I have a confession to make. Up until January of this year, I didn’t know what a parka was. I thought the word just meant a really warm down or insulated jacket. I didn’t know it actually meant a jacket that extends below your waist. That’s particularly embarrassing for me because I’ve tested hundreds of jackets as a gear columnist at Outside for the past decade.
I finally got wise to the differences and advantages of a parka after Stio let me test their Cotler Infinium Parka ($275) this winter while I was in Jackson Hole where the brand is based. I grabbed the parka from a pile of jackets and threw it on. The extra length seemed like it would help keep me warm in temps that never got above five degrees the entire time I was in town.
I also have to confess that wearing a jacket that came below my butt immediately made me nervous. I felt like a 42-year-old dad trying way too hard to fit in with a younger, more stylish crowd. But my wife, who has great style, assured me it looked good. And as I walked around town and bumped into friends, I started getting…
