Review: Kuiu Encounter Jacket

With all due respect to blue-jean skiers, some of us are too old-fashioned (read: punctilious) to wear camouflage for anything but hunting. For me, sporting multi-cam on the Nordic trails is akin to a mom wearing PJs at the grocery store. How to square that with my desire to minimize an already-overflowing closet of outdoor clothing?

Enter the Kuiu Encounter Jacket in OD green (aka, "Ash," according to Kuiu's pallette). This softshell coat has everything I want for active days afield—a streamlined fit with some stretch, dual chest pockets for essentials, and roomy front pockets for warming gloved hands—plus I can wear it for a multitude of activities. Hiking, snowshoeing, classic- and skate-skiing, even backcountry skiing—provided I keep moving, the Encounter keeps me warm. It's a hunting jacket, after all, designed for cool days in a treestand and slow, methodical prowling in the timber. As such, it's not overly warm—which is fine, as my whole M.O. is to get the blood pumping.

When it's not too cold out, and I overheat, the Encounter's pit-zips allow cooling and ventilation. On particularly frigid days, a vest over the top does the trick. And come hunting season, I can pull it from my uncluttered coat rack for a low-intensity stroll in the cool fall weather.

Available at kuiu.com; $239.