This year I was having a hard time figuring out what I wanted to get my wife for our anniversary.  One thing that came to mind was a new set of base layers.  That is always a safe bet around our house.  Well after looking over Backcountry.com for a bit I came across something that I have been debating on getting for myself for quite some time.  Not wanting to pull the classic anniversary bowling ball gift scenario, I decided that it was best to get us both a one, in matching smurf blue.

What you might ask.  Well it is the AirBlaster Ninja Suit, and it is by far one of the best purchases I have made in a long time. Even though I  hate to report that the wife returned hers.  (I will talk about why in just a bit.)

As for mine, well again this thing rocks and here are a few points why.

1. One-piece means, one less waist band, and one less shirt coming un-tucked, and one less thing around my neck. With the integrated hood it is solid coverage from head to ankle.  This has been a much bigger advantage than I expected and why I am placing it at the top of the list.
2. Integrated hood, with a high front zipper.  This has basically gotten rid of the need of a balaclava.  Now for someone that likes to have something over there mouth and nose on cold days, this just won’t cover it.  As for me, I like to cover right to the bottom of my chin and stop there.  This is exactly were the Ninja Suits hood comes to and works well for me.  With a little modding it would not be hard to add a small fleece face mask that integrates into the hood.
3. Long arms with great thumb holes in the cuffs.  I have heard some people call them monkey paws, but what ever you call them these work, and work well.
4. Small and simple, around the waist, waist disposal zipper.  Yep that is how I am saying it.  Instead of a flap in the back like your grandpa used to have, the whole thing practically zips into two parts.  This was a plus for my but a minus for my wife and the reason why she returned hers.  The zipper just wasn’t quite in the right place and made the process much more complicated.

Now I have the synthetic version, but Airblaster does make a version out of merino wool.  One day this will get added to my  bag of goods.  They also make a cheaper version that I hope to get my hands on at the up coming SIA show.   I will let you know what I think.    As far as the price goes, you just have to remind yourself you are getting a top, and bottom together.

With all that said I highly recomed giving the Ninja Suit a try.    Check out Airblaster at http://www.myairblaster.com/