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Dec 05, 2023

Patagonia Women’s Untracked Jacket Review: Reliable With Benchmark Sustainability

The overhauled Patagonia Women's Untracked Jacket is a reimagined, sustainable design that handled everything that could be thrown at it from storm days to skiing bell to bell — with style. Totally

The overhauled Patagonia Women's Untracked Jacket is a reimagined, sustainable design that handled everything that could be thrown at it from storm days to skiing bell to bell — with style.

Totally revamped for winter 23/24, the Patagonia Women’s Untracked Jacket continues to live up to its name for storm days chasing fresh turns from bell to bell. From sub-zero, windy lift-accessed laps at Crested Butte, Colo., to 8,000-foot-high backcountry powder days in British Columbia and ski mountaineering near Silverton, Colo., this jacket kept me warm, dry, and thus stoked no matter the weather.

Beyond performance, Patagonia sets a new environmental- and human-friendly standard with this season’s Untracked series. For the first time, it fully eliminates harmful perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in a three-layer design after nearly a decade in the making. (The technology first launched in the Patagonia Two-Layer Storm Shift outerwear in fall 2022.)

As a recreational avalanche instructor, certified AMGA Ski Guide Course holder, and avid backcountry enthusiast, I can’t sacrifice function when it comes to protective winter apparel. Patagonia’s proprietary ePE three-layer GORE-TEX doesn’t compromise weatherproofing but leaves out harmful chemicals, unsustainable production practices, wasteful materials, and unjust labor. That’s a win-win in my book.

In short: The Patagonia Women’s Untracked Jacket ($699) is an extremely waterproof, windproof, and abrasion-resistant shell, and a top-notch choice for dedicated resort skiers. As a bonus, the design sets a benchmark for environmentally friendly and human-conscious outerwear.

As mentioned, the Patagonia Women’s Untracked Jacket was revamped for 23/24 with an even more eco-conscious construction, new colors, a lighter weight, and a slimmer silhouette.

I put this women’s ski jacket through dozens of days of action, starting out with the GearJunkie 3-day ski and ride gear test in Crested Butte, Colo., which kicked off with blowing snow and below-zero wind chill. Of all the jackets on the docket, I felt especially protected from the freezing gusts when wearing the Women’s Untracked Jacket, and it continued to impress in a wide range of conditions throughout the season.

First off, I love the classic, athletic silhouette of this jacket, with a flattering cut and a longer hemline on the backside. All of the features are well placed: a chest pocket for a phone, an adjustable cinch hood that fits perfectly over a helmet, and a comfortable powder skirt are among the list.

Perhaps the best quality of this jacket, aside from the fact that it’s made from 100% recycled, chemical-free materials, is its durability: It didn’t show any signs of wear after several months of heavy use.

Paired with the Patagonia Women’s Untracked Bib, the Women’s Untracked Jacket kept me warm, protected, and coming back for more throughout long storm days all winter long.

It seems every detail of the Women’s Untracked Jacket was designed with a high environmentally conscious standard in mind: The design is Patagonia’s poster child for its production ethic. Many outerwear brands use a percentage of recycled materials in production, but it’s rare to see a ski jacket of this quality made from 100% recycled materials, as this jacket is.

Patagonia’s proprietary GORE-TEX ePE material, the first of its kind, is made from 100% recycled nylon and is crafted without any harmful chemicals, also known as PFCs or perfluorinated chemicals. The waterproofing applied to the jacket is also eco-friendly.

The jacket is Fair Trade-certified sewn, meaning that throughout production, no harm is done to humans or the environment.

The Women’s Untracked Jacket is lightened up by 2 ounces for this year’s model, coming in at a respectable 21 ounces. But, it’s still on the heavier end of the spectrum as far as dedicated backcountry skiing jackets go.

While it was on the bulkier side, I was more than happy to have this jacket in the pack in the Pemberton backcountry for particularly cold, blustery days. The second I put it on, I immediately feel well-protected from the elements.

I reached for this jacket in maritime snow climates and was confident that it would keep me dry even when the snow turned to rain on the lower mountain. The build protected me from everything that Mother Nature sent my way from incredibly deep snow to gale-force winds and below-zero temps.

The extra-durable ePE GORE-TEX didn’t show any signs of wear after 2 weeks of British Columbia bushwacking or months of riding chairlifts in Colorado and backcountry skiing in Alaska.

The Women’s Untracked Jacket has enough pockets to store everything you might have with you on the mountain from snacks to sunglasses to a lift pass. All of the zippers pull well and feel built to last, like the rest of the jacket.

The pockets are perfectly sized and useful. My favorite pocket is the pass-through media pocket on the chest, which is the best place to keep a phone warm and potentially listen to music on the slopes.

While this design isn’t exceptionally breathable, it makes up for it with long underarm vents to help heat escape quickly. The vents aren’t mesh-backed, which allows for faster temperature regulation — just don’t forget to zip back up before heading downhill, especially on a powder day.

The jacket is a slightly relaxed but true-to-size fit. Overall, the jacket is a bit boxier than more slim-fitting options.

I found myself wishing occasionally that the hemline was a bit longer, both for warmth and aesthetics. The jacket is roomy enough to layer several layers of insulation underneath without looking bulky or restricting movement. If you’re looking for a slim, more athletic fit, you may want to consider going for a size smaller, as Patagonia tends to fit slightly on the large side, and this jacket is no exception.

The Women’s Untracked Jacket features an integrated powder skirt with grippy rubber material to ensure that the jacket stays planted and attached to your pants, preventing snow from creeping up beneath the hemline on deep days.

The roomy hood is fixed, adjustable, and helmet-compatible with handy elastic cinch cords to help batten down the hatches and keep the hood in place when conditions get extra blustery. The hood also includes new “flex panels” with more elastic material to help ensure a secure, unrestrictive fit without feeling stifling. This update allows for quicker, more uninhibited movements, especially when storm skiing calls for the jacket plus the hood to be all zipped up.

My biggest qualms with this jacket, while minor, are the color and the price. It’s on the upper end of prices among all of the ski jackets we tested for this season, although I’m less reluctant to pay a premium considering the sustainable design and high durability.

As far as the color goes, while I like the icy light gray-blue hue that I tested, I found that it was tough to see in overcast and stormy conditions, and doesn’t show up well in photos. However, if you pair it with the bright sapphire blue Women’s Untracked Bibs, rather than the matching color set, you’ll negate that issue. The light color is also a bit more prone to quickly showing stains.

Also, this jacket is on the heavier and bulkier end of shell options, especially when used for backcountry skiing. I found myself occasionally wishing it were a bit more packable for especially long days going uphill with the jacket stashed in a pack.

The Patagonia Women’s Untracked Jacket is a strong choice for dedicated resort skiers who want to hit the slopes no matter the weather, and who may occasionally want to earn their turns or sample the sidecountry goods.

For protection from the winter elements that you can feel good about buying from an environmental standpoint, this jacket offers no compromises.

While I wouldn’t recommend the Women’s Untracked as a backcountry-specific jacket, its sustainability, durability, flattering cut, and comfortable fit make it one of my top resort ski jacket picks for winter 2023/24.

The 23/24 Patagonia Women’s Untracked Jacket will be available on October 1, 2023.