket etc up, can get a bit icy..
3) Even with the right layering kit and a decent jacket I find the backpack makes my back a bit more sweaty (urgh!)
Now I've got a helmet and can mount my goggles on those (crazy frog style) even if I don't need to wear them, then I find I prefer to ride without one...and so end up with the majority of that junk in my pockets (although I cut back on some of it). Obvoiusly the back pack will come back out on longer 'mission' type days and / or when I do more off piste.
- one suggestion might be to look if you can get pockets in a under-layer. I picked up a nice north face jacket in the S&R sale (designed to go under the shell) and that's got quite good pockets...
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| MarjMJ wrote: |
| And I would not worry one bit about the FUSCHIA jacket when out skiing. Having seen some of the men's gear in Ellis B the other week, that would probably be pretty conservative. |
Agreed, saw the same in EB on Sunday. Was heading downstairs to the ice climbing wall and passed the snowboarding gear - thought I'd gone blind! But that sort of thing seems acceptable on the slopes. Not so sure about the mountain face though. Oh well, I didn't pick the jacket for it's colour, picked it for it's construction. One can only imagine that the Arc'teryx materials buyers must be colour blind.
| bertie bassett wrote: |
| one suggestion might be to look if you can get pockets in a under-layer. |
And ruin the beautiful lines of my pink jacket!?  Good suggestion though.
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| Zero-G wrote: |
Because it's a climbing jacket (Arc'teryx Beta AR), it lacks the multiple pockets of the skiing jackets I looked at. What, exactly, does everyone carry in all those pockets when out skiing?
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Nothing. The pockets are there to provide versatility: just the pocket you want when you want it, for one, two , maybe four items.
That said, modern ski jackets generally have a sewn-in lift pass holder in one of the large bottom pockets. I don't know whether your climbing one does.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'm O.K. with the colour. Don't know about the pockets. Have had nasty accidents both as a result of pockets & rucksacks. I don't fall that often but when I do on hard ground the earth shakes. I have a jacket which has an inside pocket with a phone icon, a mp3 player pocket, a wallet pocket, lift pass sleeve pocket etc. I put my rather bulky mobile in the indicated pocket. I had a fall on hard snow landing on my chest breaking ribs making a chest cavity just right to accommodate a mobile phone - it hurt. Objects stored in my trouser thigh pocket have resulted in pain. If the weather is not certain I find myself carrying goggles, reading glasses, sunglasses, spare layer, water, Lion bar, suncream, lip salve, tissues, money, lift pass, camera, map, GPS, mobile etc. I have a backpack with a plate that spaces off the back which avoids perspiration build up but is awkward on chair lifts but I thought the back plate would protect in a fall, not so I fell arching my back more than it should and damaged my abdominals. I also find it a faff getting things out. I now either use a miniature backpack or lots of pockets putting harder objects in midriff & leg pockets and have avoided further trauma apart from a squashed lion bar.
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| Lechbob wrote: |
| I have a backpack with a plate that spaces off the back which avoids perspiration build up |
That never works quite as well as advertised IMO.
If you keep your sternum strap and shoulder straps tight, the plate squishes down the voids under the top layer of the jacket. Sweat is now trapped under midlayers instead of between jacket and backpack.
I wore a light Deuter 25L pack on Mt. Washington, over a HH jacket and a Patagucci Regulator fleece. Deuter has the mesh standoff, and it should transport perspiration through the mesh, right? When I took the pack off at the ~3hr mark, there was such a *puff* of steam through the jacket that my partner 100 feet below started cursing me for having a cigarette.
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I also find it a faff getting things out.
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Yes.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Zero-G wrote: |
| What, exactly, does everyone carry in all those pockets when out skiing? |
Some cigars and a small hip-flask of Armagnac
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Wearing a pack can be an integral part of your layering system. As in, you will notice the temp difference when you don't wear one.
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| Quote: |
I wore a light Deuter 25L pack on Mt. Washington, over a HH jacket and a Patagucci Regulator fleece
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You forgot to tell us what brand your underpants are.
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You know it makes sense.
