Hailing from Hood River Oregon, Trew designs durable outerwear that blurs the boundary between park and backcountry. They make unique, stylish gear while maintaining extremely high standards of quality and durability.

This past season in Las Leñas, Argentina, the ’12-’13 Cosmic jacket and Eagle pants were my every day outerwear. After about 75 days of hard use, I can attest that this jacket and pants perform well and can take a beating; whether you are riding chairs or climbing mountains.

 

Cosmic, Eagle, Spires. Zach Paley photo.
Cosmic, Eagle, Spires. Zach Paley photo.

 

The Cosmic Jacket

TREW: Engineered for high-performance, fast-moving backcountry freeride laps, the Cosmic is the lightest of all our jackets, with a technical, hip-length fit and slightly trimmer cut that still preserves full range of motion.

The Eagle Pant

TREW: The Eagle Pant strikes the perfect balance between durability, comfort, and lightweight performance.  The fit is pure freeride, with a nice range of mobility for boot-packing couloirs and tucking your knees off pillows. 

 

Cosmic and Eagle in action. Zach Paley photo.
Cosmic and Eagle in action. Zach Paley photo.

 

Style and Fit

Trew claims to fill “the space between the technical mountaineering-focused outerwear companies and the progressive and stylish outerwear brands,” and this is evident in the style of their gear. They manage to combine the best aspects of the park / freestyle and backcountry / mountaineering worlds into one, unified style. On top of this, they use some really cool color combinations and patterns to create something uniquely their own.

The fit also reflects this mesh of backcountry and freestyle. While definitely baggier and looser than brands like Arc’Teryx, the fit does not go so far as a brand like Saga. The fit allows for full range of movement while climbing and touring, without having to dress like a French Rando Racer. At 5’10” 145 lbs, a Medium was a perfect fit for me in both the Cosmic Jacket and Eagle Pants.

 

Waterproof

Both the Cosmic Jacket and Eagle Pant use a Gelanots membrane rated at 20,000mm waterproofing. In my experience this season in Las Leñas, this fabric appeared to be completely waterproof. Sadly, we did not have a huge snow year, so I didn’t get a lot of storm days to really test it out. I can say that we received couple days of wetter, heavier snow and couple days of rain, and I stayed 100% dry. In a few months, I’ll be putting the waterproofing through its proper paces in the coastal dumpage that are winters in Japan.

 

Cosmic and Eagle climbing. Zach Paley photo.
Cosmic and Eagle climbing. Zach Paley photo.

 

Breathable

Again, both the Cosmic and Eagle use a Gelanots membrane rated at 20,000mm breathability. The Eagle pants feature 10-inch zip vents located on the upper inner thigh, and the Cosmic jacket has 16-inch zip vents on the armpits. I found that the breathability and venting was perfect for slackcountry and shorter backcountry hikes, but was not quite enough to leave the jacket on for longer tours on warmer days. I would typically leave the jacket on for hikes in the 30 minute to an hour range, but it would usually be in the backpack for full days of touring.

Now, I do not necessarily see having less breathability as a bad thing. For increased breathability, you usually need to sacrifice warmth and wind proofing. So, more breathable outerwear would not be suitable for cold chairlifts and windy ridges. I merely want to point out that the breathability of the Cosmic and Eagle are most appropriate for people who like to use both chairs and hiking to get their turns, opposed to those who are hiking 100% of the time.

 

Durable

I see durability as the #1 strength of both the Cosmic and the Eagle.  The Gelanots membrane is easily the most durable breathable fabric I’ve used. My past few jackets have been the Rab Stretch Neo, Stoic eVent Stash, Flylow Lab, and Arcteryx Sidewinder SV. None of them fall into the same realm of durability as the Cosmic or the Eagle. Normally, after one season of use, my outerwear is beyond trashed. But after 75 days, this fabric still looks like it’s new. The only issue I’ve had is with a minor seam pulling out (inside one of the pant pockets). If you are the type of skier who is hard on gear, I highly recommend checking out Trew.

 

Zach Paley photo.
Zach Paley photo.

 

Features

Although the Cosmic and Eagle are fairly minimalist, they do have a couple of unique features that are worth noting.

The Cosmic jacket has a system of buttons around the bottom of the powder skirt that attach to loops on the belt area of the Eagle pant that prevent snow from getting in during crashes or on deep powder days. If you don’t like wearing bibs or fart bags, this is a really alternative for keeping snow out of your jacket and pants.

Generally, I think the pocket placement is well thought out on both the jacket and pants. The chest pockets can be accessed from inside or outside the jacket, and are placed so that the whole pocket space falls in between the chest strap and waist strap of a backpack. I hate having to take things out of my chest pockets in order to clip my backpack waist strap. The pants have large cargo pockets which can be really handy for stuffing gloves / goggles / hats in while you are on a chair or transitioning from a hike.

 

Conclusion

The Cosmic jacket and Eagle pants are perfect for a skier who rides chairs most of the time, but still finds themselves hiking some every day. The waterproofing and wind proofing will keep you warm on cold chairs and windy ridges. This jacket and pants are some of the most durable out there – so if you are hard on gear and are looking for something that will last for multiple seasons, check out the Cosmic and the Eagle.

 

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