The Best Ski Jacket for Women Review

The jackets we tested are meant to be worn on the slopes - that is your ski resort slopes - so we specifically tested and evaluated them for this use. If you’re looking for a good backcountry ski jacket or cross country ski jacket, consider a hardshell, like the Helly Hansen Verglas Jacket - Women's or a softshell. The jackets in this review are insulated, water resistant, and most of them have features specific to skiing to make your day riding lifts more enjoyable.

Warmth
The first thing most people think about when heading out for a ski is “Will I be warm enough?” We rated each jacket on how warm they kept us on cold, windy, storm days. We skied fast and sat on windy chair lifts to find out if there were any drafts in strange places and tried out all the special features designed to help retain heat. The Helly Hansen Enigma–Women's and the Patagonia Primo Down jackets were the warmest jackets in the review, both using high quality insulation. The Enigma jacket uses a combination of Primaloft with strategic pockets of down insulation along the back, and the Primo Down uses 700-fill down insulation. The Columbia Bugaboo and Whirlibird jackets use a foil-like lining Columbia calls Omni-Heat, to reflect heat back towards your body, combined with synthetic insulation, to keep you warm. We were skeptical about this flashy material but found these jackets were some of the warmer ones in the review.

Water Resistance
Depending on the time of year and the climate you’re skiing in, this category can be the most important feature of a ski jacket. Ski areas in a maritime climate tend to have wetter, heavier snow that can easily soak through a jacket without decent water resistance. This is important because the more water that soaks into your jacket the heavier and more uncomfortable it becomes, and the wetter you get the colder you get, meaning less skiing for a cold and wet you.

Most of the jackets were constructed with a waterproof/breathable shell material such as Gore-Tex on the Primo Down, HyVent on The North Face Boundary Triclimate – Women's and the Helly Tech Professional fabric on the Enigma. In addition, all the jackets we tested were given added water resistance with the application of each manufacturer’s proprietary DWR (Durable Water Repellent) coatings, but some repelled water off the jacket material better than others. We discuss each jacket’s waterproofing materials in more depth in their individual reviews.


Along with field testing, we sprayed each jacket with water to closely evaluate how well water beaded off of the surface, and how long it took the water to soak into the material. The spray test evaluated the DWR (Durable Water Repellent) coatings on these jackets, not the overall waterproofness of the jackets. It is important to note that DWR coatings will wear off over time from washing and use, but can be re-treated. The Primo Down, with its Gore-Tex shell and DWR coating, held up the best and beaded water easily, whereas the Obermeyer Josie and Salomon’s Snowtrip jackets soaked the water right up. To learn more about DWR coatings and how to choose the right waterproof material for your jacket we recommend checking out the Hardshell Buying Advice Article.

Ventilation
When you’re working hard making turns in deep powder, you can work up a sweat. You don’t want to feel clammy and sweaty under your jacket, which leaves you chilled when sitting still on the lift, so you want your jacket to be somewhat breathable or vented. The materials the jacket is made of, as well as the venting features incorporated in the jacket, are both important ways you can release heat and moisture. With an easy-to-open pit-zip, you can immediately get airflow to your body, allowing for you to regulate your temperature quickly. Since all the jackets in this review are thick and insulated, meaning not very breathable, the ventilation features are important for staying comfortable in varying conditions on the ski hill.


The Salomon Snowtrip - Women's, with its very permeable soft shell material, used the most breathable material of any jacket in this review. Some of the other jackets made with waterproof materials can be more stifling, however most have some type of pit-zip feature for venting, allowing for air to circulate inside the jacket on warmer days. We were particularly impressed with the vent-zip function on the Helly Hansen Enigma because it runs along the back instead of under the arms, eliminating the bulk of a zipper under the arms.


Ski Features
Each jacket in this review had different ski-specific features that make spending a day on the ski hill easier and more comfortable. Most jackets have powderskirts, designed to keep snow from going up backs on powder days or – on the extremely rare occasion – from going down the pants when we fell down. Our favorite was the Patagonia Primo Down’s powderskirt because it was removable for times when we didn’t need it.


