Going skiing or merely need a jacket that will keep you warm? If so, you might want to check out the Rubicon Jacket. Patagonia offers a Men’s and Women’s version of the Rubicon. The jacket is currently available in an Arbor Green and Deep Mahogany color. Today, I will be reviewing the Men’s Deep Mahogany color. The outer shell is made of a two-layer 100% polyester ripstop and is treated with a durable water repellent finish. As far as insulation goes, the body is filled with 150-g Thermogreen insulation and 100-g in the sleeves. This insulation allows you to stay warm even when wet.

The very first thing I noticed about the Rubicon was how simplistic it appears from the outside. It is only till you put the jacket on and discover all of its impressive hidden features. For example, you may not notice that there are pockets located on the left and right sides. That’s because Patagonia made the fabric fold over the zippers. I think this is very clever of them to do because it not only looks good, but it helps keep the moisture out. One other feature I really love about the zippers are the rubber grips. These allow for the pockets to be easily accessed even when you have gloves on. The inside of the pockets is made of a soft fleece lining which helps keeps your hands warm, even in the coldest conditions.

While I’m on the subject of pockets, I’ll go over the other pockets on the Rubicon. As can be seen from the photo above, this is what I’d consider the “main pocket.” It is located on the upper left chest and is secured by a single button. This pocket is very deep which allows it hold multiple items. Since it’s a button pocket, I wouldn’t store anything you wouldn’t want getting wet. I’m not saying whatever you place in this pocket will get wet, I’m just saying that this is not a water sealed pocket and there’s no guarantee it will keep your items dry. Personally, I love keeping my protein and energy bars in this pocket because they’re easy to access, and I don’t have to worry about the outside of the packaging getting wet.

For the items you DO care about keeping dry, you will find those pockets on the interior of the jacket. The pocket that can be seen in the picture above is a media pocket and is located on the left side. Not only does it store your device and keep it dry, but there is a small hole in which you can easily feed your earbuds through so you can jam out to your favorite playlist while grinding in the powder.

Below the media pocket, you will find a mesh stash pocket that is enclosed by a zipper.

Moving on to the right interior of the Rubicon, you will find this large mesh slip pocket. There is no zipper which allows you to easily slip in a pair of your favorite goggles or gloves. There is a small elastic band around the top which helps holds them in.

On the inner waste of the Rubicon, there is a snow skirt. It’s made of a spandex type material and is secured around your waist by two buttons located in the front. It has rubber around it so it can get a good grip on the pants you are wearing. I have to say, the snow skirt works very well. When skiing in the Rubicon and after a few wipeouts, not a drop of snow ever got up under the jacket thanks to the snow skirt. That’s not all, when not utilizing the skirt, you can button it away to the inside of the jacket. If you want to take it a step further than that, there is a zipper which allows you to unzip the entire skirt off. The last feature of the snow skirt is the button loop in the back. This will enable you to attach the jacket to any pair of Patagonia snow pants. Only Patagonia pants because they have a unique loop in the back which lines up directly with the one on the Rubicon.

As I said before, there’s more to the Rubicon than you would think. In fact, there are zippers located under the armpits. These allow you to quickly dump heat when you get hot.   Most jackets made by other companies that have this feature only have one zipper for each armpit. Patagonia however, has two zippers for each armpit. So… why is this important? Well, this allows for you to control how much heat you want to let out by zipping a larger or smaller gap. One thing I wish could be improved about the armpit zippers are the pull strings. It would be nice if they had rubber grip pads on the ends just like the other zippers on the jacket. If they were rubber, it would be much easier to zip and unzip them with gloves on.

The hood of the Rubicon is great because it’s helmet compatible. That’s why there’s a drawstring in the back so you can tighten it around your helmet. In my opinion, I think it would be nice if the hood were removable just like the snow skirt. It’s not a huge deal, but I do think it would be a nice feature.

One last feature I’d like to mention on the Rubicon is that it’s Recco compatible. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Recco, Recco is a technology used in many jackets by many different brands. Recco is a small reflector woven into the fabric which makes you searchable in the event of an avalanche. You can think of it as a tracking device. If you happen to get stuck in an avalanche, it gives you a much better chance of being found by a rescue team. The reflector is so small, you can’t even tell it’s there.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, you really can’t go wrong with the Rubicon. It keeps you warm, it’s breathable, and it looks good. If you ask me, this is more of a snowsport jacket because of the snow skirt and helmet compatible hood. Even though it’s more of a snowsport jacket, it can easily be worn as a casual jacket. I went skiing in it for a week and never had a single issue. It kept me warm, kept the snow out, it was very comfortable, and I never broke out in a sweat.

You can purchase the Rubicon Jacket on Patagonia’s website for $299.00