Strafe Temerity Jacket and Pants

Features

While the Temerity’s storm protection and breathability seem comparable to the Lab Coat 2.0’s, the jacket’s pocket layout sets it apart. Does the Temerity’s design mean it’s clearly better than the Lab Coat as a more fully-featured resort jacket? No. But you may find it to be preferable, depending on (a) what you generally carry with you, (b) what type of pockets you like to use, and (c) how you use your shell in general.

Pockets

The Temerity jacket has no conventional hand pockets. Instead, it has two big chest pockets, both of which are deep enough to easily fit, for example, a full-size patrol radio, a Platypus SoftBottle, or pair of goggles.

While I do tend to carry a lot of stuff with me when I’m skiing, I don’t find standard hand pockets to be all that useful, as they can be hard to access when wearing a pack or when you’re sitting on the lift. The Temerity’s chest pockets are plenty big enough to carry large items like those mentioned above, or an assortment of smaller things (a small tube of sunscreen, a thin face mask, a spare goggle lens, Sony Action Cam mount hardware, phone, car keys etc.) and the zippers aren’t obstructed by a pack’s hip belt or sternum strap.

One slight downside to having these two large chest pockets in lieu of smaller ones + hand pockets is that smaller items have more room to bounce around. But I haven’t found this to be too bothersome. It helps that there’s a smaller mesh phone pouch sewn inside of the left chest pocket—I use this all the time, and find it really handy.

The pocket layout on the Temerity pants is also straightforward and user friendly. Instead of more traditional hand pockets, the pants’ have two large pockets that sit on top of the thighs, above the knee and below the hip. This configuration is great if you need somewhere to stuff a pair of gloves or a beanie securely, for example, as such larger items don’t get knocked around your knees annoyingly (which can be the case with pants with large, classic cargo-style pockets).

The right thigh pocket also has a small mesh pocket sewn inside it which is handy if you need to keep a smaller, heavier item more secure and easily accessible (like a wallet, phone, or keys).

Flow-Thru Access Zipper

This is an interesting feature of the Temerity jacket that I haven’t seen on any other shell.

Between the Temerity’s front zipper and left chest pocket is a zipper that, when opened, simply allows you to reach inside the jacket. How you could use this flow-thru zipper varies, I suppose, but I tend to use it a lot when wearing the Temerity over a mid layer on colder days.

It’s nice to be able to keep something in the left chest pocket of a mid layer like the Patagonia Nano Puff, Mountain Hardwear Monkey Man, or Strafe’s own AP Mid Jacket, and still be able to access it without unzipping the Temerity’s main, front zipper. And for what it’s worth, while I’ve found that this is a nice feature that can really come in handy, the zipper itself isn’t all that noticeable on it’s own, so don’t worry about it being a bother if you think you’d never use it.

Hood

The hood on the Temerity jacket I tested is a little small. I can fit it over my Smith Maze helmet, but it’s a rather tight fit and the material at the back of the neck and around the shoulders gets pulled tight. Fortunately, I’m told that the production version of the jacket will have a larger hood that will better accommodate helmets. I’ll see if I can check out a production version of the jacket soon and confirm this.

Asymmetrical Front Zipper

The cuff around the collar of the Temerity is nice and tall, with a soft fleece backing. And the asymmetrical cut of the front zipper means the zipper car sits to the side of my chin when it’s zipped all the way up, so the collar is more comfortable than one where the zipper sits directly in front of your face. And yet, the zipper isn’t so slanted that doing it up seems awkward.

Wrist Gaiters

Some people love them, some people don’t use them, but I happen to be a fan of wrist gaiters. The Temerity’s are soft, comfortable, and help to keep cold and snow out in nasty conditions.

Durability

In theory, as it’s a bit lighter and more flexible than Gore-Tex Pro, NeoShell should be a little less durable, though a lot of that depends on what face fabric the membrane is paired with. While I’m sure the very thin shell material of the Mountain Equipment Arclight  (made with a 40-denier face fabric), wouldn’t stand up to tree branches and ski edges as well as the Arc’teryx Caden (which uses an 80-denier fabric), the Temerity’s shell material feels a little thicker and more durable than that of the Arclight. I’m not sure what denier Strafe is using, but I would guess it’s more in the 60-denier range.

I haven’t had any issues with the durability of the jacket or pants (I haven’t been babying them my any means), and I don’t expect to, but I’ll update this review if I do.

Bottom Line

With one of the few fully-featured jackets being made with Polartec NeoShell, the Strafe Temerity kit is as comfortable to wear on tough ridgeline hikes as it is making fast, lift-served laps down the mountain. The jacket and pants are highly breathable, sacrifice little in the way of storm protection, and offer a smart, unique set of features and good carrying capacity.

If you’re looking for a very versatile, do-it-all resort setup, or one you can take into the backcountry on a handful of days in the Rocky Mountains, then I see no reason why the Temerity kit shouldn’t be on your short list.