Sometimes it’s hard for boarders to find quality gear that expresses their style without sacrificing performance. Welp, I’m a skier, but I spent the last month in the Whole Lotta’s particular brand of waterproof, highly breathable aesthetic. Has Mountain Hardwear captured the balance of skibum joie de vivre and performance for the discerning outdoorsman? I think so.
Mountain Hardwear Whole Lotta Jacket Key Features:
- Attached, adjustable, helmet compatible hood
- Pit zips for additional ventilation
- Attached, adjustable stretch powder skirt
- Plenty of interior pockets for all your gear
- 1/4 zip collar gusset and offset center front zip for increased mobility and comfort
- One-handed hood and hem drawcords for quick adjustments
- Zip handwarmer pockets
- Micro-Chamois™-lined chin guard eliminates zipper chafe
- MSRP: $400
My Experience
We might as well start with the jacket’s biggest claim to fame, Mountain Hardwear’s Dry.Q Core fabric – this stuff is good. It’s a backless laminate similar to GORE Active or eVent, and it’s just as good as these two high-performing competitors. It’s 100% waterproof for all practical purposes and it breathes as well or better than Active and eVent. These three fabrics are all vying for the best waterproof/breathable laminate and it’s basically a toss-up at this point. I’ve tested Dry.Q and GORE Active and I’m familiar with eVent, and I can confidently say that any jacket with one of these fabrics is superior to the competition.
Mountain Hardwear went for a military, snowboarding vibe complete with eppaulettes and bellowed pockets with the Whole Lotta. It’s a solid look for the slopes but the jacket is also comfortable around town – it’s definitely not svelte but you can pull off a casual night around town while retaining your ties to the mountain.
Fabric choice is geared for quality: the outer laminate is a burly textured melange that will resist snagging on branches when tree skiing gets gnarly. The DWR is solid and it hasn’t showed a sign of slowing down in six weeks of testing. The only downside to this fabric’s durability is a very noisy overall product – it’s definitely loud as far as hardshells go.
All the features of a great ski jacket are here – arm pocket for season passes (although a clear scanner window would be a nice touch), sealed pit zips, gusset for a customized collar, soft chin guard, helmet compatible hood and a snow skirt. I really liked the extra-tall chin guard for burrowing into when the wind or powder picked up. All of the hem and hood adjustments are the typical one-handed bungees, and the zipper pulls are easy to grab with one hand. Mountain Hardwear committed something of a design sin by making the zipper pulls out of flimsy fabric with a decorative rivet – this foolish contraption broke the second time I used the Whole Lotta. It looked cool for ten hours of product life and then it was gone – for a $400 jacket, I expect a lot more.
I liked the sealed zippers that Mountain Hardwear included – they started off difficult to start and pull but they’ve broken in well over time. The zipper pulls in particular are easy to get going with one hand, which saves me a whole lot of frustration and unmitigated anguish. It’s a rough life when pit zips aren’t pulling well.
The Good:
- Dry.Q performs on-par with the best backless laminates on the market
- Overall fabric choice is very robust
- Styling for the snowboarder who knows fashion
- Sealed zippers pull easily once broken in
- 1/4 zip gusset is a great touch
- All the necessary features are here
The Bad:
- Fabric zipper pull broke almost immediately
- No clear pass window for scanners
- Very loud fabric laminate
The Bottom Line
Mountain Hardwear packed all the features of a great ski coat into the styling that snowboarders deserve. Maybe I’m being unfair by calling it just a snowboarding jacket, but it’s definitely not what I’d call a traditional ski coat. Dry.Q is much appreciated when you hit that line that makes you break out into a cold sweat. It’s is absolutely top-notch fabric and it really puts the jacket into a higher tier of performance.
Buy now: Available at Backcountry.com
2 Comments
Hey Kevin,
I too ski Mt. Spokane and other mountains in the area – I live in Spo. I have been looking at this jacket online and I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me.
1) The conditions in your photo look quite windy and snowy. Since this jacket is uninsilated what kind of layering did you have to wear under this to keep your warmth in those conditions?
2) My main hesitation is not knowing how baggy this jacket really is without trying it on. Some photos online look a lot more park snowboarder baggy and others have that great technical free ride powder skiing look. I like the look/sizing you have going on in the picture; what size is your jacket relative to your size? I don’t want the super baggy look and I am 5’11”, 213lbs, and by measurement I would be a size large.
I appreciate your insights – thanks, Kevin!
Jake
Hey Jake,
Glad you’re enjoying the ‘Kan. I’d be glad to help you out on these two questions.
1) You’re right, the Whole Lotta is just a shell with no insulation. Depending on the weather, I usually wear something like the Columbia Extreme Fleece Baselayer coupled with a fleece layer and, if it’s quite cold, perhaps the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer underneath the Whole Lotta.
2) Great question. The Whole Lotta has a pretty stiff handle, meaning that the fabric likes to lay flat and not scrunch up. I’d say that it would fit what you’re looking for – not super baggy, but not svelte like an athletic cut. When I was testing this piece I was 5’11” and weighed around 207, so we were pretty close. If you like the look of the jacket in the picture, odds are it’ll look pretty similar on you!
Thanks for the interest man, hope to see you on the slopes some time!
Kevin