What Defines Your Style On The Mountain?

In past ski and snowboard wear style reviews we've focused on the environmental divide that creates different clothing choices depending on your mountain tribe, for instance, whether you're a piste skier, a freestyle park rider or you prefer ski touring in the backcountry, which all demand different criteria from mountain clothing be it from a performance or styling point of view.

This year, though, we have taken a new look at who wears what on the mountain. Check out how your birth year affects what you wear to ski or snowboard:

BOOMERS (1946-1964)

Carving up the pistes, climbing up couloirs and shredding the powder bowls, the over 60s ain't over the hill, they're on the hill in prolific and very active numbers.

Boomers started skiing way back in the day. Some switched to snowboarding when it became the thing in the 90s, before boomer-anging back to skiing again as doing drag lifts became, well, a drag. Then the mountains' backcountry started calling creating a freeride stampede among the then middle-aged, action-seeking Boomers, with the likes of the legendary extreme skier, Doug Coombs (born 1957) leading the charge.

So although ski brand marketing execs might have lithe-limbed 30-something freeriders in mind when they promote their latest pukka performance clothing, it'll be the knee-creaking old skeezers, the Boomer skiers and snowboarders, who'll be buying it for their off-grid adventures including month long ski trips (got to love retirement).

Skiing or snowboarding for at least 30 years, Boomers own a garage that is just for their 'toys' including ski gear, while later generations can't even afford a garage. But boomers don't always buy new. Indeed, you can spot them in an old Paramo jacket or even a Nevica one-piece, not at all worn ironically. Or even to save money. Boomers are just very loyal to their favourite gear.

However, Boomers do have mega bucks from their cashed-in retirement plans so they'll also be the ones in the North Face Summit Mountain Pro jacket, with an eyewatering price tag of around $1000 because, hey, it was pretty darned cold on that Antarctic ski cruise, last year.

As the most prolific of ski adventurers, dangling from ropes, ice axes in hand, Boomers would be the biggest influencers on the mountain, if they could be bothered with - and figure out - posting Instagram reels and TikTok videos.

But we can credit Boomers as influencers when, as urban professionals in their former working lives, they pioneered wearing mountain wear in the city, shunning umbrellas and trenchcoats to wear their hooded Arc'teryx Gore-Tex ski jackets.

Now they wear them for walking the labradoodle when not stormriding in La Grave. 

BRANDS: Patagonia, Noronna, Arc'teryx, SCOTT, Rab, North Face (Summit Series).

GEN XTREME (1965-1980)

For Gen X it's all about going that extra extreme mile; in the mountains more like that extra 1000m. These Gen Xs - or Gen Xtremers - grew up watching the classic ski videos, Blizzard Of AAHHHS (1988), License to Thrill (1989), P-Tex Lies & Duct Tape (1994) with the likes of Glen Plake and Scott Schmidt as their crazy deep-snow-shredding heroes.

Having learnt to ski, hucking couloirs and pillows, many Gen Xtremers turned sideways and snowboarded, before returning to forward sliding for more recent adventures ripping in the backcountry.

Gen Xtremers are in sync with the rapid growth of freeride skiing/snowboarding, which became competitive sports during their lifetimes. The Freeride World Tour was founded in 1996 as the Verbier Extreme, and was a snowboard only contest until 2004. The first event series under the Freeride World Tour name took place in 2008. 

But the thing about Gen XTremers is that while the majority do not actually take part in competitions, they are unflinchingly competitive, even if it's only with themselves. A Gen Xtreme skier always has to go one better than their last extreme adventure even if it's only on their Strava stats.

Yep, they have to go higher, further, deeper, which by the way are all titles of videos made by legendary backcountry snowboarder, Jeremy Jones (image above), who is as you might have guessed, a Gen Xtremer to his (hard)core, born 1975.

Gen XTremers are witnesses to the tech revolution so, no wonder, they embrace ski and snowboard wear that is both super functional and, also, uber technical. Any clothing that's been tested in minus 30C storm conditions on remote mountain summits and tech accessories that are green-lit by NASA get the Gen XTreme tick of approval.

BRANDS: Mammut, Dynafit, Black Diamond, Jottnar, Elevenate, Patagonia, Blackyak, Stellar.

CHILLENNIALS (1981-1996)

They're the last of the seasonaires from the blast frontier, working in ski resorts. They graduated from the University of the Mountains, with top grades in people as well as skiing skills and crisis management (those blizzard transfer days) plus getting a distinction in doing shots and staying upright - while standing on the table.  The next generation, the Zoomers, however had neither the money for gap years nor the heads for alcohol.

Plus there's the fact that Brexit spoiled working in Europe and all the fun for the apres-loving Brit chalet girls and guys. 

Chillennials are the Millennials who are in their element on the snow. They've skied since they could walk, their Boomer parents embracing the family ski holiday back in the good old days when one week in a ski resort didn't cost the same as a deposit on a small house.

