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Posted by Tom D on February 10, 2008 at 2:12:07 pm EST
In reply to Layering 102 I thought I knew what was going on... posted by turneej on February 8, 2008 at 8:33:01 pm EST

There are plenty of posts on layering here and it is a regular topic on other hiking websites. I bet if you do a Yahoo or Google search, you will many articles on it.

I think of layering as a three part system-a base layer (underwear); an insulating layer; and a shell-waterproof or water resistant and windproof. There are hard shells, soft shells, synthetic and natural fibers-fleece (synthetic), down and wool and the various breatheable fabrics such as Gore-tex, plus the non-breatheable ones. Companies like Patagonia have their own proprietary fabrics like Capilene or some waterproof breatheable fabric.

Sorting all this out is confusing and tedious.

How you use various products for layering will depend on the weather. I have a limited selection personally,but some people have big collections for different conditions,

I used to live in northern Ohio, so I know what the weather is like there. Miserable in winter-damp and wet. Some places, once it gets cold, get only snow, not rain, but unless things have changed, Ohio gets rain and snow, so that is more of a challenge.

Look up wool on Wikipedia and you will see a pretty good article on how it works,

My layers are synthetic Jockey briefs (yes, even those should not be cotton);Patagonia Capilene base layer-long sleeve top and bottoms; a light fleece jacket; REI Elements rain jacket and Marmot Precip rain pants.

I can wear this combo in moderately cold weather and rain and be fine and I am someone who gets cold easily. I have also worn this combo while skiing or snowshoeing where I am generating a lot of heat. Also-get a wool or synthetic beanie or watch cap of some type-I have an old wool one, plus a Turtlefur brand, which is my favorite. For colder weather, I have balaclava/mask combo. I often wear gloves, even in moderately cold weather. I have a pair of light OR gloves, plus ski gloves and a pair of mitts.

When it gets cold (by my standards, not Canadian cold), I wear a down jacket and synthetic insulated pants for sitting around or at night. I also have a pair of fleece pants I picked up years ago. They are great hut pants.

I have wool socks and a wool pullover, but those are the old style wool and are itchy. I have a couple of wool sweaters, but don't really use them for hiking, although they would be fine, if a bit heavy.

As already said, cotton is not for winter or damp and cold weather. The problem is once it gets wet, it loses any insulating properties it had and because it is wet, it conducts heat away from your body much faster than when dry. You can experiment by wetting out your jeans and see how warm you are even in mild temps. Save your cotton stuff for warm weather where you want to be cooling off your body. Think about how heavy jeans and t-shirts are when you pull them out of the washer. In contrast, my fleece pants and jacket are almost dry when I pull them out. Big difference.

Wet wool or fleece will keep you warm because they dry fairly quickly and don't absorb a lot of water. Wool absorbs more water than a synthetic, but it dries faster than cotton,and in contrast to cotton, stays warm, even if wet.

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• Re: Layering 102 I thought I knew what was going on... - dm1333 15:46:45 02/10/2008

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