Published March 19, 2026 10:11AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Over the 15 years I\u2019ve worked for Outside, I\u2019ve tested more than 300 jackets. A new batch arrives each fall, and each spring, most leave my closet for the donation box. But there\u2019s one type of jacket that always sticks around in my garage: the breathable midlayer.<\/p>\n
I hoard these jackets because they work so well here in New Mexico, where I live. They keep me warm in the ski mountain parking lot at 6 a.m. when it\u2019s 15 degrees, but let off extra heat once I get on the skin track. They also fit well under a shell when I ride the lift. Lots of companies make a high-quality midlayer, but I love the Black Diamond First Light Stretch Hoody<\/a>, Arc\u2019teryx Atom Hoody<\/a>, the Patagonia Nano-Air Hoody<\/a>, and the Stio Dawner Hoody<\/a>. Fellow Outside gear tester Frederick Reimers echoes some of those picks and names a few more in his 2026 guide to midlayers.<\/p>\n Over time, I\u2019ve developed what I consider a \u201cdialed in\u201d ski kit that I can depend on for anything\u2014anchored around this type of midlayer. There\u2019s never been a question about what to pack, and I preach about my kit to anyone who asks for layering advice.<\/p>\n This winter, however, everything changed. After a decade of feeling like these standard, well-vetted breathable midlayers were a forever piece in my setup, I noticed that several brands have called the midlayer formula into question. That\u2019s minor news for some people, but for me, as a midlayer evangelist, it\u2019s been a shock.<\/p>\n I first noticed the change with Patagonia\u2019s Nano-Air Ultralight Freeride Jacket. When I saw one in October and tried it on, I was immediately dismissive. It felt more like a windbreaker with a wispy-thin layer of insulation than a serious layer for winter weather. I thought the piece was a marketing gimmick for Patagonia, an attempt to expand or diversify their Nano-Air line.<\/p>\n But then I started talking to people like Joe Jackson, a long-time gear reviewer at Outside, who had tested the Ultralight for nearly a year and was a total believer. He was backed up by Corey Simpson, Patagonia\u2019s in-house PR rep, who\u2019s always shot straight with me. Both of them argued that the Ultralight is the future.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/section>\n The difference between the Ultralight and the midlayers I named earlier is that the Ultralight uses 20 grams of synthetic polyester insulation instead of 60. On paper, 20 grams sounds like almost nothing, but it turns out to be a smart, strategic amount.<\/p>\n Maggie Elder, a senior designer at Patagonia who designed the Ultralight, told me that while 60 grams has been the standard for midlayers, they had discovered that it was too much for people who were working hard. \u201cI was watching people use their Nano-Airs for the first 10 minutes of a skin and then packing them away until the sun went down,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople I was skiing with weren\u2019t complaining or saying this is too warm, but they were choosing a different system.\u201d<\/p>\n The more I thought about it, the more I had to (begrudgingly) agree. I\u2019d spent years skinning in 60-gram breathable midlayers and was always sweaty at the top. That didn\u2019t bother me because the jackets dry quickly, but I\u2019d never considered whether a similar jacket with less insulation would be better.<\/p>\n Turns out Patagonia had been working on a 20-gram version for years. The problem was they couldn\u2019t immediately find 20-gram insulation that stayed inside the liner and face fabrics. Elder and her team had a closet full of pillow cases made from jacket liner fabrics that they would stuff with various iterations of the insulation. Then, they\u2019d put the pillow cases through abrasive torture tests to mimic the wear and tear a user might subject a jacket to over a decade\u2019s worth of use.<\/p>\n Finally, Patagonia landed on a version that was stable enough and built the climbing-focused Nano-Air Ultralight, followed by the Freeride\u2014the same jacket, but with pockets and a roomier cut. Elder took early versions of Freeride to a company ski test in Argentina and said the athletes who used the jacket refused to hand it back after testing.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what we\u2019ve landed on is a piece that might be annoying for five minutes at some point in your day, but for 90 percent of what you\u2019re doing, it\u2019s going to be perfect. It\u2019s a piece that you can put on and leave on and has a much wider range of use,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n To test Simpson\u2019s claim, I wore the Freeride non-stop for the past week while skiing in Santa Fe and bike commuting and running errands here in Albuquerque. There were moments when I worried I\u2019d made the wrong choice, like sitting on the lift at 11,000 feet with the wind tearing through the thinner construction, which left me slightly chilled. But those moments were fleeting. I was plenty warm any time I was exerting energy, and I was actually much more comfortable and noticeably less sweaty when working hard, such as while carrying all my kids\u2019 ski gear<\/a> from the car to the lift or during a bootpack to reach a patch of better snow.<\/p>\n On the bike, the jacket cut the wind on a 35-degree morning but breathed exceptionally well when I huffed up a hill, never once leaving me too hot. Running errands, I was in temps as low at 40 degrees and as hot at 65. While I felt like I might be approaching my limit on the warm end, I never once felt like I had to tear it off.<\/p>\nPatagonia Goes Ultralight\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
Patagonia\u2019s Nano-Air Ultralight Freeride Jacket<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Flylow and the TC Vest\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n