They took to snowboarding with Chillennial heroes such as Shaun White (born 1986) to stoke their half-pipe dreams and, too cool for ski school, they threw themselves into the air off rails and ramps, following the icy determination of the Chillennial Fridge Kids including Billy Morgan (born 1989, image above), learning Olympic level slopestyle tricks in snowdomes.

They then started hucking pillows off piste following in the tracks of one of the most chilled of the Chillennial skiers, Candide Thovex (born 1982).

With the inaugural Winter X Games taking place at Snow Summit ski resort in Big Bear Lake, California in 1997 followed by slopestyle becoming an Olympic event in both skiing and snowboarding forms at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Chillennials soon made terrain parks their playgrounds in a new freestyle era.

And, whether skiers or snowboarders, it's that freestyle style that gives Chillennials an easy and steezy way of dressing, pioneered by super cool Swedish freestyle skier Henrik Haulaut (born 1991) who nearly lost his 4XL baggy pants, consequently along with a podium place, in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.

So you can always spot a Chillennial by their chilled style on the mountain. They'll be wearing a beanie, even under their helmet and essentially for dancing on the tables at Folie in Val, they'll have goggles also permanently on their head (in sun, snow, bar, whatever) and their slouchy ski pants turned up at the ankle when walking around resort. 

BRANDS: Dope, Picture, Armada, Montec, RevolutionRace, Oakley, 686. Volcom, Planks, DC, Burton, Harlaut Apparel.

ZOOMERS (1997-2012)

How does the generation who travels everywhere in hip-slung loungy pants and sneakers cope with wearing layers of skiwear and robot ski boots - and, more to the point, how do hot house kids used to spending hours cocooned on their mobiles in the virtual land of TikTok deal with the idea of actually throwing themselves down a mountain skiing or snowboarding IRL?

According to a recent report from Snowsports Industries America, one in five Gen Zs  - or Zoomers - will never ski. The barriers that many cite are that it's too expensive, there's too little time, the sport is too hard to learn, it's too cold and, meh, too dangerous, earning them the alternative generation title of Snowflakes. Ironically.

Gen Zee-ers were born to parents without the disposable income of the early Boomers, to take them skiing - it was far cheaper to take the kids on a summer holiday in Thailand than to shell out for equipment hire, lessons and lunches on the mountain let alone flights and accommodation. 

Significantly Zoomers have never been able to go skiing during term time unless on a (costly) school trip, their parents facing fines for doing so. So why not ask the Boomers to help with the skiing expenses and childcare of their little grandkid Zoomies? Well, you're lucky if they have the spare cash after doing two weeks skiing in Japan let alone the time to take off from ski touring all day to collect the Zoomies from ski school.

It's because of the ever rising costs of ski holidays that the Zoomers who are on the groomers are likely to be the offspring of more affluent parents and fans of the more upmarket skiwear brands with layers that vibe with their urban style.

For instance, this winter's chunky ski sweaters and skinny ski pants are a hot Gen Z look from designer brands such as Goldbergh (as worn by Emily in Paris, above), plus the ultimate slouchy cashmere joggers from My Sunday Ski are perfect for apres - that's apres #skitok in the chalet not downing pints and dancing on the tables. OK so how about a Jaggerbomb? Gross!

But there's always H&M for less expensive, more urban 'skiwear' that will appeal to the Zoomer market. And we use inverted commas for the benefit of the traditonal mountain brands who could be cynical but, yeah we know, it's at the risk of a Gen Z eyeroll.

But let's tune into a Zoomer's thoughts about skiwear. This is a quote from a Gen Z fashion writer for U.S. Elle magazine talking about a base layer, which sums up what's really important for her generation - and, hint, it has nothing to do with the technical performance of her (inverted commas) skiwear:

'My world was rocked when I found this base layer. It has a hood that goes all the way around (like a ski mask) to keep your face warm. But the kicker is that it has a hole in the back for a ponytail. Innovation!'

Or you could, like, just catch Barbie on TikTok to, like, check out 'your slope persona'.

Surprisingly, according to research, Zoomers are less likely to be eco-flag waving, leaving it to the Boomer conscience (it's all their polluting fault) and organisations such as Protect Our Winters to worry about the planet. A hole for a ponytail is more of a kicker than a hole in the ozone layer.

But Gen Z do want us all to step up acknowledging diversity. So that's lit that Armada ski and snowboard wear is now available on their website under the very woke categories of Men, Women and Genderless, though perhaps the latter is just a contemporary way of saying unisex. 

BRANDS: Roxy (above left), Goldbergh, Sweaty Betty, My Sunday Ski, Armada, Alps & Meters, Napapijri, Ugg.

STYLE ALTITUDE has no affiliate arrangement with any brand or retailer and will not profit from any sales made through links in this feature