Editor’s Picks: The Best Men’s Ski Jackets of 2026

When it comes to ski jackets, there's likely hundreds of options on the market at this point. Between insulated, hardshell, and softshell jackets, we've been busy testing the year's best products. Here are our Editor's Pick choices for the year's best ski jackets for men.

Insulated vs. Shell Jackets

You’ll notice that none of these jackets offer insulation, and that’s because we’re convinced insulated ski jackets are not the most effective way to stay warm on the hill. Instead, shell jackets offer the ability to layer more easily, and allow you to take advantage of more purpose-built insulation pieces like a synthetic insulated midlayer, or down puffy jacket for really cold days. Shell jackets also breathe much better than insulated options, keeping you dryer (and ultimately) warmer on high-output days. 

For backcountry use, a thinner, lighter shell jacket also offers better packability. That means you can stuff the jacket inside your pack for uphill travel.

On the non-insulated front, there's also the choice between hardshell and softshell options. Hardshell jackets offer better waterproofing, windproofing, and durability, at the cost of some extra bulk and stiffness. Softshell jackets are designed with breathability and stretch as the primary goal, and make a better option for warmer, sunny days where hardcore waterproofing isn't as necessary.

Which shell material is best?

These technical shell jackets come in a variety of material options that offer varying degrees of breathability and waterproofness. The principle behind how these materials work is actually pretty simple. Inside, there’s a membrane made of a microporous material, with thousands of pores per square inch that are much smaller than water droplets. That means snow or liquid water (which has surface tension that keeps it in a droplet form) cannot pass through, making the material waterproof from the outside. That waterproofness also happens to make the material windproof, meaning the garment will also protect you from biting cold winds. Breathability comes from the fact that water vapor (trapped on the inside of the material thanks to sweat evaporating from your skin) can pass through the membrane. While too small for liquid water, those tiny pores are large enough to let water vapor through. 

The breathability works best when there’s a stark temperature change between inside the garment and outside. That means it works best when you’re generating lots of body heat and sweating on cold days–exactly when you’d need it to keep you dry the most.

The super-thin membrane is typically sandwiched between an inner fabric layer and an outer face fabric (hence the 3L or “3-layer” nomenclature on lots of jackets) to allow it to be sewn into a jacket and add varying levels of stiffness and durability. The face fabric is then usually treated with a Durable Water Repellent (DWR) coating, which causes water to bead up and simply slide off the front of your jacket–further adding waterproofing. DWR coating eventually wears off, but can be easily reactivated by simply washing and drying your gear. Here’s how to best do that.

Perhaps the most widely-known fabric option is Gore-Tex, which was recently re-engineered to get rid of environmentally harmful PFAS chemicals–but Gore-Tex is far from the only option. We tested jackets using similar materials called Dermizax, Xpore, Pertex Shield, and other proprietary membranes offering varying degrees of performance. Depending on what you’re intending to do with your jacket, different materials might be better suited for the job at hand. Choose Dermizax, XPore or Gore-Tex Pro for the ultimate waterproofness and durability, Gore-Tex ePe or Gore-Tex C-Knit for a better balance of breathability, waterproofing, and packability.

Oakley | Bowls Gore-Tex Jacket

Oakley might be best known among skiers for their high-performance goggles and helmets, but they’ve long been players in the on-snow outerwear market. Remember Simon Dumont’s kit from back in the day? This year, Oakley re-enters the scene with their new Bowls Gore-Tex Jacket, worn by team riders like Colby Stevenson. 

The Bowls Gore-Tex Jacket is surprisingly minimalist–given Oakley’s maximalist design tendencies–but it doesn’t skip out on features that will make any resort or backcountry skier happy, like a left-arm pass pocket, internal drop pockets, and a detachable powder skirt. With a slightly more fitted silhouette than we expected from a brand so engrained in the freestyle world, this jacket will make a lot of skiers happy. It’s constructed from softer and slightly stretchy Gore-Tex C-Knit fabric, to allow for additional breathability and comfort when hiking for backcountry lines or sessioning park features. However, the waterproofness of the Gore-Tex fabric still provides epic protection from the elements on stormy chairlift rides, windy ridgewalks, and the deepest days of the winter.

The North Face | Summit Verbier GTX Jacket

It’s a crowded market, so we’ll admit that it can be easy to forget that The North Face actually makes some of the best technical apparel in the game. It’s not just about finance-bro Denali fleeces and fashionable Nuptse puffers–the classic American outerwear brand continues to be on the cutting edge of jacket and pant design with their athlete-tested Summit Series garments. On the freeride ski front, there’s the updated Summit Verbier Jacket and Bibs, now made with the new lighter-weight PFAS-free Gore-Tex ePE membrane.

The jacket is one of the heaviest-duty garments in the line, perfect for resort skiing or backcountry riding in adverse weather. After all, it is named after one of the birthplaces of freeride skiing–the home of the Freeride World Tour’s legendary Bec de Rosses face. The jacket is a bit too bulky to be a daily-driver ski touring shell, but it’s an excellent choice for lift-serve backcountry skiing, cat or heli skiing, or snowmobiling. 

