The Finest Ladies’s Ski & Snowboard Bibs of 2024

Ski and snowboard bibs made for women haven’t always been around. Less than a decade ago, Flylow’s groundbreaking snow bib for ladies — which included a range of sizes and a functional drop seat — became a mega seller. Still strong in our Best Ski Bibs for Women guide, that 2016 Flylow Foxy Bib is high-chested, loaded with pockets, and technical with a back door for restroom stops. The bib topped the brand’s direct sales of all products immediately after launch, signaling a ripple effect. Now, most of the top outdoor brands have dialed-in bibs — with drop seats — for gals.

The demand for women’s ski and snowboard bibs remains strong. They’re not just convenient — they’re functional, comfy, and capable. Clever rear access for bathroom breaks, an articulated fit, a multitude of pockets, better coverage for pow days, extended torso warmth or wind breaking, and easy layering: These are just a few benefits of the best women’s ski bibs. Nearly all of our favorites feature a well-crafted drop seat or side-entry zipper, which is handy whether we’re in the backcountry or at the resort. While there are premium builds, economic options like The North Face Women’s Freedom Bibs dish out moderate waterproofing and durability in a 2-layer package that’s suitable for many resort skiers and riders.

While some bibs are stylistically branded toward either skiers or snowboarders, nearly all of our picks work well with narrow ski boots or wider-topped snowboard boots unless noted. So, regardless of your sport, snow bibs are interchangeable. However, some options operate better in the backcountry compared to resort-tailored pants, while others are more tenacious for operating a snowmobile, mountaineering, or doubling-up shoveling with resort laps. Since this guide was first published in 2020, we routinely verify the ideal use of each highlighted ski bib through field tests in a range of snow and weather conditions from blizzards to sloppy spring days.

To learn more about women’s winter bib designs, scroll toward the bottom of the article to read the Buyer’s Guide or jump to the Price & Value. Still weighing your options? Consult our Comparison Chart to see how each ski bib for ladies stacks up. Otherwise, take a look at our awarded goods for the 2024-2025 season.

Editor’s Note: We updated our Ski Bibs for Women buyer’s guide on September 12, 2024, with field images, history, and context.

The Best Ski and Snowboard Bibs for Women of 2024-2025

Ski Bibs for Women Comparison Chart 

Scroll right to view all of the columns: Price, Sizes, Fabric, Insulation, Pockets, RECCO.

How We Tested Ski Bibs for Women

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 decades, we’ve used plenty of ski bibs and pants for our baseline. Since the inception of this guide in 2020, we have diligently field tested dozens of ski and snowboard bibs for women. This is the list that comprises the best of the best.

Our Expert Testers

GearJunkie Senior Editor Morgan Tilton specializes in snowsports and manages the majority of the publication’s winter guides including Ski Bibs for Women, which joined her desk in 2022. She was born and raised in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, where she learned to slide on snow at age 4, in her backyard: Telluride Ski Resort. She’s been an outdoor industry journalist covering winter gear for more than a decade. That includes reporting at 16 industry trade shows, publishing the Outdoor Retailer Daily and Snow Show Daily, and serving as Snowboard Editor at Teton Gravity Research. Bolstering remote exploration, she is Wilderness First Responder certified and has completed the recreational-tier avalanche training courses from the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education. 

Contributing testers for this guide include journalists and skiers Mary Murphy and Kylie Mohr, as well as professional guide Kaylee Walden and athlete Sarah Stubbe.

Our Testing Grounds

Today, GearJunkie Senior Editor Morgan Tilton lives in Crested Butte, Colorado, with the Elk Mountains at her doorstep. There, she skis, snowboards, snowmobiles, and shovels unbelievable amounts of snow. She’s also tested apparel on the blustery slopes of Eldora Mountain, foggy and icy days at Utah’s Snowbasin Resort, ample powder rounds at Telluride Ski Resort, and throughout the backcountry of the Elk and San Juan Mountains. The majority of her inbounds gear testing takes place at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, a few miles away from her shoveling habitat.

