Ortovox 3L Ortler Jacket

Our take The Ortler is made for pedal-to-the-metal types. One cross-country skier reports that it breathed like a champ during everything from training sessions in the teens to a wet ski tour in the 50s in Alaska’s Talkeetnas: “I heated up, but the jacket still did a great job getting rid of moisture,” he says. The secret: a Toray Dermizax NX membrane, which isn’t air-permeable but allows water vapor to swiftly pass through it at a high rate.

The details The Ortler doesn’t skimp on protection. It kept us dry in wet snow and steady rain with adjustable cuffs, a hem that snugged tightly to the body, and a helmet-compatible, precisely cinching hood. Testers also applauded the merino mesh-lined collar and four-way stretch. One Alaska tester put the 50-denier nylon fabric through the wringer but couldn’t dent it: “A snowshoe up Penguin Creek Valley turned into an epic bushwhack through alder, devil’s club, and downed spruce. Yet the jacket didn’t snag or fray,” he says.

$490; 15.7 oz.; m’s S-XXL, w’s XS-XL