Top 7 Best Arcteryx Jackets for Skiing! [2019-20]

So since I've started talking about hard/soft shells a lot I also started to notice quite a bit of you guys base your questions around skiing/snowboarding lately. So I've decided to put together a post around this.

I'll list snow-sport specific jackets (powder skirt & RECCO reflectors for rescue) and then give some recommendations around the best picks for both backcountry skiing and resort skiing.

To begin with, there are 7 Arc'teryx ski-snowboard specific shells out there: Macai, Cassiar, Sidewinder, Sabre AR & LT, Rush & Rush IS. You can check out their comparisons on Arc'teryx's own site here and here.

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.

Checking out Arc'teryx's very own JacketFinder tool can be a good idea as well.

	Macai	Sidewinder	Cassiar	Rush	Sabre LT	Sabre AR	Rush IS
MSRP	949 USD	749 USD	725 USD	699 USD	649 USD	625 USD	699 USD
Current list prices	Arcteryx Amazon BC	Arcteryx Amazon BC	Arcteryx Amazon BC	Arcteryx Amazon BC	Arcteryx Amazon BC	Arcteryx Amazon BC	Arcteryx BC
Cell	Warmest (both down & synthetic insulation - reason for staggering price tag) and overall very well balanced for resort skiing in frigid weather.	Incredibly durable AND light. If you don't need warmth, then this is definitely a superior alternative to Macai.	Trimmest fitting, very comfortable and very durable but is shorter in length and difficult to pack due to stiff surface. Mostly for resort.	Backcountry specific features make it a great option for backcountry skiers.	Most portable (advantage if you'll mostly travel to ski) and offers smoothest inner surface (advantage if you'll be wearing nothing but a t-shirt under)	A baggier alternative to Sabre LT.	It seems to me that you must have a good reason to get this as the lowest temp it'll keep you warm would only be around 30 deg F (0 deg C). So I'd consider under layering the Rush (not IS!) with one of these.
Cell	Macai	Sidewinder	Cassiar	Rush	Sabre LT	Sabre AR	Rush IS
Breathability Packability Weather Resistance Durability Length Bagginess	8/10 5/10 8/10 9/10 6/10 7/10	8/10 5/10 9/10 10/10 6/10 5/10	8/10 3/10 5/10 8/10 6/10 3/10	8/10 3/10 9/10 9/10 9/10 6/10	7/10 8/10 8/10 7/10 9/10 7/10	7/10 7/10 8/10 7/10 9/10 9/10	5/10 3/10 8/10 6/10 9/10 6/10
	Macai	Sidewinder	Cassiar	Rush	Sabre LT	Sabre AR	Rush IS
Weight	1 kg / 2 lb 4 oz	590 g / 1 lb 4.8 oz	820 g / 1 lb 12.9 oz	590 g / 1 lb 4.8 oz	630 g / 1 lb 6.2 oz	700 g / 1 lb 8.7 oz	720 g / 1 lb 9.4 oz
Materials	N40p-X GORE-TEX fabric with 3L tricot technology Coreloft 100 (100 g/m²) Coreloft Compact (60 g/m²)	N80p-X GORE-TEX Pro 3L	N70s-4 3L GORE-TEX fabric with lo-loft soft shell construction	N80p-X GORE-TEX Pro 3L	N80p 3L GORE-TEX fabric with GORE C-KNIT™ backer technology	N70p 3L GORE-TEX fabric with lo-loft softshell construction	N40p-X 2L GORE-TEX
Women's counterpart	Andessa	Cell	Ravenna	Shashka	Sentinel LT	Sentinel AR	Cell
Cell	#Note: All face fabrics are DWR (durable water repellent) applied. What's DWR by the way? DWR is a coating. It's basically sprayed on to the surface of these jackets as a finish. It stands for Durable Water Repellent - which means that water will be repelled under wet conditions instead of soaking into the fabric. DWR also decreases dry time. It's a good thing these jackets are coated in DWR, but pay attention to the fact that DWR is a coating - meaning that it will wear off over time. Which is why you might want to invest in a DWR spray such as this one for after treatment.

Except Rush IS, they all offer a fair amount of breathability. You probably won't notice big differences.

What difference does the backcountry vs resort skiing make?

Backcountry Skiing

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.

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.

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

I hope this review was helpful for you to understand which ski/snowboard specific shell would be the best choice for your needs. Feel free to ask me any questions or provide feedback and I'll be happy to respond in the comment section below if it's within my knowledge.

Here are my other related posts:

Best Synthetic Insulated Jackets of 2019-2020