In spring 2022 and 2023, Crested Butte Mountain Resort was the host location for the official GearJunkie Ski and Snowboard week, where our team meets to test upcoming hardgoods and softgoods.

Our Testing Process

Our team field tests all of the women’s snow bibs that are included in this guide.

To date in 2024, Tilton has threaded 54 days and 200 hours with women’s ski and snowboard bibs. From January to December 2023, Tilton tested ski and snowboard bibs across 35 days and 114 hours of recreation. Her outings took place in the frontcountry and backcountry including snowmobile and trailer shenanigans. Those days entailed blizzards, sub-zero temps, harsh wind, heavy and wet snow, plenty of perspiration, and sunshine. That metric excludes the intense daily shoveling responsibilities at her home in Crested Butte, when she often pulls on bibs. And that’s the field data from just one of our testers.

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 designs, features, and applications for a range of use and preferences.

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

Whether skiing or snowboarding, having a pair of comfortable, hardworking snow bibs is essential. Here are a few tips for finding the best ladies’ ski and snowboard bibs, which can be used across many other winter activities.

Drop Seat

For the uninitiated, the drop seat is exactly what it sounds like: A trap door that opens on the backside of your snow pants, so that you can easily do the deed.

While many ski bibs for women have a side zipper that allows the fabric to fold back, not all breadths are created equal. Generally, the baggier the fit and longer the zipper, the broader the swath that can swing away to give you space.

Also, not all ski bibs have drop seats. Some designs have a front zipper for entry. Others are low-cropped, so they’re easier to pull on without a lengthy side zipper.

Here are the zipper designs that can facilitate a drop seat:

• 300-degree zipper, hip-to-hip clamshell opening
• Left side zipper
• Right side zipper
• Two side zippers — you choose as you go

Side zippers can double as the entry and exit for pulling on your bibs.

When to Use a Drop Seat

Drop seats are 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 off your suspenders to relieve yourself. Instead, you snug up your jacket a bit, pull the zipper around or down, and follow your routine.

Types of Drop Seats

The drop seat on the Airblaster Sassy Hot Bib is unique in that it wraps nearly entirely around. The zipper goes 300 degrees — imagine a clamshell opening up. An exterior storm flap also covers the zipper, which adds style points and keeps the teeth protected. The drop seat zipper of the Trew Chariot Bib Primo likewise wraps around your torso, parallel to the ground, with a smooth storm flap.

Other drop seats feature a lengthy side zipper that reaches down the leg for an even larger opening: The fabric then folds back and out of the way. This design can be convenient for managing variable conditions — like squatting over uneven or deep snow — in the backcountry, like the Ortovox Women’s 3L Deep Shell Bib Pants.

Some bibs have the drop seat zipper on one side only. Other styles offer zippers on both sides, which can be useful if you’re managing a heavy pack or feel immobile on one side. Sometimes our shoulders get tight, which makes reaching backward or across to grab the top of the side zipper a challenge, unless the pull is large enough to grab and the zipper is ergonomically placed in the perfect spot.

Ideally, each side zipper is topped off with two separate zipper pulls, so that we can secure the zipper for the day with one pull at the top and use the other to activate a side vent when needed. Often the top of the zipper has a secondary form of security like a snap or garage for the pull. If it doesn’t, that’s a red flag, because long side zippers tend to wiggle their way open without a lock.

Consider Activity & 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 details, fit, and style that make those bibs more comfortable and functional for the day’s winter activity.

That being said, many ski bibs 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 moderate or high waterproofness (which varies from bib to bib). Each of those factors influences the price tag.

Bibs for Skiing vs. Snowboarding

For skiers versus snowboarders — who use a slightly different range of motion on the mountain and use different boots — 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. Others offer a zipper or snap closure that can widen the pant hem in order to slide it over the snowboard or splitboard boot. Not all gaiter designs work well with soft, traditional riding boots.

