In the PNW, particularly here in BC, Gore-TEX was an absolute game-changer for hikers. Throw on a tank top or tee-shirt, then your Gore-TEX jacket, and you could climb basically any local mountain between March and October, rain or shine. Every local hike went from being a moist, uncomfortable affair to being a joy regardless of the weather.
I had the same experience, except in the Sierra Nevada which doesn’t have conditions as extreme as yours. I had one of the original Gore-TEX ski jacket shells from The North Face, but got rid of it after a few months because it was too warm. It was insanely expensive when it came out.
What about rain shedding off your jacket onto your pants? This has totally been an issue for me and in inclement weather I wear (non breathable) rain pants (apparently the right word is bibs).
Then again you only say to put on a t-shirt and a jacket, no mention of pants -- I guess that's one way to solve the problem.
You can wear waterproof breathable pants, shorts, or pants that get wet but stay comfortable. Unless you’re biking or doing a similar activity or it’s raining very hard, you probably don’t get that much water shedding onto your pants.
