Powder Review: Patagonia Women’s Storm Shift Jacket and Pants

Julia Tellman
·5 min read

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In a nutshell

The Patagonia Women’s Storm Shift Jacket and Pants are durable, lightly-insulated outerwear pieces designed for inbounds skiing, with the added benefit of some pretty impressive sustainability markers.

  • Size Tested: Small

  • Materials: 2-layer 100% recycled polyester PFC-free GORE-TEX, 61% recycled polyester tricot-knit lining

  • Pockets: Two hand pockets, chest pocket, forearm pocket, interior zippered pocket, interior drop-in pocket

  • Vents: Underarm zip vents

  • Weight: 723g

  • Helmet compatible hood, adjustable hood and hem, powder skirt, RECCO

The Storm Shift Jacket is available now.

  • Size Tested: Small

  • Materials: 2-layer 100% recycled polyester PFC-free GORE-TEX, 100% recycled polyester mesh lining

  • Pockets: Two hand pockets, two thigh pockets

  • Vents: Mesh-lined outer thigh vents

  • Weight: 691g

  • RECCO, scuff guards, and gaiters

The Storm Shell Pant is available now.

Intro

According to Patagonia, the Storm Shift Jacket and Pants are a waterproof and windproof kit with a unique liner that’s warm and moisture-wicking “to provide lasting storm protection and comfort for skiers and boarders getting out in all types of conditions.” When the Storm Shift kit was first announced a year and a half ago, it was touted as the first ever fully-PFC free (meaning there are no “forever chemicals” in the fabric, membrane, or DWR finish) GORE-TEX kit with a 100% recycled face fabric.

Patagonia is reliably one of the brands with the best transparency and quantitative sustainability claims, and we appreciate that every year the company is working toward ambitious goals with its fabrics, treatments, packaging, and emissions.

Fit

Definitely give the Patagonia size guide a perusal before ordering–even though at 5’5” and 135 pounds, I am more accustomed to wearing a medium in outerwear, the chart puts me as a small in the Storm Shift kit. I tried on the medium pants and jacket and felt swamped in every direction–long sleeves, long legs, baggy waist, boxy torso–and many of the customer reviews on the brand’s website echo this observation. Fortunately, Patagonia offers the jacket and pants in a size range from XXS to XL.

The size small jacket and pants are still pretty generously cut, with long arms, wide legs, and a freeride-style fit. The jacket leaves room for an insulating layer underneath, and the pants have belt loops as well as adjustable velcro tabs inside the waist to dial in the fit.

Pockets and Features

The Storm Shift Jacket has an RFID pocket on the left arm, a zippered exterior and interior chest pocket (with no headphone routing hole–have Bluetooth earbuds killed that feature for good?), hand pockets with incredibly soft lining, and one drop-in interior pocket, not big enough for skins but plenty big for a buff or PB&J. The pit zips are large and well-placed, and the hood and hem are adjustable. The brim of the hood is stiffened up by a nice big RECCO reflector. The powder skirt on the jacket is non-removable but very light and stretchy, and attaches to any Patagonia snow pant via a webbing loop on the back of the skirt.

The pants have two big thigh pockets with a storm flap over the zippers for extra weather protection, and two zippered hand pockets with the same buttery, fleecy lining as the jacket’s hand pockets. It may seem weird to call out the lining but it is just so dang soft. The outer thigh vents are lined with mesh, which makes them a little less effective at dumping heat but still allows for air flow.

Performance

The Storm Shift Jacket and Pants feel cozy yet sturdy, a really nice combination for unpleasantly wet inbounds days. The 2L GORE-TEX, DWR-treated shell on the jacket and pants sheds water just like you’d hope, and on some unseasonably cold and gnarly late spring ski days in this kit, I managed to stay dry and warm the entire time.

The tricot knit lining of the jacket is very low profile and seems laid out to maximize warmth for less weight. While the shell is a premium waterproof product akin to the Flylow Freya Jacket, the insulation of the Storm Shift is much less bulky. Although the lining did add coziness and made a full-on puffy underneath feel like overkill, I did not find that I could wear just this jacket without at least a light midlayer except on warm ski days. The mesh lining of the pants is even more low-profile and just adds a slippery extra layer of light fabric inside of the shell material–similarly, not quite enough to replace an insulated baselayer, but an extra bit of comfort on chilly days.

The collar of the jacket doesn’t have any kind of soft internal guard and on days when my face was already a little sensitive from sun or wind, the fabric rubbing against my chin felt rough and somewhat abrasive.

This is definitely an inbounds kit; due to their weight and light insulation, the jacket and pants are too bulky and warm for pure backcountry use (and the fabric is pretty loud when you’re skinning). That said, if you don’t have the funds to pony up for a backcountry-specific set of outerwear, the Storm Shift Jacket and Pants have good venting, nice features, great weather protection, and aren’t wildly hot on the uphill.

The 150-denier shell fabric on the pants and jacket feels tough and durable and has weathered several months of skiing with no signs of wear. When you invest in high performance outerwear, you definitely expect to get pieces that will last several seasons, and I feel confident that the Storm Shift kit will do just that.

Who is the perfect skier for the Patagonia Storm Shift Jacket and Pants?

Skiers who often ride lifts in the elements, whether that means below-zero days, nonstop snow, or (everyone’s favorite) the lovely mix of precipitation that happens around 32 degrees F, will benefit from the beefed-up protection of the Patagonia Storm Shift Jacket and Pants. If you are looking for just a touch of insulation that still provides flexibility in layering, and sustainable manufacturing is important to you, this kit is a great option.