Snowboard-branded designs among our top picks include the Jones Snowboards Women’s Shralpinist Stretch Recycled Bibs and Airblaster Sassy Hot Bib. For snowboarders and splitboarders, we also recommend considering our overall pick, the Flylow Foxy Bib, and our most durable pick, the Ortovox Women’s 3L Deep Shell Bib Pants, which offer generous pant legs to cover broader boot collars.

Type of Fit

In addition to checking the specific size of a bib, silhouettes come in a variety of fits, which can be functional or reflect a certain aesthetic.

That includes regular — not too baggy or too tight — as well as a roomier and relaxed fit. On the alternative side, you’ll find a more athletic, slim, and fitted design.

If a bib is well-fitted, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncomfortable, because our top bibs here are all constructed with stretchy material. However, styles differ with how much length and width are offered in the torso area and where that fabric is located. Seams can also be less forgiving from one design to the next. And not every skier and rider prefers the sensation of a hug all day or eliminating the option of layering beneath their bibs.

Regular fits can also be tailored, meaning there is articulation to the design that offers a flattering feminine shape without making the style straight and boxy. A tailored design is also functional because it can remove extra fabric that can otherwise get caught, fold, and be uncomfortable, like articulated knees.

We try to offer insights in our listed specs regarding the overall style you can expect from bib to bib:

• Regular: Flylow Foxy Bib, The North Face Women’s Freedom Bibs, Patagonia Women’s SnowDrifter Bibs, Outdoor Research Women’s Carbide Bibs, Stio Women’s Environ Bib, Rab Khroma Kinetic Waterproof Bib, Flylow Foxy Insulated Bib, Jones Snowboards Women’s Shralpinist Stretch Recycled Bibs
• Roomier/Freeride: Ortovox Women’s 3L Deep Shell Bib Pants, Stio Women’s Figment Bib
• Fitted/Athletic: Trew Chariot Bib Primo, Airblaster Sassy Hot Bib, Halfdays Isabel Soft Shell Bib Pant, Mammut Haldigrat HS Bib Pants Women

If you want an unencumbered range of motion, go with a more relaxed fit. Extra space can be comfortable for adding layers beneath or big moves on backcountry days, as well as slopestyle, jumping off cliffs, and freeriding across conditions.

Or, if you want the option to pull on thicker layers beneath and don’t mind extra fabric, consider sizing up.

Fabrics

For powder days or backcountry travel, it makes a lot of sense to invest in a GORE-TEX or similar fully waterproof fabric. To compare, 2-layer and 3-layer fabrics have different weights, waterproofness, and breathability ratings. Fabrics can also be treated on the surface to add water resistance, which wears out and needs to be reapplied over time and use.

Fabrics also differ across the board based on their hand feel and softness, flexibility and stretch, breathability, and quietness versus crunchiness.

Ask yourself whether the pants will work for what you want. The goal is to find a bib 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). For ski tours, you won’t want the fabric to be too heavy, dense, loud, or cumbersome.

Other fabrics feature insulation, which we recommend if you generally run cold. An insulated design can also be helpful if you tend to move more cautiously (and thus slowly), need to dial down movement 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 textile 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 20,000mm or greater. The latter end of the spectrum leads to a less breathable fabric.

Waterproof Ratings:

• 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 (the amount of liquid water in the snow) is lower.

Snow Climate Zones

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

• Coastal: 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
• Continental: 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: Intermountain regions and ranges show characteristics of both coastal and continental
• Transitional: These 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.

Many ski bibs can work fine across various conditions. However, if you are mostly snowboarding and skiing in a wet climate or the snow tends to be heavy with water, then you’ll want to invest in a hardier material to stay dry. If you mostly venture into the backcountry, it’s also not a bad idea to invest in apparel that can withstand those stormy conditions when you’re far out from the trailhead, even if the snow tends to be on the drier side.

