Gear of the Week: Mountain Hardwear Dry.Q Elite Jacket

Snow Reports:

Arapahoe Basin closed H 77° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 8 Base Lower/Upper /

Ashcroft Ski Touring closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Aspen Highlands closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 5 Base Lower/Upper /

Aspen Mountain closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 8 Base Lower/Upper /

Aspen/Snowmass Nordic Trail System closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Beaver Creek closed H 69° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 25 Base Lower/Upper /

Breckenridge closed H 66° L 41° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 31 Base Lower/Upper /

Buttermilk closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 8 Base Lower/Upper /

Copper Mountain Resort closed H 67° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 22 Base Lower/Upper /

Crested Butte Mountain Resort closed H 69° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 16 Base Lower/Upper /

Crested Butte Nordic Center closed H 69° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Devil's Thumb Ranch closed H 69° L 37° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Durango closed H 64° L 34° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open 9 of 10 Base Lower/Upper 47/51

Eldora Mountain Resort closed H 71° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 11 Base Lower/Upper /

Gold Run Nordic Center closed H 66° L 41° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Grand Lake Touring Center closed H 68° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Irwin closed H 58° L 32° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 1 Base Lower/Upper /

Kendall Mountain Ski Area closed H 60° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 1 Base Lower/Upper /

Keystone closed H 65° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 20 Base Lower/Upper /

Loveland Ski Area closed H 68° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 9 Base Lower/Upper /

Monarch Mountain closed H 75° L 45° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 6 Base Lower/Upper /

Powderhorn Resort closed H 79° L 47° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 4 Base Lower/Upper /

Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort closed H 80° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 10 Base Lower/Upper /

Silverton Mountain closed H 60° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 1 Base Lower/Upper /

Ski Cooper closed H 59° L 32° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 5 Base Lower/Upper /

Ski Granby Ranch closed H 69° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 5 Base Lower/Upper /

Ski Hesperus closed H 77° L 44° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 1 Base Lower/Upper /

Snow Mountain Ranch closed H 69° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Snowmass closed H 67° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 21 Base Lower/Upper /

SolVista Basin closed H 50° L 28° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open 0 of 5 Base Lower/Upper 24/25

Steamboat closed H 76° L 49° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 18 Base Lower/Upper /

Steamboat Ski Touring Center closed H 73° L 50° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Sunlight Mountain Resort closed H 74° L 42° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 3 Base Lower/Upper /

Telluride Ski Resort closed H 60° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 18 Base Lower/Upper /

Tennessee Pass Nordic Center closed H 59° L 32° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Vail closed H 67° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 31 Base Lower/Upper /

Vail Resorts Nordic School closed H 68° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Vista Verde Ranch closed H 69° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Winter Park closed H 68° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 26 Base Lower/Upper /

Wolf Creek Ski Area closed H 79° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 7 Base Lower/Upper /

Gear of the Week: Mountain Hardwear Dry.Q Elite Jacket

[ December 17, 2010 - 12:53pm ]

by Deborah Williams

Mountain Hardwear DryQ

Enlarge Photo

The Bullwheel

Dek:

Mountain Hardwear’s new Dry.Q collection is highly breathable, even if you're a heavy sweater.

Mountain Hardwear’s new Dry.Q collection, which includes the Dry.Q Elite jacket, takes aim at what the company calls outmoded waterproof-breathable membranes that don’t start breathing until you get hot—and maybe even clammy—leaving you susceptible to the uncomfortable sweat-chill cycle. The Dry.Q membrane, which boasts an impressive 40,000-mm waterproof rating and “always-on” breathability transports your body’s heat before it becomes moisture vapor. That means you stay dry and comfy, whatever the weather.

Last weekend I tested the jacket in a La Nina wind-whipper at Mary Jane. When I parked my car, the thermostat read 12, so I booted up in the driver’s seat—car doors closed, engine running. When I could delay the inevitable no longer, I stepped out into the swirling, blowing snow and didn’t feel a thing. Windproof? I’ll say.

The jacket isn’t insulated, and I was probably one layer short for the day’s low ambient temp, so the first couple chair rides were chilly (my fault, not the jacket’s). Now, I’m not a heavy sweater, but I’m in early season condition, so it didn’t take more than 15 or 20 turns in the Jane’s Sluice Box moguls to get my heart pumping and my body temperature up. Normally after a run like that, even on a cold day, I find myself tugging on zippers as I madly attempt to ventilate before I overheat in the lift maze. And normally, even on a not-so-cold day, I madly zip back up as soon as the chair departs the bull wheel and that first gust of wind gives me the chills. By the end of the long morning, my legs were whining and my skin was radiating heat. But I didn’t really notice because I wasn’t suffocating in it. True to its promise, the jacket was breathing as hard as I was.

Features: seam taped, pit vents, 3-D hood adjustment, zip-off powder skirt, stretch wrist cuffs, internal media pocket with headphone passthrough

MSRP: $450

The Dry.Q Elite for men and women will be available in Fall 2011. For more, visit mountainhardwear.com

Recent Comments

Blog Listing