 Poster: A snowHead
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-= sorry about the length! Anybody thinking of purchasing or whatever, feel free to ask more =-
Shortly before Christmas I took the plunge and purchased some Spyder clothing. Before buying I trawled the web (and joined SnowHeads) but found very few constructive comments about this brand of attire, indeed, it seems a common comment that Spyder is worn only by instructors (who have it issued as uniform) and those who have “all the gear – no idea”.
If I must fall into a category, sadly it must be the latter.
I have only skied for 3 previous seasons, but have been lucky enough to be able to do a fair few trips in that time. Once to Pamporovo, once to Soll, Once to Kitz and four times to Val d’Isere.
Previously I had been wearing a £26 trespass Ski Jacket (Costco) £9 Quechua pants (Avalance) together with the usual high-quality base-layer and fleece / micro-fleece mid.
I upgraded to a Spyder Leader Jacket and Spyder Dare Pants, both purchased from Snow & Rock for £375 & £225 respectively.
So, I jumped from £35 to £600 worth of outer layering. Not a small decision or investment, by any stretch of the imagination!
I hadn’t really had any ‘issues’ with my old stuff, just that they felt, well, restrictive and often I was uncomfortably hot or cold upstairs and always hot downstairs.
A friend declared upon being shown my jacket that I could do away with my mid-layer all together, for all but the coldest of days, so I did.
I visited Val D’Isere over Christmas, 20-27th. The first 4 days were sunny perfection, the 5 cold and overcast, the 6th was bloody cold - Probably -11°C plus a 40mph wind chill.
My first thoughts were how comfortable and ‘free’ I felt, compared with my previous attire, having a snug, fell fitting but not clingy or restrictive jacket over only a base layer is a superior experience over having 3 or 4 layers on.
The first 4 ‘warm’ days had me using the under-arm vents, which are situated further to the front of the body than normal, this, I found, allowed cool air to pass into the jacket, in such a way to properly cool me, but not freeze me. They were fairly easily operated with my fully gloved hands, too.
The penultimate day, with temperatures around the -5°C and zero sunlight had me feeling lovely and snug all day long, under arms zipped up throughout. Nothing to report just comfort.
The last day (-11°C plus a 40mph wind chill) was pushing it a little and had I stayed out any longer I would have donned a mid-layer for sure, (which I carried with me everyday, just in case) but after a couple hours my feet got too cold for me to continue. It is worthy of mention how incredibly well the jacket deflected the wind, I didn’t get any over or under gusting and the jacket didn’t flap about as my old one used too.
Pants behaved just as well, really, they are quite thin, so on lifts, when the fabric was pressed firmly against my bare skin it did get a little chilled, but not ‘cold’ as such. In use they felt great, like the jacket – unrestrictive & very, very comfortable – I think they must have some extra panel / articulation in the knee as they seemed to flex naturally with me.
The Jacket doesn’t have snow-sleeves, which may put some people off, I suppose.
All the standard pockets a technical jacket should have, pockets for valuables seem very secure.
The mobile phone pocket just tightly fits a blackberry curve in it’s leather cover.
Big pocket on the back ‘for the hood’ – would easily fit sandwiches and a beer.
Goggle cleaner – and every pocket has a hook for valuables or goggle cleaner.
So all in all I am extremely impressed – I ended every day comfortable and dry, the garments are very well made, the jacket in particular feels bomb proof.
If they last me 5 years+ I shall be happy with the investment, I think. Only worry I have is how the jacket will fair late on in the season, when things really warm up.
Cheers,
Zach
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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 am with you on the Spyder thing, I have the Spine jacket from last season and it is pretty ace,, has snow sleeves as well 
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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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zacherynuk, I've been wearing Spyder stuff for years. Initially the Legend Series, but now almost exclusively the Big Mountain Series, really technical fabrics, very easy to wear, couldn't ask for more.
The Quest Series that you have is a good blend of design, materials and cost, whilst not giving quite the waterproof/breathability/features of Legend/Big Mountain Series, but as you've proven, it still performs.
As you use the gear more, the quality and ease of wear will become even more noticeable.
I have a TNF Free Thinker Shell Jacket and a Spyder Big Mountain Series Shell Jacket. The TNF Free Thinker is pretty much the benchmark for Shell Jackets and it is superb, but I think the Spyder one is even better. I don't even know I'm wearing it, it's so comfortable, loads of pockets, Shark Gill Hood that allows you to breath through the front flap that covers your mouth, so that condensation doesn't build up, glasses wiper, whistle, radio pocket, mobile pocket, goggle pouch, lift ticket pocket, plus loads of others, something the TNF one is sadly lacking in.
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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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you wanna be carefull lots of fake stuff kicking about. esp spyder.
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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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bookham_mat, Easy to spot, the designs are based on models that were kicking about 5+ years ago, but they just look wrong and quite often they have 'Spyder' written in big letters across the shoulders in broken lettering. White & Red is a pretty common colourways too.
I recon I could spot a fake at 100m.
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