Cloudveil Down Patrol Jacket

This jacket would be perfect if it weren't for a couple of things. First the positive: The Cloudveil Down Patrol is a stylish, comfortable jacket which gives you serious style points on the hill! The 550 fill down keeps you plenty warm on cold days, and the Gore Windstopper outer fabric keeps the wind from biting your nips on super blustery days. The fit is great around the shoulders and chest, but could present a problem for someone with a larger belt line, as the cut doesn't flare hardly at all at the bottom of the jacket. The Velcro enclosures at the wrist offer plenty of adjustability. The two small problems I ran into have mostly to do with the ability to be manipulated with gloves. First, the powder skirt is nearly impossible to affix with gloves, as the snaps are entirely too small. You may consider this extremely nit-picky until you get up on the slope and find some powder off the trail and suddenly need the protection and can't fasten the snaps with gloves because it's 10 degrees out. Also, the removable skirt is fairly wimpy and ineffective compared to the skirt of my Gore-tex shell. Secondly, the hood design doesn't allow for maximum closure, leaving gaps near the zipper on the hood for wind to lash your neck. Also, the grommets on the hood closures are also impossible to manipulate with gloves. But, once you realize these minor detractors and learn to adjust these in the lodge or gondola, you can ski or ride with super style and comfort.

I used this jacket while riding the "Village" (Jackson Hole) and up on Glory Bowl all last winter. It is very warm, has a great powder skirt (removable), nice hood (removable) that cinches down nicely without a helmet (don't know how it fits with a helmet), relatively long sleeves and fits really well in the body for a very comfortable feel. I like that there are two pockets, an inner and outer, on the left side of the jacket (accessible with right hand) for keeping spare goggles, glasses, phone or anything else you want easy access to. The pit zips work well but I don't use them often. If I am that warm, I have the jacket opened or off and the only time that happens is while hiking or on the Gondola (soon to be TRAM AGAIN!!!). It has good draw strings at the waist to keep the cold and snow out. Good hand warming pockets and yet another pocket (located on the inside right front of jacket (accessed with left hand) that holds a bottle of schnapps very well. One other thing...there is access for a headphone wire to go through from inner pocket to head so you can rock out and be warm at the same time! The Wind Stopper material is very wind proof (hence the name, eh?) and has a really nice hand. I like the clean cut and solid color of the jacket as well. Great for ripping down mountains and wear it right into the Mangy Moose for an apres beer.

Overall, this jacket is awesome. I am 5'8", 180#, and the large fits perfectly. It is cut to a great length, not too long, not too short. I replaced all the cheap plastic snaps with heavy duty metal ones before I even wore the jacket and that was a piece of cake. Made the jacket's snaps much more durable. Very warm, somewhat water resistant (gets slightly water-logged along the cuffs and at the bottom of the jacket, which is not uncommon), and very functional. Pockets are cut well and are in good locations, and the goggle pocket is great for touring. The pit zips definitely vent heat (I was actually able to tour in this jacket). My beef is that the powder skirt is way too loose. In blower conditions the snow does end up above the skirt, which is not big deal, since I wear bibs with it. Also, the zipper can be a bit of a pain to operate, especially with gloves, but you just have to get the hang of it. Overall, a great jacket that could use a few tweaks!

Much better value than the Patagucci down jackets!

I see some varying opinions here. I bought this in Jan 2008, and have generally been pleased with it. I've skied in in MT at temps ranging from 0 to the low 30s. I wear it over a T-shirt, and if the temps are below 10, with a fleece. For me, anything above the mid 20s is too warm in this coat, at least if moguls are involved. Once temps get into the teens, this is generally my around-town coat, too, and down to -20 so far without complaint.

The biggest beef I have is that the pit zips are impossible to manipulate with gloves: no zipper pulls. To their credit, Cloudveil CS immediately volunteered to mail me some. Twice. Neither set arrived, so I gave up.

I'm 6'3" and 230. A large fits fine with room to layer.

