First Day Out: Keystone, Cloudveil RPK Update

Nov 29, 2008  ·  02:12 PM  ·  permalink

After a warm and dry couple of days up here in Summit County, yesterday it clouded over and started to snow and has kept going since. Although the nearby resorts still are only 5-10% open, the weather inspired us to take a few turns at Keystone today.

It was windy and cold, but the snow felt good and the mountain wasn’t too crowded even at 9:30am. We’re still seeing lots of exposed terrain, though, and if you want to ski Keystone, you’ll have a nice selection of green, frontside runs.

After about four runs, we decided to call it a day….err, morning…and packed it in. But it was a good start to the season, and if this weather just holds it will bode well for Christmas skiing.

I wore the Cloudveil RPK Parka and found myself underwhelmed. I have a few specific gripes:

• The fabric itself seems to conduct heat readily and consequently feels cold.
• The collar is stiff and uncomfortable and too narrow, so rather than protecting your chin, it sits right under it and chaffs.
• The pit zips suffer a similar problem—the stiff zipper and heavy fabric together results in arm holes that gather and bind.
• The wrist tabs are fat, stiff, and unwieldy, so they are uncomfortable when cinched and stick out when uncinched. The problem is compounded by wimpy velcro.
• The neck-cinch, which is hidden on the rear of the collar under a flap, is hopeless to operate with gloves on—even my light-weight spring gloves.

On the plus side I do like the heavy fabric for its durable feel, and the powder skirt was comfortable and stayed put. Even in the medium, the fit is still trim, and it feels light and flexible, but the problems with the collar are enough to put it on the reject pile—for $450-$500 a parka ought to provide uncompromising performance and comfort.