The combination of the E-Loft synthetic insulation and Defender membrane take care of the cold and wind, with a snow skirt and inner cuffs holding back any errant snow trying to find its way in. A detachable, but surprisingly adjustable, hood completes the picture as far as keeping the elements out while double zipped pit zips allow ventilation.

What Eider Say:

For the resort skier, the Solden Jacket offers a full list of ski features and technical construction, in a mix of solids and color blocks to please all. For the ambitious, sporty skier, the Solden Jacket is timeless, both in style and construction. The giving, 2-way stretch fabric moves with you as you charge the mountain, while the intuitive body mapped insulation keeps you warm during cold, winter blasts. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or skiing is a part of your everyday life, you’ll appreciate the full list of ski features that make all the difference in comfort and performance

Features:

• Adjustable & removable hood with Plug in System
• 4 zipped outer pockets, including 1 with Aquaguard® dull zipper
• 3 inner pockets: 1 zipped pocket, 1 goggle pocket with glass cleaner and 1 phone pocket
• Underarm ventilation with zippers under piping
• Fixed stretch powder skirt with a no-slip elastic band

Eider Solden on test:

We took the Eider Solden 3 to Europes longest glacier, the Aletsch Arena, in Switzerland to put it through its paces; resort based as per Eider's own description and were delighted at its performance.

At first look the Solden 3 is a pretty non-descript offering, blending in amongst the competition with a classic ski jacket look and a standard cut. Under the surface, however, there's a lot going on with this jacket. It does the basics of keeping the warmth in and temperature out faultlessly but mostly does so in a seamless way. There wasn't a single occassion in 4 days of almost continuous snowfall where something was was missing or wasn't just where you needed it. The inner cuffs and easily adjusted hem held back any snow ingress with the non-lip, elasticated, snow skirt as backup and whenever a pocket was need there was one there.

elasticated snow skirt

On the outside you get 4 pockets; 2 hand warmers with fleece inners, a chest pocket with waterproof aquaguard zipper and a surprisingly large capacity sleeve pocket. Where many sleeve pockets are designed for housing little more than a ski-lift pass the Solden 3's sleeve pocket will take an iphone (in a hard case for protection) or GPS and possibly both at once!

Aquaguard front pocket

Large sleeve pocket

Inside you get a large zipped pocket on the left and 2 further pockets on the right; one mesh with a glass/goggle cleaning cloth attached and a "phone pocket" which is possibly the jackets only mistake. The phone pocket is simply too narrow for even a base level iPhone 6 or similar size phone, though it does make a good place to keep your keys.

The mesh pocket includes an attached cleaning/dryng cloth

The hood is detatchable, but more importantly it's both capacious enough to accomodate a helmet and easily adjustable. The rear mounted volume adjuster should be tackled first with external cords on either side allowing the hood to be drawn in at the front to elimnate any snow ingress.

The hood can be easily detached

The collar has a full fleece liner which extends to the right hand side into a mouth/nose protection flap that sits inside the zipper to allow the wearer to completely shut out the elements.

The front zip is single rather than dual zippered with a press stud closure at the bottom and a velcro attached storm flap running full length. Ventilation is managed through long, double zipped pit zips under the arms though, on the down-side, the zippers are too small for easy adjustment in use.

In practical terms the combination of a one-way front zip and difficult to adjust in-use pit zips meant the simplest way to ventilate most of the time was simply to leave the main zip uindone, with the snow skirt done up to prevent any upward driven snow.

The narrow phone pocket and small zippers aside the Solden 3 was a real pleasure to wear, and in practical terms neither of these minor issues caused any real issues. The phone simply went into another of the pockets and when breathability did become an issue there was always the option of taking gloves off for a few seconds to adjust the pit zips - with the two way zippers giving real control.

With a price tag of £330 the Solden 3 is a major investment but in climbing parlance it feels bomb proof. The fabric is durable and hard wearing and the body mapped insulation means you get warmth where you need it when you need it without building up too much heat. The fabric stretches just enough to move with the body's twists and turns and the internal features at the cuffs, snow skirt and collar maintain a stable microclimate all day long.