Nike ACG Misery Ridge Storm-Fit ADV GORE-TEX Jacket Review

It may be named after Misery Ridge, but Nike’s new ACG Storm-Fit ADV GORE-TEX jacket is a high-tech bit of body armor from ski-tour paradise. This super-light, sleek GORE-TEX shoulder-wrapper keeps off water and wind with just enough features and not a bit of extra.

Nike Utilizes GORE-TEX Membrane 

While there are a lot of great new waterproof membranes on the market today, there’s still something about GORE-TEX. The strength-to-weight ratio of the membrane is put on impressive display in this Nike ACG Storm-Fit ADV jacket. I wore it during one of the most erratic winters I can remember — a season-long roller coaster between warm windy blizzards and windier negative double-digit weeks. I never got wet. When I was touring on a -9 degree sunny morning in Montana, the jacket alone was enough to keep me warm.

The polyester that forms the lifeblood of the Nike Misery Ridge is also part of Nike’s “Move to Zero” program. This Nike program leads to a 30% reduction of of carbon emission, putting 1 billion plastic bottles to good reuse. So this is a great waterproof, windproof but breathable jacket, yeah? What really cements it as a great touring jacket is the features it chose to include and chose not to include.

ACG Misery Ridge Jacket Features

Okay, let’s start with the bad of this Nike ACG Misery Ridge Storm-Fit GORE-TEX jacket: it is pretty decidedly a touring jacket. With the world chaing to tapless RFID tech, I’ve gotten used to having a pass pocket on my left arm to wave it in front of the magic sensors. The ACG Misery Ridge has no such pocket (though I could put my pass in my left pocket and jump around to get it to beep).

Luckily, the pockets it does have are massive. As in a pair of goggles, or some handwarmers and some snacks and a RFID pass, or your wallet AND your phone if you take risks like that. On top of those are these two net cargo pockets inside, which I found were big enough to hold the my skins when tucked into my jacket due to the subzero temps on one specific yurt trip.

Add in massive pit zips and this Storm-Fit ADV GORE-TEX jacket has its own full temp regulation. And the cinches at the waist and the hood, with push-button loosening, keeps the pow from creeping in.

Oh, and there’s a globe on the left pocket zipper pull. For good measure.

Large Fit

Of course Nike is about the most popular sports brand of all time. And while they’ve long had a presence even in our humble corner of the sport world, this Misery Ridge Storm-Fit ADV GORE-TEX jacket is a sign that Nike’s ACG is here to stay. The jacket is a large and I’ve historically been a large though recently I’ve been wearing medium. But this ACG Jacket fits me perfectly, with a little billow for layering and looseness but not so much that it’s oversized.

Overall Impression

I spent this winter thundering up blustery frigid bootpacks, post-holing through stormy Sierra cement, hot-lapping rimey resort rooftops, and touring into subzero deep backcountry. In the last month (mid-January to mid-February) I’ve experienced every type of precip from -20 dust to 40-degree frozen rain. The Nike ACG Misery Ridge Storm-Fit ADV GORE-TEX Jacket ($500.00) kept me high and dry in all of it. At a hardly-unnoticeable pound and change of weight. Yeah, for a basketball shoe company, Nike has made one of my favorite touring shells of the past few years.

Related Snowboard Jackets We Have Tested

1. Patagonia Stormstride Jacket
2. Jones Shralpinist Jacket
3. Burton [ak] 3L GORE-TEX Jacket