Helly Hansen Hayden Jacket Review (Editors Choice)

The Helly Hansen Hayden Jacket is the bomber jacket that you can trust whether you’re flying down the slopes on sticks or shredding some gnar.  We’ve tested plenty of jackets this year and the Helly Hansen Hayden was our favorite, hands down.  This jacket not only performs like a rock star on the slopes, but you also look pretty sharp grabbing a cold one after a long day.  The Hayden comes with a snow skirt to keep powder from flying up your back, wrist gators with thumbholes to keep snow from getting up your sleeve, and a helmet compatible removable hood to keep your head warm and snow from going down your back.  The Hayden looks like a hard shell from afar, but when you put the jacket on, you’ll notice this jacket actually has an outer made from 4 way stretch softshell fabric, giving you great flexibility when you’re playing in the park or pushing the limits down the steep slopes. To keep you warm, the Hayden has the Helly Tech XP with Thinsulate insulate. To give you an idea, we usually wore a long sleeve thin moisture wicking shirt and we stayed plenty warm.  The pockets are a little unconventional in that they open in a horizontal fashion, but this makes it super easy to keeps your hands warm or store some easy to access items such as a sandwich or a cell phone.  Last but definitely not least, the Helly Hansen Hayden comes with the Recco Reflector system that allows you to be found if Recco equipment is available and you are caught in an avalanche.  This does guarantee that you will be found in case the unexpected happens, but it helps.  And to those who say you are resort skiers or snowboarders and avalanches don’t happen there; think again, they do sometimes occur in even the nicest of resorts as well as in the backcountry.  As you might imagine; we highly recommend this jacket to those who like top of the line gear. We promise you won’t be let down.  For more information on the Helly Hansen Hayden, please visit HellyHansen.com