Alternatively, if you primarily or solely carve inbounds and adventure in a region with moderate or mild precipitation, consider reaching for a more economic bib, which will likely be lower on the waterproof totem pole.

We aim to break down each women’s ski bib review with the waterproofness capacity, so that you know which options would work best for your go-to zone:

We have not received confirmation from Patagonia regarding the waterproof rating of the Patagonia Women’s SnowDrifter Bibs.

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.

To date, our favorites for optimal roominess and efficiency are the thigh and chest pockets in the Ortovox Women’s 3L Deep Shell Bib Pants. The chest pocket arrangement on the Jones Snowboards Women’s Shralpinist Stretch Recycled Bibs really maximizes space, too, and is a clever, unique design. We also love the coupling of hand and thigh pockets on the Stio Women’s Figment Bib.

Thigh Pockets

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. You’ll also want large enough quad pockets for efficiency, which will save your phone battery and your cold fingers, being able to quickly slide the device in and out. In addition to thigh pockets, some bibs have traditional hand pockets, too, like the Stio Women’s Figment Bib.

Chest Pockets

Various chest pockets with a range of sizes are situated on the upper half of the bib. Some pockets have top-entry while others have zippered side-entry pockets. On the latter, the zippers can face outward or inward, requiring the opposite hand to reach in, known as a Napoleon pocket.

Interior Pockets

Inside pockets, there is a trend of adding an interior mesh pocket that holds a phone or other small items like a key fob. We typically carry a large device, so these mesh hammocks can be too restrictive and not easy to use while wearing gloves, in our experience. They can even cause hangups when we’re trying to quickly slide our phone into our pocket, which is a pitfall.

Backside Pockets

Some designs have one or two pockets on the backside. We’re not the biggest fans of pockets on the buns, because we often need to sit when wearing our apparel.

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.

On certain bib designs, you’ll find a side zipper with two zip pulls, which allows you to close the zipper then utilize that portal as a vent with the second pulley throughout the day.

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 can be a plus for some).

Some cuffs are narrower than others and fit better over ski boots compared to the wider throat of 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, exterior cuffs can be reinforced with tough materials like Kevlar, SuperFabric, Dyneema, Cordura, Vectran, or hybrid textiles. Especially for backcountry users, that additional textile helps prevent the material from shredding over time or getting cut up by a ski edge or crampons while ascending a peak.

Suspenders

The two straps that hold up your bibs are surprisingly complex and can make or break a bib. Suspenders are typically made of an elastic material, which varies in width, stretchiness, and rebound across designs.

Underneath some suspenders, you’ll find a grippy material that helps the strap stay in place throughout the day.

Suspenders can cross the upper back and shoulder blades or go straight over your shoulders. One of the biggest gripes our testers have is when we pull on bib straps that cross in the back but are not easily adjustable while being worn. Or when the suspenders tend to get caught and uneven, which is annoying.

Bib straps can be fixed or detachable. The attachment point can be a slide-in hook that is releasable in the front, which allows you to undo the strap while pulling on or off your bibs. Straps can also be secured via velcro.

Most bib straps are adjustable in length via a plastic slider.

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 a great safety addition to have during an emergency.

The first part of the system is a reflector that is embedded into outerwear 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 120m through the air and 10 to 20m 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 & Value

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

Budget

The vast majority of our top picks hang on the $300 rung: Airblaster Sassy Hot Bib ($320), Outdoor Research Women’s Carbide Bibs ($329), Halfdays Isabel Soft Shell Bib Pant ($345), Rab Khroma Kinetic Waterproof Bib ($380), Patagonia Women’s SnowDrifter Bibs ($399). With each of these designs, you’ll find excellent applications for specific uses, so you’ll also be giving up a few design details.