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Zero-G, I normally use a backpack for all my stuff. I come from a mountaineering background, where you generally don't fill pockets with junk. One aspect is that you pay a small fortune for a breathable material in your jacket - every pocket with stuff in it means that it doesn't breathe there. It is not so noticeable skiing, as you don't generate as much heat or moisture, but slogging up hills it makes a big difference.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Pockets? Just a wallet and a phone. Anything else I take is too large to fit in a pocket or isn't required very frequently (fleece, bottle of water, GPS logger, and so on) so it goes in a pack.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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RobinS has it spot on IMO
as for colour - i am all in favour of a little colour on the mountain. if you start taking fashion hints from male British climbers, you're in real trouble IMO
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brian
brian
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Lechbob mentions leg pockets, which can be very useful - less likely to injure yourself on things stowed below knee height. I'm struck with the number of "wallets" folk are carrying. I just have a credit card, a note or two and a few coins. Wallets are much too bulky. I don't mind a pack, and on a long day, or an uncertain one, will carry one with spare stuff for my OH - he needs a lot, being a diabetic, and because he has stiff shoulders he finds getting a pack on and off on chairlifts is very difficult. I always take mine off on chair lifts;it's an automatic reaction now to shrug it off as the chair comes round. "Smart" lift passes are a great step forward; I have mine on an elastic round my neck, under my mid layer - as recommended by the lift company - because if it's on the mid line it's more likely to be read by detectors on either side. And less likely to get too close to credit cards, car keys, or other items which can interfere with the signals. If I go anywhere now where you have to stuff the things into the machine I find it very annoying - we soon take these advances for granted.
I have a super small back with a frame and very effective "off your back" arrangement, which I wear for walking, but I can't wear it skiing at the same time as a helmet because, as I found to my embarassment one day, it makes it impossible to schuss. In that "head back" position the top of the pack meets the helmet. So I had to schuss looking not very far ahead of me, and it felt extremely precarious, but I couldn't face the walk which I'd have had if I'd slowed down.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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pam w, I on;y carry one wallet 
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I personally don't feel the need to carry much with me either - cash goes in shin pocket, sunglasses/goggles (whichever I am not wearing at the time) go in chest pocket. Lipsalve goes wherever else. Lift pass in pocket in left hand upper sleeve. That's about it (unless off piste, of course). I also tend to check the weather report before I go out in the morning, and speak to people in the know regarding prevalent conditions or upcoming changes in the weather, so can make the call on extra layers before I go out....
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brian, muddy pale browny/green
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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my pockets tend to be full of snow as i forget to zip them...everyething else is generally in my pack..and never had any issue with packs and lifts
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brian
brian
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Megamum, cathy, thanks ... and named after a mole, who'd have thought it. Armed with this info, I shall now impress mrs b during her next sortie into the world of soft furnishings.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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As per mark_s, but no MP3 player and generally no water
Plus keys, goggles, tissues, snacks (e.g. mini-Mars) and reading glasses
Also, usually one item each from the rest of the family.
I find I am always a pocket short.
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In jacket pockets... nothing.
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You know it makes sense.
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car keys, wallet, lip salve oh and the all important mobile (to contact Mrs Fred so she can get the drinks in -see below)
anything else I may need is in the pack carried by Mrs Fred - she has her book in the pack as well. When she has her frequent pit stops she does not get bored waiting for me to return from my adventures.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I'm with you, sans ipod. I like the can of worms 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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My backpack has a water reservoir thingy in it. Fellow skiers have been known to "josh" me about this and later in the day to start begging me for "bitty". You know who you are!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Lechbob, very cool location BTW
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Best way of carrying cash and cards is one of these http://www.smartmoneyclip.com/?gclid=CNiSh7i-qZYCFQuY1QodOD5lzQ (play the video, you'll love it  )
Why all the pockets? Well, before 1980-something when Nevica deduced that "pockets mean pounds", ski jackets generally just had the two on the front and one inside. Nevica started stitching them in all over the place and had great success. At one time it was virtually the only jacket to be seen in (where's the puke smiley?) and people happily paid a premium for all those extra pockets. More pockets meant that retailers could better justify stocking huge quantities of the stuff. Honestly, their success was largely down to pockets. Net result is that all others followed and now we all have to stand at the top of the run checking zips for 35 minutes before setting off.
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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| At one time it was virtually the only jacket to be seen because, once you'd looked at a nevica, you couldn't actually see anything else for about 40 minutes |
As demonstrated above. That's AWESOME  I need one of those and a pair of vuarnets for true "Dad Style" (TM).
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brian
brian
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I am proud to say that in 26 years of skiing I've never owned a Nevica jacket. Although I did have a mid-80s Berghaus with a fairly "vivid red", for the purposes of this thread I should probably call it cerise , stripe across the front.
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FAQ
But thinking about it, I suppose chocolate, water and camera are essential. Especially the chocolate 
