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The Vir-Tek 3L Shell jacket is Virtika's lightest jacket. Designed to either be worn with lots of warm base layers for the cold days or by itself on the warm days. It is simply a highly breathable, highly water-resistant shell that you can decide exactly how warm, or not warm you want to be.
It is made of a durable, 3 layer material that seems to be quite similar to Gore-tex, without the ultra-high price. I was highly impressed with both the breath-ability and waterproofing of the material. On a particularly damp day, I was able to see the steam evaporating from my body through every part of the jacket.
I have worn this coat in a fairly wide variety of conditions, from -5 F and clear with howling winds to 40 F and raining with everything in-between. On the blisteringly cold days (-5F), I found myself sweating with 4 thermal base layers, forcing me to open the massive pit vents before eventually stripping base layers until I hit the right balance. With the proper layering, you could really bring this jacket out in some seriously cold conditions without worry. It is tottally windproof as well. I wore it in freezing rain for 4+ hours without ever getting wet, and it lasted about 2 hours in a light rain before I started to get damp and uncomfortable. It dried incredibly quickly after getting wet as well.
As far as the cut of the sizing, I am a fan. I am 5'10" 165 lbs and the Large I have fits me exactly how I want it to. It is fairly tall and baggy, leaving me with plenty of room to layer underneath. The long tail keeps your butt from getting wet on chair rides up. It fits right at the terrain park as well with its clean styling and baggy looks. The exterior pockets down on the hips fit a couple of beer cans each perfectly, and have both zippers and magnets. I found the chest pocket a little to small to use for anything useful, and my phablet definitely wont fit in it. You might be able to get an iPhone in there though. The only inside pockets you get are two very large mesh pockets that work great for stuffing mittens or goggles in, but I would be nervous carrying anything of value in them. It would be easy for valuables to bounce out during a fall.
Other things the jacket features is a slightly over sized hood, adjustable wrist cuffs, cinches around the waist and hood, and a removable snow skirt.
I do have a few issues with the jacket. The arms are too long for me personally, and although this can be fixed with the adjustable cuffs I find it hard to believe anyone in a Large would need that much arm length. There are a few loose threads from the production process that I needed to trim off as well. My biggest complaint however comes from the hood. It is just barely big enough to fit over a helmet, but when it is up if you try to turn your head the hood slips off your head. I also find that even when the hood is buttoned down, I have some issues riding switch with it getting in the way. It seems odd for a jacket to include a removable snow skirt but not a removable hood. I would love to be able to toss the hood in the closet and never see it again.
Should you buy Virika's Vir-Tek 3L Shell jacket? That is a question that depends heavily on what you are looking to do. If you want one jacket that you can layer to any conditions under then the answer is most definitely yes. If you would rather only need to wear a t-shirt under your jacket most days because you cant be bothered with extra layers, than you will need to look at other options however. I found it to be an extremely nice jacket that I now wear every day I ski. I know that I will be wearing it straight through to the end of the season, since it is so versatile if you have the layers to go with it.
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