Best Arcteryx Jacket for Skiing

#Note: My full Arc'teryx review list is at the bottom. 

If you're unaware, Arc'teryx uses a specific logo for skiing & snowboarding specific collections (as you can see on their own naming scheme page here). There are 6 jackets supported with this logo.

• 14-Oct-2021 Update: Arc'teryx published a guide to their ski jackets, and I'd recommend you to check that out too. 

For Fall 2021, following ski jackets are discontinued: 

• Cassiar (women's Ravenna), 
• Cassiar LT (women's Ravenna LT),
• Sabre LT (women's Sentinel LT), 
• Rush IS (women's Shashka IS).

Also, following are introduced:

• Macai LT,
• Micon,
• Micon Heather,  
• Procline. 

By the way, if you're unaware:

• Resort: Skiing / snowboarding close to the piste or right at the resort,
• Freeride: A little bit far from that,
• Touring (a.k.a Backcountry skiing): The farthest. Requires the most experience. 
  • This post goes deeper into how these 3 types differ from each other.

So here's the list of all Arc'teryx ski jackets: 

If you'd like access to full table, just use the filters up above and adjust accordingly. 

Also, if you're an instructor, make sure to take a look at Arc'teryx's Pro Program. There might be more options/discounts for you. 

Cassiar vs Cassiar LT (women's counterpart for these is Ravenna and Ravenna LT)

Important: Both of them are discontinued in Fall 2021. 

I contacted Arc'teryx about this and here's their response: 

"They will be similar in terms of breathability and weather resistance (wind and waterproofness), however the Cassiar is much more durable than the Cassiar LT, due to a difference in face fabrics. 

• The Cassiar LT fabric is N70p 3L GORE-TEX fabric with brushed flannel backer, which means it is a 3 layer Gore-Tex construction with 70denier, plain weave face fabric. 
• The Cassiar fabric is N70s-4 3L GORE-TEX fabric with lo-loft soft shell construction, which means it is a 3 layer Gore-Tex construction with 70denier, stretch face fabric. 

The additional -4 also denotes that this face fabric has an exceptional weight to durability ratio. 

The stretch fabric of the Cassiar would also mean it's a bit more moveable. 

If you ride close to trees at all, I'd highly suggest the Cassiar over the Cassiar LT for that extra durability. 

The Cassiar series of product is designed with resort type activities in mind for the principle usage."

What difference does the backcountry vs resort skiing make?

Backcountry Skiing (a.k.a Touring)

Hiking your way up to the peak and carrying relatively more items with you gives breathability a larger factor when skiing in the backcountry - so shells are usually preferred more than the insulated jackets.

There are also some small design details here and there.

Rush is a perfect example for this - its internal stash pocket is designed to be shallower in order to store items such as goggles or gloves, to make transitioning in the backcountry as seamless as possible.

Resort Skiing

Resort skiers, on the other hand, are divided into two groups. Generally speaking, those who prefer non-insulated shells usually either;

• don't ski when it's below 30 deg F (0 deg C), 
• tend to overheat a lot they can sacrifice warmth to maximize breathability in return,
• or more leaned towards comfort and flexibility side of the balance rather than the warmth.

If these don't apply to you, then I'd recommend most of you to forget about getting one of these shell jackets laid out in the table above. You'd probably do better getting yourself a breathable, insulated jacket instead. 

Freeride

This is somewhere between Resort and Backcountry Skiing settings.

An important caveat here

Apart from RECCO Reflectors and powder skirts, these jackets mostly don't offer anything else you can benefit specifically when skiing and/or snowboarding.

So if you think you wouldn't make much use of these two features for any reason, and would actually prefer something that's great at a lot of things (but not perfect at anything - including skiing and snowboarding) then I'd also recommend you to consider getting an all-round jacket such as Beta AR or Beta SV.

Since they aren't biased towards any specific outdoor activity, they'll be more versatility focused and can be better choices for you. I'd strongly recommend everyone to prefer skiing or snowboarding with Beta AR from time to time rather than prefer climbing/hiking/fat biking with any Rush or Sabre models from time to time!

Lastly, if you're torn between Rush and Sabre, then you can check out my related post about it.