Winter adventures are a headache. It’s nearly impossible to stay warm and dry when you’re shifting between moving quickly with a heavy pack and then taking a rest beside a snowy trail. Down puffy jackets can be too warm when I’m on the go, and breathable midlayers aren’t warm enough when I stop. But after many years of searching, I’ve finally found one do-it-all layer, built with a revelatory new technology that checks all my boxes.
By combining the warmth of a midweight puffy with stellar breathability, this new heavyweight midlayer from Bozeman, Montana-based technical apparel maker Sitka does it all. Sitka developed a single upper body insulation piece that will keep you comfortable not just in very cold weather, but also while sitting inside a heated vehicle or building: the Sitka Ambient 200 jacket.
I’m wearing this miracle layer as I write on an airplane flying from Bozeman to Midland, Texas. When I left home this morning it was dumping snow, and 13 degrees Fahrenheit outside. It’s probably 70 degrees or so on this plane. When I land in Texas, it will be 50. And when I wake up tomorrow morning, somewhere out by Fluvanna, Texas, it’ll be 32. I’m wearing the Sitka Ambient 200 jacket over a light merino wool T-shirt. I won’t need to add or subtract a layer to remain comfortable throughout the duration of this trip, no matter if I’m hiking through the pre-dawn desert, riding around in a pickup truck, or sitting in a deer stand.
The Perfect Winter Jacket
Ambient 200
How does the Ambient 200 manage to provide insulation when you need it, and breathability when you don’t? It’s built with Primaloft Active. I’ve written about the material before. In short, its synthetic, recycled-polyester fibers mimic the structure of animal fur with an open, fuzzy construction. The loft created by that fur-like material traps a ton of warm air when you’re holding still. But as you increase the pressure inside that next-to-skin environment when your body moves and heats up, there is virtually no resistance as the warmth is pushed away from your body. That “fur” is housed inside a very light nylon face fabric that resists wind and precipitation without restricting breathability.
What makes this jacket different is that it’s much heavier than Sitka’s previous offerings, which have weighed anywhere from 75 to 150 grams-per-square-meter (GSM). The 75 weight is about as warm as a normal fleece jacket. The 150 GSM jacket is as warm as an ultralight puffy (and notable in its own right for that performance). This 200-GSM puffy? It’s as warm as the thickest insulated jacket you’d ever want to layer under a shell—but appropriate to wear in a huge variety of conditions.
Sitka is the only clothing maker serving the American market that currently uses Primaloft Active. The brand’s designer, John Barklow, was the guy who commissioned the creation of the Polartec Alpha back in the early aughts when he was designing clothing systems for Special Operations Forces fighting the global war on terror. Twenty years later, very few consumer-facing brands have adopted Polartec Alpha, and Barklow has already moved the fabric technology game even further.
Primaloft Active maintains equivalent breathability to Polartec Alpha, a fabric light enough to barely be noticed, across a heavier range of fabric weights and insulation levels. So, in the Ambient 200, I get as much breathability as a lighter Alpha piece, with more than double the potential for warmth.
Planning to drive anywhere in sub-freezing weather this winter? Go ahead and crank your car’s heat up to 72, turn on your seat heater, and you’ll be totally comfortable wearing this thing over a light base layer. But when you step out to fill up with gas in 10–degree temperatures, you’ll remain comfortable.
Going skiing at a resort? I don’t know about you, but I need to carry a day pack that’s awkward and uncomfortable to wear on the lift. That way, I have a place to stick my puffy jacket when I get too warm. With the Ambient 200, I won’t have to change layers on the mountain at all.
I can wear the Ambient 200 in and outdoors at home as I walk the dogs, chop firewood, shovel, and come back inside.
Primaloft Active wicks moisture outwards with incredible efficiency, thanks to the raw fibers of polyester. Polyester fibers can’t absorb water and have a small surface area (the end of the thread) where it touches your body or base layer. Thanks to the larger surface area along the length of that thread, surface tension draws moisture outwards and spreads it out so that water can evaporate. Primaloft Active works with your technical base layers to keep you dry.
A very light 20-denier nylon ripstop shell enables Sitka’s Ambient range to shed a little wind or precipitation without adding any additional bulk or restricting breathability when worn under a shell. A wind-resistant shell (like a rain or ski jacket), adds at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit of additional comfort.
Venting heat when you’re moving, wicking moisture away from your skin, providing a truly significant level of insulation when you need it turns the Sitka Ambient 200 into a multitool for cold weather comfort. If you see me skiing, hiking, driving, chopping wood, or working outdoors this winter, I’ll be wearing the Ambient 200.
Wes Siler is your guide to leading a more exciting life in the great outdoors. As Outside’s outdoor lifestyle columnist, he writes about the intersections of science, news, politics, gear, vehicles and travel, empowering readers to better understand the world they’re recreating in. Wes lives in the mountains with his wife, Virginia McQueen, and their three rescue dogs.
