Ski Wear by Norrona

The company's roots date way back to 1929, when the company was established in Norway, producing travel and outdoor equipment such as tents, backpacks, sleeping bags and climbing gear. The company was formed by Jorgen Jorgensen and, somewhat amazingly to us, is still run by later generations of his family.

Norrona eventually branched out into outdoor clothing and now pride themselves on the technical functionality of their gear, investing a lot of time and money over the years in finding the best materials for the extremes of the winter weather - indeed they were the first European company to use Gore-Tex back in 1977.

You can almost tell that Norrona is a Scandanvian company from the style of it's clothing - brightly coloured (extremely brightly coloured in some cases !), well-fitted apparel that will definitely stand out against the backdrop of the long, dark days of the Norwegian winter.

One of Norrona's signature features is the contrasting bright coloured zips that appear on most of the gear. It says a lot about them as a brand that such an old company has managed to re-invent itself with such a modern image.

As with so many of the Scandanavian outdoor clothing brands, the performance of Norrona clothing is excellent. The primary objective of Norrona has always been for it's gear to be wearable in it's homeland of Norway, so if it's been good enough to withstand a bashing during their winters it's definitely going to be good stuff.

You're looking at £400 for one of Norrona's top-end Narvik or Lofoten Gore-Tex jackets. And then just down below £300 for some of it's lighter-weight jackets. So it's not cheap, but if you've got the cash then we doubt if you'll be disappointed.

Norrona clothing is available at the following Ski and Snow-sports Shops:

• Altimus

• Ellis Brigham

• Official Norrona Website: www.norrona.com

• Latest Norrona Gear: Latest Norrona Ski Clothing Collection

• If you like Norrona then check out: Ski Wear Brands of Norway