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Hoods??? Why???

Tom K.

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I've tried to like hoods, but they just don't play nicely with my helmet.

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doc

Out on the slopes
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Nov 25, 2015
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744
Even on a sunny day I have used the hood riding up the Panorama lift. I have one jacket where the hood fits perfectly and I use it going up and down both.
This. Have a hood on midlayer (Arc'teryx Atom something or other) and on shell (Stio Environ) so I can pull either one of them up on the stupid windy lift known as Pano at MJ.
 

James

Out There
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Dec 2, 2015
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24,453
View attachment 166468
3 out of 4 hood wearers this day. A helmet compatible hood is a requirement for me.
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That Patagonia has a nice fit to the helmet. What goggles are those?

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Les Houches in the Chamonix Valley.

This was a rough day. Unskiable rentals required paying for another pair. Raining at the bottom, shifting to grapple to snow. Very few people out. Then the wind.

I use the hood to hide from the sun sometimes.
 

Rich_Ease_3051

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May 16, 2021
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All my ski coats from time immemorial have had hoods. I live and ski in the Coastal PNW, and as far as I can remember I've never used one except in the pre-helmet era skiing in the rain. The weather here is regularly wet and/or very snowy and never ever ever ever (think OutKast) put up my jacket hood.

In fact, all the hoods on my ski coats seem good for are catching snow and flapping annoyingly when I go fast.

Started shopping for a new coat today, and it seems as if 99.9% have hoods.

I say FEH!!! Hoods no more.

Please confirm my absolute correctness. You're welcome.

This company, madeoutdoor.ca, gives you the option to choose your style of hood.

They will definitely be my next jacket and pants once my current ones start wetting out, which is still a few years away I reckon. But FYI they exist and give them your support so that they may still be in business once I'm due for an upgrade.

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cantunamunch

Meh
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Nov 17, 2015
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Behavioral sink
As evidenced by several photos posted in this thread, when it's really snowing and blowing and freaking cold out hoods on top of helmets are awesome.

Kludges. Inelegant bodges.

Proving popularity of something doesn't make it the right thing to do. Shitting near the door of a filthy bathroom is popular.
No helmet has as much coverage as a hood. If it's really storming, my hood will be up.

Then that's a problem with helmet design and shouldn't be addressed with coat design.

There is no hood on the current market that has coverage that

a) moves with your head.
b) protects your face and goggles in the direction you're facing
c) allows helmet sizing to be independent of shoulder width sizing.


Every last "hood" on this page could be miles improved by cutting it off the coat, setting in a back-pack-style sheet spreader frame at the shoulder yoke and putting in helmet provisions, along with a proper precipitation-deflecting brim.

Of course, then it would be a "helmet cover" and not a hood. Which is the point.

The longer helmet covers are bound to "hood" thinking, the longer we're all going to be wearing chainmail in a world where both the visored sallet and Japanese auxiliary armour have already been invented.



 
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cantunamunch

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Ok here's another reason: hoods work.

Except when they don't.
Except when they're shoulder-tugging parachutes.
Except when they simply don't fit over a racing helmet.
Except when they actually don't move with the head and slide around.
Except when the collar can't be shut enough and winds up trapping precipitation in the front neck area
Except when the bottom edge catches breath ice in -F conditions and needs 20+ minutes of back-at-car jimmying to open.
Except when a small shouldered person has a large head.
Except when they dump a load of precip down one's neck when not put on first thing out the door.

Belgian caps and tight collars work better than hoods - and every winter training cyclist proves it. Proves it with a colder helmet than here.

Instead of hoods, let's change the acronym to KEFKs. Kulturally Embedded "Fashion" Kludges.
 

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