Finest Ladies’s Ski & Snowboard Bibs of 2023

Why You Should Trust Us

The GearJunkie team is made up of experienced and expert skiers and snowboarders that explore groomed terrain at ski areas as well as the backcountry byway of skis, splitboards, and snowmobiles. We explore runs in-bounds and hut-to-hut all over North America, including bell-to-bell resort powder days, ski-to-surf trips such as on Vancouver Island, backcountry hut adventures, skimo races, and cross-country laps on the nordic trails.

Women’s ski bibs are essential for staying comfortable and dry while in motion, riding the lift, maintaining the rig, shoveling, or taking a snack break. Over the years, we’ve tested many different ski bibs, and this list comprises the best of the best.

While testing women’s ski and snowboard bibs in the field, we assessed durability, overall fit, ease of movement, protection, fabric feel, breathability, ventilation, warmth, zipper quality, pocket placement and utility, drop seat integration, and functionality. We’ve tested ski bibs while carving turns in ice-cold temperatures, blizzards, blustery wind, intense sun, and even rain from far-out tours to parking lot tailgating.

In addition to our team’s experience, we considered the most innovative, novel, legacy, popular, and bestselling women’s ski bibs on the market. These bibs represent a broad range of price points and a variety of features and applications for a range of use.

Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose the Best Women’s Ski or Snowboard Bibs

Whether skiing or snowboarding, having a pair of comfortable, hardworking snow pants is essential. Here are a few tips for finding the best ladies’ ski and snowboard bibs.

Drop Seat

For the uninitiated, the drop seat is super convenient in the backcountry setting as well as at the resort. You don’t need to take off your jacket in a stuffy stall in order to pull down your snow bibs to relieve yourself. Instead, you snug up your jacket a bit, pull the zipper around, and follow your normal routine.

Each drop seat design varies — it’s like the top-secret pasta sauce recipe for your favorite Italian restaurant.

For instance, the drop seat on the Airblaster Sassy Hot Bib is unique in that it wraps nearly entirely around. The zipper goes 350 degrees. A storm flap also covers the zipper, which adds style points.

Other drop seats reach super far down the leg for an even larger opening, which can be convenient for managing varying conditions in the backcountry, like the Ortovox women’s 3L Deep Shell Bib Pants.

Consider Activity and Usage

Chances are, if you’re looking for a pair of snow bibs to wear for a specific winter sport such as backcountry skiing or splitboarding, alpine skiing, or snowboarding, they’ll each have slightly different design features, fit, and style that make those bibs more comfortable and functional for the day’s winter activity.

That being said, many ski bibs do work for other winter activities such as sledding, shoveling, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, winter hiking, dog walking, building snow caves, snowball fights, and pow surfing.

As you narrow down your top activity, consider the average temperature, conditions, and your personal body heat. Do the temperatures hover at 0 degrees or up towards 30 degrees, and is there often windchill? Do you expect dry or wet snow? Will you be consistently moving, or do you anticipate being sedentary such as on the ski lift or while watching the kids play in the snow outside? And do you generally tend to run hot or cold?

Depending on the activity and output, you’ll want either an insulated or uninsulated bib and ventilation as well as waterproofness (which varies from bib to bib). Each of those factors influences the price tag.

Skiing vs. Snowboarding

Chances are, if you’re looking for a pair of bibs to wear snowboarding or skiing, they will be much different from a snowshoeing pant. Take a minute to think about your winter activities.

Do you want to prioritize a stretchier fabric, or a beefier shell? Are you looking for something with more coverage? Do you frequent the backcountry or resorts? Lots of brands add venting to bibs (just like ski pants) so you can release some heat when boot-packing uphill.

For skiers versus snowboarders who use a slightly different range of motion on the mountain, some bibs may work better than others. One of the biggest factors is how the pant leg hem and gaiter fit. Some designs are streamlined and narrow to best fit over a ski boot neck. Other pant leg designs have a tad wider circumference or offer a zipper or snap closure to first widen and then pull the pant leg down over the snowboard or splitboard boot. Not all gaiter designs work well with snowboard or splitboard boots.

For snowboarders and splitboarders, we’d recommend considering our overall pick, the Flylow Foxy Bib, or our most durable pick, the Ortovox 3L Deep Shell Bib.

Type of Fit

Do you prefer a relaxed or more athletic fit? This is mainly preference, but it’s important to note sizing sometimes differs depending on the pant’s fit.

If you want an unencumbered range of motion, go with a relaxed fit. And if you run cold and wear more or thicker layers, consider an insulated bib or going up a size.

Fabrics

For powder days or backcountry travel, it makes a lot of sense to invest in a GORE-TEX or similar fully waterproof fabric. Two-layer and three-layer fabrics have different weights, waterproofness, and breathability ratings.

Ask yourself whether the pant will work for what you want. The goal is to find a pant with a fabric that will complement your activity level on the mountain. In general, if you ski at both the resort and backcountry, we’d recommend prioritizing a bib with higher breathability (like those with a GORE-TEX membrane).

Other fabrics feature insulation, which we recommend if you generally run cold, tend to move more cautiously (and thus slowly), need to slow down to manage kiddos, teach others, or have long ski lift rides in ice-cold temps.

