Help Me Find a Ski Patrol Jacket!

[jwcomputergirl]

Greetings Divas - long time reader/fan, first time poster. I desperately need to replace my patrol jacket and I am SO tired of looking like the Michelin Man. My mountain doesn't care what kind of jacket I wear, as long as it's red w/white crosses. But ALL Patrol Coats are designed for Men. Helloooo - they're missing a valuable market here! These are the brands I've checked out, if you have any other recommendations I would LOVE to hear them.
- Mountain Hardwear
- Patagonia
- Mountain Uniforms
- Beaterwear

Thanks!

Jan

 

[Robyn]

Jan, I can't help you with patrol coats but wanted to say first welcome! Oh, and I understand the mens coat issue, all of our coaching coats are mens as well. The arms are always 4 or 5 inches too long on me.

 

[jwcomputergirl]

Note to Snow Song - I don't have enough posts to reply to your PM, but thaks for the welcome! I'm from Shawnee Mountain (little, itty bitty Shawnee). We're right off I80, right near the NJ border.

 

[Robyn]

Keep posting and you'll be there in no time! We're glad to have you.

 

[geargrrl]

Cloudviel has the Koven which is a VERY nice coat. I'd second the Patagonia or MH.



From what I have seen ( both as a patrol mom and "angel" and a technical fabrics repair person) a lot of the smaller brands are overbuilt (heavy) and not necessarily built that well, like only shoulder seams are taped.

gg

 

[cinnabon]

Can you just get a nice ladies red jacket and have the crosses moved from you old jacket onto the new one? And if you don't want the bulk definitely get a shell so you can layer underneath. They had ladies specific patroller jackets at Killington, but I think they had all the uniform jackets custom made with Killington logos.

 

[geargrrl]

You can move a cross, you can also order new ones that aren't dingy from the NSP catalog ( or get it from your area if they use a different one) The thing is, if you put your cross on after you may want to think about if the person doing the work can seam seal it or not, or if you even want it seam sealed.

gg

 

[geargrrl]

I just googled "beaterwear"

Third listing that comes up is a nonsponsicve customer service report. I didn't read the link, just saw that it's a "ripoff report".
I did to to their website, nothing is seam sealed as far as I can tell, there's no tech specs on the site, just the usual technical jargon obfuscation.

Mountain Uniforms says there are 100% seam sealed.

 

[jwcomputergirl]

Wow Geargrrl - thank you for the research and your advice. You really know your stuff!

 

[perma-grin]

Hey jwcomputergirl, welcome. I went with the mountain unifom rescue vest. I wear a black soft shell under it (it allows for lots of layering options). It had a pocket for a hydration bladder in the back but I choose to have it sewn closed when we had the crosses put on the back. I don't wear a pack either, every thing I need fits nicely in to my large game pockets. And best of all I know exactly where everything is and what pocket it's located in. I like the radio holders too. I hated trying to find a patrol jacket that wasn't to narrow in the hips or too long in the sleeves. I'm 5'5 and around a 140 lbs and nothing every seemed to fit right, I hate bunchy sleeves. The rescue vest came with sleeves that zipped off but I pitched them.

 

[marta]

I've got the mountain hardwear jacket with the removable sleeves. Lots of great pockets for storage and radio harness. But they sewed my hydration pocket and a little chapstick pocket shut when they applied the embroideries. It does have kinda puffy sleeves and waist, but the elastic waistband has a lot of give. I usually ditch the sleeves. The fabric is really heavy duty ballistic type (think luggage...) and is pretty indestructable and so far very waterproof. Although I got a mud stain on my sleeve that won't come out.

 

[geargrrl]

I've got the mountain hardwear jacket with the removable sleeves. Lots of great pockets for storage and radio harness. But they sewed my hydration pocket and a little chapstick pocket shut when they applied the embroideries. It does have kinda puffy sleeves and waist, but the elastic waistband has a lot of give. I usually ditch the sleeves. The fabric is really heavy duty ballistic type (think luggage...) and is pretty indestructable and so far very waterproof. Although I got a mud stain on my sleeve that won't come out.

they sewed my hydration pocket and a little chapstick pocket shut when they applied the embroideries.

Don't get me going, I'm sure that they went through all the layers and didn't seam seal either.

For mud, you can use any regular laundry product - try Shout, etc. Though I don't think there's anything that does a good job on molybdenum grease ( chairlift drips)

 

[marta]

Hmm I tried all that. Rats! Maybe it was grease... Or maybe it's just that NJ mud we've got here.

 

[Jilly]

Though I don't think there's anything that does a good job on molybdenum grease ( chairlift drips)

If I'm ever drive to the states, I can see where I need to bring about 3 cases of the stuff I use. It takes out chair lift grease. Now I can't remember if is Grime Eater or Grime Away.

 

[Severine]

If I'm ever drive to the states, I can see where I need to bring about 3 cases of the stuff I use. It takes out chair lift grease. Now I can't remember if is Grime Eater or Grime Away.

You could make a fortune! I lost a jacket to that grease. Looks awful with this huge splotch on the back. Though volklgirl told me a remedy when we were at Abasin... but I can't remember what she said.

 

[jaydog]

Mountain Uniform offers size XS, which fit me pretty well (and I'm kinda small) but the sleeve liner was sewn in wrong and took forever when I sent it back to be re-sewn.

 

[Jenny]

If I'm ever drive to the states, I can see where I need to bring about 3 cases of the stuff I use. It takes out chair lift grease. Now I can't remember if is Grime Eater or Grime Away.

If I remember an earlier thread right it was Grime Eater and it was supposedly available at Canadian Tire (and maybe Walmart). I tried looking for it when we were in the Soo last year but they looked at me like I was nuts and we couldn't find it anywhere. So my left sleeve is still stained with I-don't-know-what, and I might get a new jacket. So it's not all bad.

 

[Jilly]

Grocery store - Loblaws, Your Independent Grocer, Valu-Mart and maybe No Frills. They are all the same family of stores. I'll check A+P tomorrow as they have something on sale I want. Look in the laundry soap area.

 

[Robyn]

I noticed a female patroller at A Basin wearing a Patagonia soft shell jacket that looked pretty good this weekend.

 

[Shannon D]

Are you an NSP member? We just got the new catalog and there are some great deals on Patagonia jackets. Many of the styles are offered for women as well as men.