For instance, the Sassy Hot Bib fit and fabric are not the best choice for backcountry riding and touring. The Outdoor Research Women’s Carbide Bibs pants slide well over ski boots but not snowboard boots. The Halfdays Isabel Soft Shell Bib Pant is insulated and not functional for uphill pursuits or high-moisture climates. If you do homework on each of these designs to find the best one for your needs, you’ll be really happy with any of these picks.

Our queen budget pick is The North Face Women’s Freedom Bibs ($250), which doesn’t shine above any of our other favorite choices from a design or technical standpoint. But that 2-layer bib certainly serves riders and skiers, especially those that head to the hills as weekend warriors.

Mid-Tier

In the next zone, you’ll find Flylow Foxy Bib ($430), Flylow Foxy Insulated Bib ($430), Stio Women’s Environ Bib ($459), Stio Women’s Figment Bib ($479), Mammut Women’s Haldigrat HS Bib Pants ($499), and Trew Chariot Bib Primo ($499).

These women’s ski bibs are an investment for smart pockets, stylish and comfortable fit, and excellent fabrics. Each of them has a drawback or two but still near-premium details.

Premium

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. If you snowmobile, it’s easy to beat up your apparel while maneuvering and riding the machine.

In that case, we recommend investing in a bib that is a more durable, premium option like the Ortovox Women’s 3L Deep Shell Bib Pants ($650), which will help protect you and keep you comfortable in the backcountry. Other options in this price tier include the Jones Snowboards Women’s Shralpinist Stretch Recycled Bibs ($500).

Generally, top-priced apparel also boasts the highest level of waterproofness, breathability, and durability plus sustainable manufacturing, ease of use, and an enjoyable, softer, quieter textile.

Frequently Asked Questions

Bibs are great at one thing pants just can’t do: keeping snow, moisture, cold temps, and wind out from your waist up. With better coverage, protection, and greater adjustability than ski pants, bibs are an excellent investment for those who ski or snowboard in a wide variety of conditions.

Depending on the design, bibs can provide more pockets than pants. If the fabric reaches up to the chest, designers typically add at least one pocket to the torso.

Since bibs utilize suspenders, you can expect your pants to stay up without a belt.

Some folks love to double-up their bibs with a belt, so that the space around their torso can be used as a kangaroo pouch to quickly slide gloves or a hat.

A ski bib should be not too restrictive, leaving room for movement in your hips and legs. You’ll want to be able to squat, lunge, and hinge at the hips, which are the motions that you take when you’re hiking up a slope, bending over to clean a binding, or crouching to stand up from the ground.

You should also make sure the ski bib you pick is the right size and fit for your height and easily adjusts up top.

The best ski bibs will have fabric that offers stretch, especially in the quads, glutes, and in the waist or chest area.

All the bibs we’ve reviewed here fit well, are made with pliable material, and offer good adjustability via the suspender straps.

Regular, non-insulated ski bibs have a protective, waterproof fabric.

Insulated ski bibs are the same, but with insulation added for warmth. The insulation is usually a synthetic fiber like PrimaLoft, which is the standard in many ski bibs. Sometimes the insulation is a natural fiber such as wool, which is also breathable and integrated into the Ortovox Women’s 3L Deep Shell Bib Pants.

In addition to different types of insulation, bibs can be garnished with varying quantities. The insulation can also be strategically placed in targeted locations like the thigh and glute zone but not in the upper torso or calf area.

We find that insulation does wonders for our energy levels if we’re skiing or riding inbounds at 10 degrees or less, especially if there is windchill. A little extra warmth on our bottom half is welcomed on chair lift rides, dining outside, or while spectating an outdoor event.

But we don’t like wearing insulated outerwear for uphill travel, backcountry tours, or shoveling — anything high cardio that generates too much body heat. We always wear non-insulated ski bibs for backcountry tours.

You may want to buy a cold-weather-specific insulated pant for those really frigid days on the mountain and a non-insulated shell pant for warmer days. Especially if you tend to run cold, consider insulated options.