Waterproofness

A waterproof bib is ideal for being outside in wet snow, rain, or drizzly weather. The top-tier standard for waterproofness is GORE-TEX, which is a membrane integrated into various bib designs. The material is waterproof, windproof, and breathable. Many brands likewise have a proprietary version of waterproof-breathable fabrics.

Waterproofness is measured by the amount of water that can be placed atop a fabric before it leaks. The rate of waterproof fabric varies from 5,000 to 20,000 mm or greater. The latter end of the spectrum leads to a less breathable fabric.

• 0-5,000 mm: Resistant to light rain, dry snow
• 6,000-10,000 mm: Waterproof for light rain and dry, non-heavy snow
• 11,000-15,000 mm: Waterproof for moderate rain and dry, non-heavy snow
• 16,000-20,000 mm: Waterproof for heavy rain and wet snow
• 20,000 mm and greater: Waterproof for heavy rain and dense, heavy snow

Many bibs are waterproof or offer a degree of water resistance, the latter of which works fine in dryer winter climates and where the snow water equivalent (read: the amount of liquid water in the snow) is lower.

There are four general snow climates: coastal, transitional, intermountain, and continental.

Generally, the closer you are to the coast, the more precipitation you’ll experience and the water content will be higher in the snow: it’ll be wetter and heavier! In contrast, the snow in continental climates is dryer, lighter, and accumulates less compared to the coast. That includes most of the Rocky Mountains, such as in Colorado. Intermountain regions and ranges show characteristics of both and transitional areas are similar to the coast but with less rain and snow.

Examples according to the Utah Avalanche Center:

• Coastal (wettest): California, Washington, Oregon, coastal Alaska, coastal British Columbia
• Transitional (moderately wet): areas and targeted locations in Montana, northern Idaho, and Oregon
• Intermountain (mildly wet): Utah’s Wasatch Range, most of Idaho, Montana, portions of Northeast Oregon, and Southwest Colorado
• Continental (mostly dry): Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, interior Alaska, interior British Columbia

Factors that change the waterproofness or water resistance of a ski bib include the face fabric treatment, which can be eco-friendly formulas or chemicals that are toxic to the environment. Bibs can also have sealed seams to block moisture or waterproof zippers. Generally, the more water-resistant or waterproof a product is the pricier it will be.

Pockets

Every pant has different features but one must-have for ski bibs is useful pockets. Ladies, you know what we’re talking about. That inch-wide chapstick pocket just doesn’t cut it.

Wide and long thigh pockets are especially great if you don’t like pocket items (like a cell phone or beacon) bunching up near your hips.

Various pockets with a range of sizes are usually situated on the upper half of the bib. Some bibs also have two zippered hand pockets in the front or even two pockets on the backside.

Ventilation

We highly recommend picking out ski and snowboard bibs with ventilation, which will be placed alongside each leg on the exterior or interior. The zippers will be one-way or two-way. Very few zippers are fully waterproof but some brands do invest in that upgrade.

Inside the zipper, you sometimes have a mesh liner for protection against sun or snow flurries while other brands opt for no mesh. Overall, the length of a zipper for leg ventilation will vary.

Cuffs & Gaiters

We also recommend that the ski or snowboard bibs you choose have internal gaiters that secure well over boots (gaiters with boot adjustment access are a plus).

Some cuffs are narrower than others and fit better over ski boots compared to snowboard boots. Other cuffs are designed for better customization with either side zippers or snaps, which allow you to widen the circumference when you pull the pant leg down over your boots. We prefer that for snowboard and splitboard boots, especially if there is a BOA system to pull the pant leg down over.

For extra durability, especially for backcountry users, certain cuffs are reinforced with tough materials like Kevlar to help prevent the material from shredding over time or getting cut up by the ski edge or crampons while ascending a peak.

What Is RECCO?

RECCO is a safety system used by ski teams and rescue professionals to help find people who are misplaced, whether that’s being lost in the woods, held up due to injury or a health ailment, broken gear, or potentially trapped under snow due to an avalanche. It’s great safety addition to have in an emergency.

The first part of the system is a reflector that is placed in outerwear apparel and gear to help locate the wearer. A RECCO reflector doesn’t transmit any signals or need any batteries. The other side of the equation is the RECCO detector, which transmits an active signal, with a range of up to 120 m through the air and 10 to 20 m through the snow.

Note that a RECCO reflector does not replace an avalanche transceiver, also known as an avalanche beacon. If you plan to go into the sidecountry such as out the boundary gate at your local ski area, or into the backcountry, be sure to wear and know how to use your avalanche transceiver. Likewise, be sure that your ski partners wear and know how to use their avalanche transceivers.

Price

Depending on how often you hit the slopes, price is a factor. If you’re still starting out in a snowsport or only make it to the mountain a couple of times a year, consider a more budget-friendly bib.

As you gain experience, you can always invest in a higher-quality bib that will ultimately perform better and last longer on the mountain season after season.

If you mostly backcountry ski or splitboard, your bibs will likely experience more abrasion due to wearing a loaded pack with a hip belt, transitioning with the equipment, being exposed to the elements without shelter, or operating a snowmobile (and trailer) for access.

In that case, we recommend investing in a bib that is more durable (and often pricier) like the Ortovox 3L Deep Shell Bib Pants ($650), which will help protect you and keep you comfortable in the backcountry.

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