There's a lot of different weather conditions we can encounter out there in the winter,
and we wanna be prepared for all of them.
There's a layering system because we're limited in the backcountry
with what we can bring, you know we can't bring an entire closet full of clothes.
we want to have layers that serve multiple purposes
that we can either use individually or
in conjunction with other layers to fit weather conditions from
hot and sunny to a windy cold snowstorm.
Your base layers typically a mid to light weight
wool or polypropylene long sleeve shirt,
a mid to expedition weight fleece or wool
shirt that adds an additional layer of warmth. Beyond those,
a windshirt thats very lightweight, it just provides great wind protection.
An additional insulating layer is a lightweight puffy jacket.
it can be thinner, it can be synthetic, it could be down, it could even be a fleece jacket
it's not so heavy that I can't wear it while I'm moving.
My ultimate puffy layer is a big
synthetic fill insulated jacket or
down parka with a hood. It's big so it can fit over
all of your layers and that is what I put on to
really stay warm while I'm hanging out at camp. One other layer for the top
is a shell jacket of some sort, so it's uninsulated.
The soft shell is not 100% waterproof
it's more breathable than a hard shell
or Goretex jacket and I find that the soft shell is very functional
in the winter when we're dealing with temperatures below freezing
and we're not getting rained on.
On our hands me recommender our students to bring two liner gloves,
two warmer gloves or mittens either fleece or wool.
a big insulating mitt and then a shell
mitten to go over the top of that. Liner gloves are because you always want
something on your hands, the warmer gloves start to add some insulating layers
because the liners aren't very warm, and then the shell mitts
provide some water proofing for a variety of activities.
I typically bring two warm hats; one is a light weight hat
that I can wear while I'm exercising and those hats can be made of pretty much anything
as long as they're not made of cotton and then on a really cold day
I have a fleece neck gaiter, the ultimate compliment is having
hoods in your various upper body layers.
I start out with a very similar base layer to the top, lightweight
to mid weight made out a either wool or a synthetic material.
If you're a colder person you probably want to bring an extra
insulating layer like an expedition weight fleece tight.
I have softshell pants and similar to the top players
you can get hard shell which is like a Goretex or the soft shell which is
more breathable and less waterproof
and I find that the soft shell works really well in the winter environment
because we have freezing temperatures.
Your top layer on the bottom you have a big set of puffy pants and they want to be big enough to
fit over all of your other bottom layers.
Cotton is the one material that we do not want to bring into the backcountry.
When cotton gets wet it takes a while to dry and if you're having
a wet layer of fabric against your skin that's going to
pull heat away from your body. Both wool and
synthetic materials are great materials in the field.
Wool is a natural fiber, I think it feels more comfortable against my skin.
It has natural antibacterial properties so it doesn't get as smelly.
Cons of wool I would say, is that it tends to be a little bit heavier,
it's not as durable and the wool also tends to be a little more expensive.
Polypropylene is a great synthetic insulating material.
It tends to be pretty light weight, it's very durable
and it tends to be less expensive than
a natural fiber such as down or wool.
I'd say the cons to polypropylene are that they tend to get
smelly pretty quickly and they hold on to body odor. Down is a great
insulating layer, it can be really good in a puffy jacket.
One on the cons of down is that when it gets wet
it no longer insulates you. So a lot of times we encourage students to
use synthetic fill materials that
are a bit heavier but just as warm, but they do have that benefit
if they get wet you're still going to stay warm.
Polypro or your wool base layer tries to move the moisture away from your skin
so that it can evaporate and not make you cold.
The first way to dry things out is with your own body heat.
Wearing a wet article of clothing
is your best way to dry it out. Obviously
if you're struggling to keep warm yourself prioritize being warm
and dry that wet layer out later. We have the majority of
the layers that we just talked about for rent. You can come to your NOLS
course with not a single layer
and be fully outfitted to head out into the mountains.