As a teenager, when I was still rather fond of the racing-inspired style, I used to have a Spyder outfit. That suddenly became uncool pretty quickly when, shortly after the turn of the millennium, Twintips, with everything that goes with freeskiing in terms of style, aroused my interest. Almost 20 years later, I'm now skiing around in a Spyder outfit again. After freeskiing went its own way, Spyder jumped on the bandwagon again. About 10 years ago, they supported riders from the freeskiing sector (e.g. C.R. Johnson, Josh Bibby, Colby West) for a while, after which things went quiet for years. Last year, high-quality looking Gore-Tex jackets with a Spyder logo covered with duct tape suddenly appeared, which were designed together with Chris Davenport. This season I was lucky enough to try out one of these jackets with the matching trousers. It was much needed, as my old jacket had already been in use for over 5 seasons and was correspondingly worn out.
First impression
The jacket and trousers are available in several different colours. I opted for the strong red/wine red with the rather neutral, dark grey trousers. Logo placements are relatively discreet, with only small silver diamonds, which are supposed to represent a Spyder logo covered with duct tape, placed on the chest and on the calf. The Sanction Jacket and Turret Pant are both made from 3-layer Gore Tex Pro with DWR impregnation, which is used in some areas of the jacket in a slightly stretchy variation to optimise freedom of movement.
Jacket
The jacket stands out thanks to its bold colours, but is not overpowering. The fit in size XL is, as is typical for freeride outfits, rather larger, but by no means huge. The material is rather thin and crackles quite a bit, all seams are taped. In some places on the chest and back (dark red parts), the Gore-Tex material is stretchy and less stiff and crackling, which should provide more freedom of movement. The jacket has two very large pockets on the outside at waist height, with additional nets and a small smartphone compartment on the inside. There is also a small pocket for lift tickets on the front of the left sleeve. Inside, the jacket has a snow skirt, nets on both sides and a smaller inner pocket. The main zip at the front is lined with material for wind protection. The hood can be adjusted with elasticated straps at the neck and back of the head, the jacket has no extra collar at the back but merges directly into the hood. There are ventilation slits under the arms with windproof two-way zips. The Sanction jacket also has an anti-slip coating on the shoulders to prevent the rucksack from sliding around and wearing the jacket down.
Pants
The Turret Pant is neutral, not particularly noticeable and has a relatively wide cut. The dark grey colour shimmers slightly purple depending on the light and looks a bit like a pair of former black trousers that have faded a little. I like the colour and I also like the cut. The trousers don't have a bib, but an extension made of stretch material above the waistband, which allows the trousers to be worn comfortably on the hips without running the risk of the jacket and trousers no longer overlapping sufficiently. You can also adjust the width of the waistband, but I use a belt to be on the safe side, as the tightest setting isn't quite enough for me. The trouser pockets are relatively roomy and there is an elasticated drawstring with a clip on the right-hand side to secure a key. The trousers have two ventilation zips on the inside at knee height and a pocket on the right thigh. There is black cut protection against ski edges at the bottom of the inside of the trouser legs and gaiters on the inside to prevent snow from getting in.
