Snowboard Gear

New Season, New Gear

I’m starting this snowboarding season by bringing sexy back. My days of wearing four different colors and piecemeal gear are over. Yesterday, I upgraded my snowboarding jacket.

I ripped my old jacket last year in Blackcomb’s glades and then mended it by duct tape and 30 minutes in the dryer. Needless to say, that isn’t a great long-term fix. My left arm was colder from that point forward, and I knew that my fashionable tape jacket would need to be retired.

So I went shopping for a new jacket and my requirements were simple: I wanted a jacket that would keep me warm without being too bulky, I wanted a sturdy snow liner, and it had to be black - no more of this three color jacket nonsense.

In browsing around, I stumbled across this Helly Hansen Republic jacket which seemed to fit the bill. The jacket itself isn’t very big. When I put the jacket on, I didn’t feel encumbered in any way, and I could move my arms about unimpeded.

It has a nice fleece interior, and of course, the second liner. My old jacket also had a snow liner, but it was built in such a way that it would always ride up to the chest and constantly need to be repositioned. The Hansen’s snow liner has a better design which, hopefully, leads to it staying in place.

And, of course, the new jacket is black. I’ll certainly look much cooler on the slopes now! I haven’t had a snowboarding jacket with the faux fur trim before, so I’m curious to see how that works out, especially in the rain. It is detachable though, in case it’s an annoyance.

So now I’m all geared up and ready to go. First stop, Tremblant…unless we can get up to Blue Mountain within the next two weeks.

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