 |
| Cloudveil Rayzar Softshell
Rayzar is the ideal backountry skiing soft-shell: light weight, with no more doodads than is absolutely necessary (except for the ipod pocket, but that’s pretty much necessary). It has a rough textured and stretchy Cordura soft-shell fabric on the upper part (durable, and could help slow you down a bit when you fall down that 65 degree corn slope). It has a lightweight powder skirt, which I needed this weekend (see photos below, in Dad’s blog post from yesterday). The powder skirt can be tightened from inside the pockets so you don’t freeze your fingers off. It has only three pockets, which I like because it makes it lighter and has fewer zipper pulls dangling everywhere. Besides, if anything is heavy enough and big enough that it won’t fit in those pockets I probably don’t want it in my jacket — that is what backpacks are for. I like hoods, and the Rayzar has no hood, but that’s just about the only thing I don’t like about this jacket. Thumbs up from Wildsnow.com junior. |
Louie Dawson earned his Bachelor Degree in Industrial Design from Western Washington University in 2014. When he’s not skiing Mount Baker or somewhere equally as snowy, he’s thinking about new products to make ski mountaineering more fun and safe.