Arc’teryx | Sabre SV Gore-Tex Pro Jacket

Want to ski in the worst weather possible? You’re going to want to wear the Arc’teryx Sabre SV jacket. As Arc’teryx’s most durable, waterproof, and windproof ski jacket, the Sabre SV takes the classic style of the Sabre freeride jacket and adds durability in the form of a Gore-Tex Pro membrane and heavier-duty 200D face fabric. In other words, this jacket is a fortress against the elements, and what we want to be wearing on storm days.

The relatively simple design features zippered pit vents, two large waist pockets, a left-arm pass pocket, and two interior drop pockets for skins, goggles, or snacks. An oversized helmet-compatible hood and built-in powder skirt add additional protection. The Sabre SV’s cut is a little on the shorter side, so consider sizing up. It's pricey, but we promise this thing will last forever.

Mountain Hardwear | Mythogen™ GTX Pro Jacket

Designed with heavy input from professional ski mountaineer Vivian Bruchez, the Mythogen™ GTX Pro Jacket is Mountain Hardwear’s answer to battling the elements in a high-mountain setting. Built with the latest generation of ultra-waterproof, breathable, and durable Gore-Tex Pro fabric, this jacket remains extremely light and packable, making it a great option for ski mountaineering and ski touring, where it might spend as much time inside of your pack as on your body. Thanks to the new PFAS-free Gore-Tex ePE membrane, designers could use slightly softer face and backing fabrics to achieve the same waterproofing and breathability marks, making the material significantly more packable.

While the Mountain Hardwear Mythogen™ Kit is mostly billed as a backcountry kit, we’d certainly be excited to ski this in the resort as well. The burlier and extremely weatherproof construction would make this a great choice for everyday resort riding as well as a kit for just about any type of backcountry skiing, whether you’re storm skiing with friends hunting for pow stashes or forging a new route up and down a technical peak. In other words, we’d be perfectly happy having this be our do-it-all, quiver-of-one kit for seasons to come. 

Orage | Spurr 3L Dermizax Jacket

Orage has been a key player in the freeskiing world since the brand was started in a Quebec garage in 1989, blending a unique and modern fashion sense into technical apparel ready for real-world mountain use. Admittedly, the brand hasn’t been quite as popular in the US in recent years, but we were blown away by the fit, quality and function of the Orage’s new Spurr shell jacket. 

Constructed from Toray Dermizax 3L waterproof/breathable material (similar idea as Gore-Tex), Orage’s most technical jacket is a go-to choice on any ski day where completely blocking the elements is required. While exceptionally waterproof, the material feels softer and more supple than most hardshell jackets, meaning it moves better and offers some stretch. Features we’ve come to expect from any high-end jacket (like a pass pocket, powder skirt, and simple, but effective external and internal pockets) are all there. The fit is on the slightly smaller side, so don’t hesitate to size up. 

Outdoor Research | Cloudchaser 3L Jacket

If you’re a diehard backcountry freeride skier who’s looking for softshell performance with a modern (read: not-tight) fit, and prefers long days on the skintrack to riding chairlifts, Outdoor Research’s new limited-edition Cloudchaser 3L jacket is for you. This is the answer for those of us looking for that perfect in-between kit for high-output days where we don’t want to look like a skimo athlete. With the much-hyped release of Gore-Tex’s new PFAS-free membranes last year, it’s understandable if you forgot about all the other waterproof/breathable fabrics out there. For the Cloudchaser kit, OR chose to build both the jacket and the matching bibs from Pertex Shield 3L, one of the most storm-proof softshell fabrics out there. Good choice, in our opinion.

The jacket is stretchy, moves with you in all directions, and keeps you pretty damn dry. From a breathability standpoint, the Pertex Shield 3L beats Gore-Tex hands down. However, it’s not quite as waterproof as something like Gore-Tex Pro–so if you ski in the rain, or want something to just absolutely delete the elements from your experience, it might not be the best choice. But, for most high-output ski touring days, especially in dry and cold climates, the Pertex Shield 3L fabric is an excellent option. The Cloudchaser jacket comes in a variety of colors, a stylishly baggy freeride fit, and has the right amount of pockets, vents, and other features (not too many!) to keep things minimalistic for big days in the snow.

Backcountry | Cottonwoods Xpore Jacket

Now in its third official iteration, Backcountry’s Cottonwoods jacket skips the Gore-Tex and is now constructed entirely from Xpore. Built with all-out durability in mind, the new Cottonwoods jacket is chock-full of features, with 2 chest pockets, 2 drop pockets, two waist pockets, a pass pocket, and loads of internal storage, plus an oversized, fitted hood, and powder skirt. Some testers found the jacket to be a bit over-engineered, but others loved the maximalist style, saying this makes for the perfect resort kit to hold everything you might need.

Testers found this to be one of the warmest shells, saying that they tended to wear it with fewer layers beneath than they would with other jackets. Despite the added warmth, the Xpore material still competes on the breathability front. The sizing falls squarely into the modern “baggy freeride” fit. At $499, it's also quite a bit less expensive than some of the other fully-featured jackets out there.