sweet threads

Okay. Here it is. I said I would write about my OR clothing later in the week. I didn’t say which week, so this really isn’t later. I motivated my sorry ass on Sunday to get out and ski. We got a few small storms throughout the week, and I decided to head to my secret spot. It was late in the day, and I skinned up for my first lap. The snow was fluffy on top (a good 7-8 inches of fresh-ish snow) on top of solid crust. The snow was light enough that a hard turn would throw some pow into your face. Not true face shots, but still, I will take it.

So, on to the clothing. My favorite piece is the Jacket. The alter ego Jacket is made for backcountry skiing. Goretex pro fabric is nice and rugged. I also like the skin pockets. Instead of throwing your skins into your pack after every lap, you can throw then into the inner pockets and keep them warm and sticky. A good thing for cold, snowy days.

The second piece of clothing is the pants. The mentor pant is the top of line climb/ski/be a winter bad-ass pant. I climb and ski. The first day I got the pant, I put a hole in them. I was skiing and butt checked the snow to stop myself from running into a tree. This is the hole I put in them.

You can see it, the white spot. Okay, itself isn’t very impressive. This is what the butt check did to my thigh (I can’t show my butt on the interweb, it is shy)

It took two weeks for that hematoma to go away. I still have a divot in my thigh where I hit the stump. I think the pants made out better than I did. The hole isn’t even all the way through the goretex.
The final piece of the winter ensemble (italics mean snooty French pronunciation) is the gloves. These surprised me.

The OR Vert glove is made for “active winter endeavors” I have used it for ice climbing, skate skiing, backcountry skiing, running and chicken feeding. Oh yeah, and driving. Leather palm, softshell outer. Durable, breathable and relatively warm. Not the glove to wear resort skiing, but when you are earning your turns or working it in the cold, this glove is the bees knees. All six of them.