Originally Posted by
PaulRivers
My understanding is that all of the most breathable fabrics - that are also waterproof - can be durable against being worn a lot but are not very durable for having things actively rubbed against them (shoulder straps, rough and tumble falls like while downhill skiing, etc).
Why do you need waterproof breathable for winter use? Unless where you live your winter is around or above freezing i don't see the point.
Something water resistant enough against snow i can understand but waterproof?
On paper nanopro membrain from marmot seems slightly more breathable than goretex active. In reality though the difference is so tiny that jacket design will certainly be more important than the fabric
Sunrise Gear: Marmot NanoPro Fabrics vs Gore-Tex Fabrics
Anyway, all that to say that both my wool tops/jackets (smartwool phd hyfi divide, icebreaker blast) are more breathable than my marmot essence jacket (read SP2.1)
Something noticeable is that one of my systems including my essence jacket is more breathable than another one including a thick merino wool jacket (kuhl spy jacket). Why? I believe it's because the lack of wind resistance of the kuhl spy jacket requires to overdress in order to keep warmth which reduce breathability of the system. My other wool tops/jackets that have wind resistant panels prevent that which makes the related systems more breathable.
So i believe that for winter use it's better to go for wool with wind resistant panels than going with waterproof-breathable unless you get lots of wet snow/rain where you live.