Pitzips on a shell garment are meant to aid in diffusing heat and allowing cooler air to reach the torso, now, HOW can these act to assist with RETAINING body heat, one wonders?
Well, guess what, they DON'T as those of us who actually have some wilderness experience know very well. When was the last time anyone saw an Arctic parka with pitzips OR a commercial fisherman using them in his raingear?
My latest shell doesn't have them, thank gawd and it stays DRY as a bone in a driving BC coastal rainstorm, where my older Gore-Tex parkas with pitzips would allow such rain to get inside through them and make me wet. Fortunately, wearing merino wool kept me relatively warm, something quite crucial where cold and wet are a regular part of life.
As to amounts of rain, the BC coast has the highest average in North America, only a small area in SE Alaska is equal and I have found pitzips to be largely a waste of weight plus they interfere with pack straps.
For wet, cold, give me an eVent shell, for dry windly cold, I prefer a Ventile parka, although they are now very hard to find.
