This is a pretty good video on the basics of cold weather layering presented by the staff at the Boy Scouts of America’s Northern Tier National High Adventure Base in Ely, Minnesota.
It definitely makes a great starting point for discussion. Would anyone like to add their experiences or products they like to use in cold weather?
Tags: BSA
Super Rad !
For work… DULUTH
AMEN! Duluth makes some of the best work cold weather gear around!
Love this!!
That was great.
A good video. Proper moisture management cannot be over-emphasized for proper cold weather protection. In PCU, we introduced the concept of movement and static components (e.g hard shell vs. soft shell) to better manage moisture. Due to the different levels of heat and moisture internally generated during these conditions, each component was optimized to facilitate moisture management under those specific conditions. I think it was Mark Twight who developed this concept.
Where is his toque?
For what it’s worth…
Living in Colorado, with a lot of time in the high country (skiing usually) at very low temps, this video is pretty spot on. Below 0 I go with a good shell (bonfire – similar metrics to arc’teryx), a heavy fleece (nf Denali), a light layer (Patagonia capilene 2 or 3) and silk weight poleretch underwear (my bro in the army gave this to me and I swear by them). Silk weight on legs and a shell is all I need with gators. When a little warmer, swap out the Denali for the best all around piece of kit I own, a ten yo marmot dri clime flex mid layer. In drier climates (eg Colorado) I have found that great fleeces go a long way, but you can’t let the sun fool you because neg ten in the sun is neg ten on your skin! key in this weather is minimize skin exposure, so good balaclava is the way to go and a thin marmot climbing glove under heavy marmot ultimates. This setup is for skiing, so a lot of activity and sweat but never too far away from some type of civilization.