Raide's New Winter Collection Is All About Skiing More With Less

Raide's First Down Layers

In the webinar, Siegel often referred to his own preferences in backcountry skiing when describing how the new winter collection came together. He talked about how the risks of hypothermia are underplayed, and how he carries a down jacket in his ski pack until it gets "quite warm" in the springtime. This notion was behind Raide's push to make the lightest, warmest down jacket it could—make it so light you have no reason not to pack it.

According to Raide, the DryLoft Down Jacket and Pullover have the best warmth-to-weight ratio on the market. The men's hooded jacket is stuffed with 97 grams of 1000-fill Expedry down from Allied Feather, and the women's has 86 grams. Both have an ultralight face fabric and a new zipper from YKK called AiryString that skips tape for weight savings—instead, the teeth are stitched directly into the fabric (a new sewing machine had to be invented to make it work).

Our eyes held on the DryLoft Down Pullover, which skips the hood for a bomber-style collar. It's lighter, and lets you layer without hoods piling up on top of each other (or sticking out the back of your jacket like you don't know what you're doing).

In both styles, balancing warmth was Raide's goal. Ultralight down jackets are nothing new, Siegel admitted, but the lightest of them come at the expense of warmth. These are an assertion of what the optimal ratio should be.

The Lightest Backcountry Ski Pack With a Back Panel

Raide's ski packs are awesome because of their features and how intelligently they are designed to work together with the way skiers and snowboarders operate in the mountains. The new UL 25L and UL 35L are simpler: there's no helmet carry, no up-front stash pocket, and only one avalanche tool pocket versus separate compartments (it still opens from the bottom so you can swing the bag over your shoulder to pull out your probe, though). According to Siegel, not everyone needs a full-featured pack.

An engineer, Siegel seems to approach design with the mindset of a mountain athlete. Pushing limits is part of the approach. Here, he wanted to see how light a ski pack Raide could make while preserving pack panel access, a feature he says is mandatory for a good ski pack.

An ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (aka UHMWPE, aka Dyneema) fabric called Aluula Graflyte V-125 provided the key. Over the past year, Aluula Graflyte has been emerging as a new standard in UL fabrics that are super-light yet durable. It's been used by Gossamer Gear and Mountain Hardwear in backpacking packs; it's been used in tents; and now Raide is bringing it to the ski pack. V-125 is the most durable in Aluula's line, but Siegel notes that the UL packs are less durable than Raide's other models. "We can't completely defy physics," he said.

Packable Down Mittens & More

Small accessories can reveal a brand's commitment to its mission. Are they half-baked and made to complete the kit? Raide's UL Down Mittens are not, and Siegel got notably excited about them during the webinar. Here again is an unwavering commitment to addressing every detail.

Like Raide's down jackets, the UL Down Mittens have 1000-fill Expedry down. They have a lightweight ripstop face fabric, and they have a tiny pocket integrated into the wrist gaiter that acts as a stuff sack. All packed up, these are a little bigger than a kiwi, but at 34 grams for a medium, they're about half as heavy. They're not for downhill skiing; they're for emergency warmth—again, Raide's conviction was to make them so light and packable, there's no excuse not to pack them.

There's a lot more to Raide's Winter 26/27 collection. There's a new hardshell bib to fit into the brand's existing touring kit, there's a new synthetic insulated midlayer, a merino long-sleeve, a $99 leather ski glove, and a ski beanie that Siegl said was "the hardest product in the entire product line to get right." If you didn't think these types of products could be obsessed over and made better, take a look.