This being my first down jacket ever, I had doubts that something so lightweight could be so warm!! My only regret with this item is that I waited until the last month of a Chicago winter to buy it. It repels water well, and the Gore windproof passed the Randolph St wind tunnel with flying colors. i bought mine in a size larger (I'm a 43L, so I went with the XL for layering purposes) and would recommend the same. The hood is also full goose down and the skirt, cuffs, and neck are all adjustable. Add to all this Cloudveil's lifetime warranty and the coat is still worth the list price, but the deal was even sweeter as I got mine on closeout.

I just picked up this bad boy on sale and absolutely love it. I haven't had the chance to make use of the zip-off powder skirt, but the other features such as pit-zips and the zip hood are great. I've been out in temps around 25deg with heavy winds with nothing but a t-shirt under and still seem to be amazingly warm and comfortable. If you are looking for a nice down piece, without the flare, to keep you warm on those chilly wintery days, this is for you.

This jacket I bought for my husband was a great deal. It's light, it's rugged and can handle rough and tumble action. My husband is outside alot driving ATV's and snowmobiles and out on the sea and uses this jacket all the time. This jacket can handle Arctic climate elements. It's light enough for cool summers we experience above the tree line, and cold dry weather in the fall and winter. I want one now for myself.

Over $220 for this? Come on, Cloudveil. Before I bought this I had an REI Anti-Freeze jacket that was outstanding, but I returned it because of a bad seam. I was persuaded to pay the extra for this and bought online. Needless to say, I should have kept the REI jacket. For over $75 more, I was awarded with poor quality material, less fill power (kind of necessary for cold Montana winters), a 2XL that should have been marked as a 4XL because it was severely baggy around the waist and chest, and a zipper that was defective. I wonder if Cloudveil is high on their own pedestal without taking a good look at the quality of their product. I would check out the REI jackets, Mountain Hardwear, or North Face before paying for this one.

I was really excited to get this coat out on the slopes, unfortunatley my excitment soon turned to dissapoitment. In just four days wear two buttons from the snow skirt have broken off completly. I notified Cloudveil after the first button broke the moement I unpacked it a week ago and have not received a reply. As for actually preformance it works fairly well. It is definetly warm, there's no concern there. I had it out above 12,000 feet yesterday with windchills about -15 with only a thin base layer and was toasty! Two days earlier I was riding at about 8,000 feet with temps in the twenties and with pit zips open and a cotton tee it was great. I would hope to see the collar get a bit taller and more open in future models and also hope that the zipper cover gets larger and actually tucks over the top of the zipper. For almost four hundred dollare it seems the details were missed, but because I was able to get it for $214 I'm happy. Of course if Cloudveil never responds to my warrenty issues I probably won't buy their product again. For the money next time I think I'd try the Patagonia version.

its a perfect jacket. got everything what you need. good fit, excellent qualtiy, great features. wear in the german alps, mostly in town and keeps you warm even with -10°. BUT: the colour, specially the pic is useless. thought I receive a dark blue one (after chating with c.s. people - they confirmed it would be navy) and what did I get? a light blue, terrible colour.
normally the pics show colours in a lighter, brighter way, but this time it was darker.
anyway, good jacket, awful colour - so choose the black one than you know what you get.

I was soo eagerly awaiting this jacket and I was quickly rewarded with disappointment. I have gone through trying 14+ coats from Eddie Bauer, The North Face, and Spyder. This coat was supposed to be the end-all and although very comfortable inside, once I stepped outside the shoulder area was instantly cold. It made no difference that it was windproof because there was next to no insulation in the shoulders. I m sending it back and will still shop with Backcountry but Cloudveil has not impressed me..

Very warm and relatively light weight. Good styling makes for a coat that is equally effective at keeping you warm and presentable.
Main complaint: face protection. The hood fits over a helmet, but the collar is too small to cover the chin and cheeks. If you're going to haul this sort of coat into the backcountry, you don't want to worry about frostbite: you want to be bombproof.