Demanding environments and activities demand high performance kit you can rely on. Having just completed a winter season in the Canadian Rockies I feel qualified to comment on this?€?. The Paramo System kept me warm and dry while instructing snowboarding, completing avalanche search & rescue training and climbing the famous hard Canadian ice.

This equipment stretched to cover all of these activities, the nikwax analogy technology kept me warm and dry on long static days instructing snowboarding yet is adaptable enough for me to climb hard ice pitches without worrying about the damp, cold feeling you normally get from working hard in traditional shell systems..

I wore the Aspira salopettes throughout this experience with its high bib feature keeping the loose powder snow far away from getting me cold and damp! The built in knee pads saved me from many impact injuries whether fouling up a jump, boarding or smashing knees into the ice, climbing. This way you can concentrate on what you doing, not how much you're going to hurt yourself after you've done it..

The Velez smock worked perfectly to complement the Salopettes, giving full range of movement with no restrictions. As a flip side to the 40 conditions experienced earlier in the season +10 was not irregular in late march and the venting system, when used correctly, made the day far more comfortable than the ritual everyone else on the slope was going through of stripping many layers of clothing off and then getting too cold and having to repeat the process..

On less extreme days the Cascada trousers were more than adequate and the Nikwax analogy fabric and venting system worked in harmony to create the ideal walking trouser for winter conditions, whether used on a day snowshoeing in the backcountry, shorter days out easy ice climbing or just walking down to the shops when it started snowing!

I would recommend these pieces of Paramo equipment to anyone who will need a flexible clothing system, for varying environments and activities