Wolf Creek, April 9, 2011
Conditions: It had snowed 10” in the previous 48 hours, was snowing lightly in the morning and snowed harder and harder throughout the day.
It was graupel for most of the day, but the last two hours turned to very wet snow, almost sleet.
It was also windy. Very, very windy.
My friend (who shall remain nameless, because I don’t think I’ve fully forgiven him yet) was jonesing to ski Alberta Peak, so we did. We started the boot pack up in 50-60 mph winds, with even stronger gusts that were nearly blowing us off our feet. Half way up, we were in a whiteout, and frostbite was becoming a very real concern. (I’ll spare you the whole argument we had about just dropping in and foregoing the peak; ultimately, I decided that it was better to stick together.)
If you haven’t had the pleasure of graupel pelting your face at 70+ miles per hour, imagine being sprayed by a Tommy gun for 15-20 minutes, and you’ll get the gist.
To help protect the exposed parts of my face below my goggles, I flipped the Atomic Bentchettlers I was carrying on my shoulder up on edge, letting their 123mm wide waists help to block the ice and graupel blasts and the freezing wind.
I was fully aware that with each step, I was basically sawing back and forth into the shoulder of the Bellows jacket with the ski’s angled edge… and I absolutely did not care. There were bigger concerns at the moment.
We finally made the peak and dropped in as quickly as possible. (Just to reiterate, that whole episode was really stupid.)
We headed over to the top of Knife Ridge, and found all of these short but sweet little shots: a gorgeous spine with a nice 10-15 foot drop; a steep pitch to diving board to perfect run out, etc. We pretty quickly forgot about the machine gun graupel spray and potential frostbite.
At the end of the day, I finally checked out the shoulder of my jacket. Shockingly, there was no hole; in fact, there was no sign – at all – of any abrasion, or that I’d been sawing away on that right shoulder for twenty minutes or so.
The arms of my Arc Teryx Theta AR jacket shows all kinds of slash marks from skiing very tight trees. There are no tears in the jacket (and frankly, the slashes look kind of badass) but the Bellows jacket shows nothing. Granted, the AR jacket is a much thinner fabric and is designed to be a lightweight, minimalist jacket. But it just drove home the point that the Bellows jacket is built for gnar.
Silverton, April 10, 2011
While it was dumping at Wolf Creek, Silverton had been getting hammered, too. Sunday brought lots of fresh snow and warm temperatures.
The fabric on the Bellows jacket and Trewth bibs is so burly, I was concerned with overheating, especially on the long boot packs at Silverton. Regulating temperature is tricky there: you’ve got a long, steep boot pack that will get you sweating, and given the wind conditions, things can change from sunny and still (where you will quickly begin to roast) to cloudy, snowy, and really windy (time to freeze).
So pick your poison: Underdress, and you’re going to feel fine on the high-exertion hike up, feel cold on the way down. Overdress, and flip the equation.
On our first hike up for the day, the sun broke out and the winds died down. I knew I‘d be overheating less than 100 feet up the boot pack, so I opened up the full, seam taped, side leg zips all the way from my hips to the top of my calves.
Some Icebreaker BODY FIT 200 long underwear kept the scene Suitable for a General Audience, and worked perfectly under the Trewth Bibs. The routine for the day was open wide the full side zips for the hike up, close up for the deep ride down. Perfect.
so after reading your and other reviews saying how quality Trew’s gear is, i’ve decided to invest in a Trew jacket (not totally decided yet between the Bellows and the Pow Funk). My only concern is that i’ve read a couple of people who say that, while very durable and totally waterproof, the gelanots fabric isn’t totally windproof, and skiing on the east coast (mostly sugarloaf) this is a bit of a concern for me. I was just wondering what you thought, in regards to this, from your experience.
thanks a lot in advance for any thoughts you may have,
Hi Andy, I think it’s very important to be clear about which model year each person is referencing.
My comments are about the 11/12 line, not earlier versions. All I can say is that, in 50+ days, wind was absolutely not an issue at all, and I don’t layer very heavily – often, a pretty thin wool base layer, then maybe a Patagonia Nano Puff.
I also asked our reviewer, Will Brown, who spent a number of days in the 11/12 Bellows jacket and TREWTH bibs, whether he ever felt like wind was an issue: “No way.”
In any case, that was our experience. Might be worth an email to TREW to ask, I’m sure they’ll give you a straightforward answer. Let us know what you decide to do and how it’s working out.
I emailed the TREW guys earlier today, and got a response back within the hour saying that if I buy the jacket and don’t like it for whatever reason I can send it back no questions asked. Top marks for customer service in my opinion, looking forward to trying out the jacket for real.
Thanks so much for the extremely informative review. I’ve been thinking about buying the Cosmic jacket and you’ve definitely convinced me to buy it. I do have question though – What’s the fit like for TREW jackets? I’m 6′ 2″ and I like my jackets on the longer side, but without too much baggage. Therefore I’m not sure whether to go for the xl or xxl.
Hey Brian, these jackets definitely run on the freeride cut side – not an athletic / slim fit. I’m 5’10”, and I’m wearing a large Bellows jacket. I’m not sure how much length is gained by going to XL or XXL, but I’m sure the guys at TREW would be happy to tell you exactly that. Email them. As Andy can attest, they are good at getting in touch.
I have the Pow Funk Jacket and it’s awesome.
I have it in an XL. 5’11” and 195 lbs. Fits well and the thing is totally bomber
I just broke in a pair of Trewth bibs at the Fairy Meadows Hut in BC last week and wanted to drop you guys a line with a couple thoughts:
First, I’m 5’10”, about 180, and went with a large. As a general rule, I was stoked on the pants. Style’s great; zipper and pocket placement were on point; internal gaiter was great; cuff guards have absolutely no visible damage after a week of hard touring and skiing. That being said, I have two suggestions to make the pants (in my opinion) damn-near perfect. My first suggestion is the use of a way more breathable fabric above the waistband. No need for waterproof/breathable under your shell and I constantly found myself soaked with sweat while skinning or booting.
Second, the bib straps could stand a bit of tweaking. I’d like to see a burlier material used for the straps themselves. If I set the bibs where I wanted them with empty pockets and such, it didn’t seem to take adding much (snacks, a pair of gloves while skinning, etc) to the thigh pockets to get the pants to start sagging down. I understand Trew’s looking to create technical gear with a more freeride-oriented cut than your average alpinist’s pants, but I hate having to pull the crotch of the pants up while high-stepping technical bootpacks or steep skin-tracks. On the strap note, I would also like to see the actual adjustment buckle moved further down the front of the bib. I started running into problems with the buckles sitting under my backpack straps when I tried to really tighten things up. It may be that those issues would be resolved by dropping down a size, eh? But there you have it, my two cents.
Thanks for the feedback, Mike!