Dope Blizzard Jacket (M & W)

Price: £146 // 180€ // $189 USD

Buy Now (Dope Blizzard Faded Violet)

Buy Now (Dope Blizzard W Blot Peach)

You don’t call your jacket ‘Blizzard’ unless you’re confident it can stand up to some the nastiest mountain weather. This jacket, from our friends at Dope, is built upon the solid foundations of a lightweight and bombproof shell fabric with built in 4-way stretch. It exists as part of the Freedom collection, and is designed to keep you freely moving across that alpine terrain for longer. A product that combines a hardy sense of practicality with faff-free minimalism, Dope have delivered a bit of a kit here that encourages you to get outside of your comfort zone without making you sacrifice comfort.

You can choose between an insulated version and a shell version, depending on the type of skiing you’re all about. The insulated option comes with an incredibly user-friendly 60/40g split, a balance that ensures the jacket has just enough about it to keep you warm without overdoing it and feeling excessively heavy when you’re working / playing hard on the hill The ‘Lined Shell’ option, on the other hand, is about keeping you light on feet and ensuring the layering power stays in your hands.

“A product that combines a hardy sense of practicality with faff-free minimalism”

Unsurprisingly, when you consider what this jacket is all about, Dope has ensured that the technical ingredients used have got the chops to hack it when the clouds roll in.  The main thing to know here is that you’re dealing with Drystretch 15k, a 4-way stretch material that has a very nice 15k/15k rating on the waterproofing and breathability front. These scores mean that the Blizzard has more than enough about it to keep skiers and snowboarders comfortable outside of the resort boundaries. This idea is underlined by the eco-friendly DWR, and fully taped seams. Has performance like this ever looked so good? We’ll let you be the judge of that one.

The zipless construction here is good, while features like the storm guard hood, under arm vents, well-implemented pockets, wrist gaiters, micro fleece chin guard and drawstring hem all cement the sense that this is a properly practical jacket. When you take a moment or two to consider you’re getting all of the above at an extremely reasonable price, the massive neon sign in your head – the one that spells out ‘bargain’ – should be well and truly flashing.

Dope Legacy Jacket

Price: £154 // 190€ // $189 USD

Buy Now (Dope Legacy Metal Blue)

The Dope Legacy takes a look at what’s come before, stares down the barrel of a decade known as the 1990s, and comes out strongly rocking a vibe that manages to push your nostalgia button and your ‘excited about the future of ski gear’ button simultaneously. It’s not an easy trick to nail this, but the team at Dope have done so with – what appears to be from the outside looking in – minimal difficulty. A real mixture of throwback style and modern tech, the Legacy is a boxy-cut anorak that sort of feels like it’s travelled through space and time to be here. We like it a lot, and we think you will too.

The Legacy is similar to the Blizzard in the sense that it’s part of the Freedom collection. It’s also built from a lightweight, hard-as-nails (not literally), shell fabric with built in 4-way stretch. An intelligently minimalist offering, where maximising mobility is the name of the game and keeping those mountain-based good times going for longer is the mission, Dope really have served up a belter here.

“A boxy-cut anorak that sort of feels like it’s travelled through space and time to be here”

There’s a clear balance, evident in this product right from the moment you take it for a spin, between warmth and performance. The body is housing 60gsm insulation, while the sleeves and hood are home to 40gsm insulation. It’s that sweet spot between keeping it cosy out there, and not making you feel like an overly bulked-out Michelin Man when you’ve gone into touring mode. In terms of waterproofing and breathability ratings, you’re once again looking at 15k/15k. Those numbers mean you can rely on the Dope Legacy to perform, even if it’s dumping and you’re regularly taking big hits of pow to the face.

Finally, this isn’t the first time we’ve ever said this about Dope (and it probably won’t be the last) but you really do get so much bang for your buck when you buy one of their products. The performance-focused fabrics used is one thing, but then you factor in all the nicely-implemented features as well and, well, it’s enough to make you question whether you’re asleep on the sofa having jacket-dreams. These features include half zip construction with double plackets, storm guard, under arm vents, media pocket, lift pass pocket, wrist gaiters, micro fleece chin guard and drawstring hem.

Dope Akin Jacket

Price: £203 // 250€ // $259 USD

Buy Now (Dope Akin W Soft Pink)

Picture the scene. You want a new snow jacket. You want a new snow jacket that has everything you could ever want from a snow jacket, and a whole load more on top of that as well. What exactly are you looking at in your mind’s eye? Is it the Dope Akin? It is, isn’t it? It’s the Dope Akin. If it isn’t, it should be.

The Dope Akin takes its inspiration from old school utility jackets (it’s decked out with seven – yes, seven – outer pockets). Zip up, stash some of your belongings in it, and explore them mountains; it’s what this jacket wants with every fibre of its stitching. Highly waterproof and insulated enough to beat back the worst kind of shred weather, the Akin is everything from park-based cruiser to big mountain bruiser; a real all-mountain ski jacket if ever we’ve seen one.

“Zip up, stash… your belongings, and explore them mountains; it’s what this jacket wants”

The Performance 2-layer laminated shell fabric offers superior waterproofing and breathability. The tough woven outer works superbly with the Dope DRYTECH 15k membrane. It’s a setup with a 15k/15k waterproof/breathability rating, one that will keep you dry during even the most intense day of sliding about on / in / through the snow. In terms of insulation, you’re looking again at that lovely balance between warmth and performance (60gsm body, 40gsm sleeves and hood).

The storm guard hood here really creates a reassuring shield to the elements, when you are battening down the hatches, while the underarm vents work superbly to dump a huge load of heat when you’re overdoing things on a warm day. Just as we are with the other Dope products that feature them, we’re fans of features like the media pocket, elasticated snow skirt, lift pass pocket, wrist gaiters, micro fleece chin guard and drawstring waist. The side zipper with inner placket is also immense. Did we really just call a ‘side zipper with inner placket’ immense? We did, and we stand by it.

A Word On Sustainability

Before we finish here, let’s give you some top line information on some of the good work Dope Snow are doing around being more environmentally friendly. Firstly, you are mostly dealing with Bluesign approved materials here (which means significant efforts have been made to reduce the product’s impact on people and the planet, with a focus put on sustainable chemistry).

“95% of the shell fabric Dope Snow use is now made from recycled polyester (PET)”

What else? Well, you’ll no doubt be pleased to read that 95% of the shell fabric Dope Snow use is now made from recycled polyester (PET). This is good news because it results in 70% less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional polyester. Other aspects of the brand’s work that is worth shouting about includes the fact that 100% of the padding they use is now made from recycled polyester (PET). We’re also liking that 90% of the lining fabric is now built out of Solution Dyed Nylon. This means 63% less CO2 emissions.

Finally, allow us to give a shoutout for the brand’s plastic free e-commerce packaging made from Swedish and Finnish wood. It might only seem like a little thing but scale that up, and it clearly makes the world of difference to a brand’s plastic usage count. It’s another obvious indicator that the Dope Snow crew are approaching things in the right way.

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