New gear

The best time to pick up  new gear is in the off season.

In the PNW, this means hitting REI - a personal favorite, and a bad place with a credit card - or any number of sales in July.

I always opt for more expensive gear rather than cheap gear, and I almost always go with a name brand because they have the best warranties that don't require you returning to the store you purchased from.



Some of my personal favorites are as follows:
- North Face
- Patagonia
- Burton
- Mountain Hardware*
- Mammut
- Salomon

* I liked Mountain Hardware up until Columbia purchased them.  I've found, personally, that in the last seven or so years, Columbia decided to switch from making top quality rain, and snow gear, and instead focus on making lower quality jackets with the dreaded, "critical seam tape," which means...pretty much anything.

My rule of thumb for buying gear is as follows:
1.  If the jacket comes with a liner, I'm passing it up.  I've found that most companies will try and cover up shortcomings in jackets by adding liner.
2.  Avoid ALL "critical seam sealed" labeled jackets.  What does this mean?  You'd have to ask the person doing the taping, but basically any seam on the jacket not deemed, "critical" will not have waterproof taping behind it, and thus allow water to leak into the jacket.  You're looking for, "Fully Seam Sealed."
3.  Heavy & light jackets.  You need both.  The heavy jacket for what I consider, "bomb proof" layering where typical conditions will not get through, and the light jacket for rain, and wind, or for when conditions are mixed.  You probably want the heavy jacket for most winter days in the PNW, but you'd like to have the option of going waterproof, and light when you're in Georgia.
4.  Consider what you wear on your head.  I wear a visor at all times when coaching, so a solid hood with a stiff brim isn't necessary.  The hood fits over the visor, and the bill keeps the fabric out of my face.  But choose accordingly.  I do prefer hoods that tuck up under the chin, and leave only your eyes and nose exposed.  If it's especially cold, I'll use a face cover from my snowboarding gear to help protect the exposed skin.

Can't beat a great sale price

I recommend buying a combination of sizes.  I usually buy my outer jacket - water/wind proof - slightly larger than need be so I can comfortably layer beneath them.  The jackets I have closer to the body like soft shells, track jackets or my beloved Nanopuff from Patagonia, I buy to size.

I think you can get away with two jackets - heavy, and light - but recommend picking up several soft shells, and or puffy jackets.  Having spent the last decade in the PNW, I can tell you that unless you want the dryer going full tilt, one of each won't get the job done.  And fuel, coffee, tea, rain, dirt, etc. will cause your jackets to start to stink.

The areas I'm usually most concerned about are the legs, and the butt.  In January/February/March I will layer up with some thick compression leggings from UnderArmor to wear under my jeans or Dickies - I do not like Carhartt - along with two or three pairs of socks, and my snowboard insulated pants.  I'll usually tuck a couple of handwarmers into the pockets as well.

My list of gear:
- Two light jackets:  Old Columbia jacket with high waterproof/breathability rating, and the new Mammut jacket.
- Two heavy jacket:  Mountain Hardware prior to being purchased by Columbia, and an old NorthFace.
- Three puffy jackets:  Two Patagonia jackets including one with a hood, and one NorthFace jacket.
- One puffy vest:  Patagonia.
- One pair of gloves:  NorthFace.
- Two pairs snowboard pants:  NorthFace, Burton.
- Two pairs boots:  Danner boots, one insulated.
- One pair waterproof shoes:  Salomon trail runners, full Gore Tex.
- One pair leggings:  UnderAmor cold gear.
- Three softshells:  One UW, NorthFace