Other ski features we found useful were: wrist gaiters – we liked the thin and stretchy ones on the Whirlibird and the Columbia Bugaboo Tech Interchange 3-in-1 - Women's best – pockets to stash our goggles and snacks, and unique features like included goggle wipes and electronics pockets. The Primo Down and the Enigma had the best features in this category, and the Boundary Triclimate had the least ski specific features.


Style
We think that having a stylish jacket is super important when you ski at the resort often. People begin to recognize you by the jacket you’re wearing, and this essentially becomes your identity. Your friends can no longer see your face or hair, only your helmet, goggles and most importantly, your jacket. Selecting a jacket that represents your style and personality is just as important as finding a jacket with the properly placed vent and warm enough insulation.

The Urban Dictionary defines Steezy as: “A snowboarder term that combines the word ‘style’ with ‘ease’ to create the act of doing a trick with style and ease to make it done with super steez. A rider with steez, would be referred to as "steezy" whether it be because of his/her sick tricks, gangster apparel, or watevs.” We think you should feel steezy in your new jacket, however you may define it.


All of the jackets in this review come in many different color combinations so you can find the one best suited for you. We thought that the Obermeyer Josie jacket was the most steezy of the bunch because of its bright color combinations and its funky pattern. (Making our testers stand out with style quite easily!) We also thought the Patagonia Primo Down was simple and clean looking for those of us who prefer a more understated style.

Comfort and Fit

Comfort and fit are very important for a ski jacket because you want to be able to move around and feel good in your jacket since you’ll be wearing it all day. Some jackets had stretchy material that flexed with movement, like the Snowtrip and the Enigma, and some were extra roomy so you can layer more underneath, like the Whirlibird and the Josie. The fit of your jacket can also affect the warmth of it. If your jacket is too small and you are not able to put extra layers on for an extra cold day you won’t be as comfortable. Conversely, if your jacket is too roomy and lets in drafts it will also be less warm and comfortable.


We compared all of the manufacturer’s size charts to see if they matched up with our tester’s dimensions to give you some extra information for how to select a fit for your. Some models we recommend sizing up, down, or purchasing your normal size. For instance, we found Solomon’s sizes to be on the smaller side and Columbia’s to be on the bigger side.

The Bottom Line

Editors Choice Award


The Patagonia Primo Down Jacket - Women's took the award for Editors Choice. It is one of the warmest we tested, stylish, and constructed with high quality materials such as Gore-Tex and 700-fill down. It is the only jacket to use the waterproof/breathable Gore-Tex material and all down insulation, allowing it to be lightweight AND waterproof. This jacket also has many special features to keep you warm, looking good, and functioning well on the ski hill. We really like its special pockets for iPods, keys, and ski passes, its helmet compatible down-lined hood, as well as its removable snow skirt. This jacket is the lightest in the review, it is comfortable and it moves well with the wearer when shredding pow, and it will keep you warm on most days, with extra room to layer underneath.

Top Pick Award


Although the Helly Hansen Duchy didn’t score the highest in any of the categories, it scored high in all of the categories, which earned it the Top Pick for an all-around resort ski jacket. It is comfortable, warm, and has all the ski features you could want, including comfy wrist gaiters and pass pocket. We found the Dutchy to be particularly stylish, and also an excellent value at $330. The Duchy is roomy enough to allow for layering on cold weather days but isn’t as heavy and insulated as the Helly Hansen Enigma or Silverrush jackets, so it will keep you cool and comfortable on warm spring days as well. It is equipped with the Recco Advanced Rescue Technology, which is a valuable safety feature, and most importantly we feel great wearing it!

Best Buy Award


The Columbia Whirlibird Interchange - Women's jacket was our favorite of the three-in-one type jackets we tested, and it won the Best Buy award because it provides the most function and versatility for the least amount of money. It is the most comfortable and stylish of this combo-style jacket, being very similar in function to the Columbia Bugaboo, but we thought it was slightly more comfortable, stylish, and flattering. We particularly like how the two layers (an insulated interior jacket and a wind/water resistant outer shell) perform individually, but found that they didn’t work in combination quite as well as we would have hopeds. Although we believe it is a less durable and functional option than both the Duchy and Primo Down, it is great value for your money, retailing at only $250 and giving you two separate jackets with three wear options for around town and to the ski hill.