Cold weather clothing

imported
#1

I am starting the AT on Mar 7 09 and wondering about layers and camp clothing for cold weather. I have a hot chillys thermal (9.7 oz), EMS techwick long sleeve quarter zip shirt (11.4 oz), EMS paclite gortex jacket (13.4 oz), EMS system 3 rainpants (11.4 oz), and synthetic long underware bottoms (11.5 oz)

I guess I have two concerns/questions:

  1. Do I have enough to stay warm or do I need to add another top item (ie down vest or windstopper fleec)

  2. Which of these items do I need to keep in a dry bag and not use for hiking so that I will have some dry items to keep me warm in camp and at night?

Will rain pants without long underware keep me warm enough in high winds/cold rain (or snow) while hiking?

Should I bag the Techwick shirt in favor of a fleece or fleece vest?

Sorry to ramble so much but at 51 I want to be able to keep warm enough in the eary going in March and early April.

birdman

#2

Read a review of the techwick and it said it wicks better than comparable fabrics, but it snags too easily for hiking. I have no personal experience. Just passing it on. You might wabt to check it out.

Steady On

#3

On cool days in a spring-time thru, I hike in a long-sleeve thermal shirt and shorts. On cold days, I add rain pants and a light, breathable rain jacket. I have never found the need despite snow, rain, and sub-20 temps, to hike in thermal bottoms or an insulated jacket, and suspect I would sweat them out very quickly if I did (and I am cold-natured).

My suggestion to you would be to have one long-sleeve thermal top for hiking (plus short sleeves for those warm days), one dry long-sleeve top for camp, one set of thermal bottoms for camp, and a vest or fleece top for camp. (if you haven’t bought the latter item yet, opt for down - lighter and less bulky than fleece.)

Good luck.

Matt

#4

I know everyone’s obsessed with weight but another factor in successfully completing a thru hike is being safe and comfortable. I would err on the side of caution when it comes to being wet and cold. Carry a little extra until it warms up and get rid of it if your not using it.

Carrying an extra pound of clothing may slow you down a little but if you are miserable and cold and barely able to sleep at night that is going to slow you down too. Do that enough nights in a row and your more likely to leave the trail.

I would definitely add a fleece/top item and hopefully you have a nice warm hat for sleeping. I might even add another top. If (or should I say when) your clothes get wet, it will be nice to have an extra dry item.

Like others, I often start the mornings with a rain jacket/pants and quickly shed these as I warm up. It is probably inevitable that you will enjoy that lovely experience of putting on cold , wet clothes in the morning but try to avoid it as long as possible.
:cheers

jalan jalan

#5

I wouldn’t be too concerned with staying warm while hiking even when it’s raining or snowing. Hiking has a way of generating thermal heatrise. I left Springer March 1st 08. We had a lot of cold days in the teens and 20’s the first two weeks, and intermittedly after that into early April. What I found worked best for me was light pants with a water/wind proof shell. Any of a number of brands are good. I purchased my from Cabelas. As for the top, whatever you wear, you need to be able to open the front for ventilation. Those pull over thermal tops really hold body heat which makes you sweat a lot, which, makes you get really cold when you stop. Once you body temp drops it’s hard to get it back up. So dress lightly for walking.

In my opinion, a greater concern is staying warm at night. I don’t know about you, but I cannot sleep when I’m cold, and if I can’t sleep, I can’t hike. I started with a 0 degree Northface, synthetic insulation bag. I kept a pair of very light thermals and some medium weight poyester socks inside my bag during the day. The bag was carefully protected against any water. Each night I would pull my “sleepwear” out of my sleeping bag, put it on before retiring for the night. Never once was I cold even when everything froze solid while I was tenting at the cheese factory site. This set up also kept me from needing a sleeping bag liner, which adds weight to your pack. Every few days, when it was laundry time, I washed/dried my sleepwear.

While on the subject of sleeping bags, I changed to my 25 degree bag in early April near the TN/VA line and got cold a few nights. In June, I changed to a 50 degree fleece bag which worked well until Hanover, NH where I changed back to my 25 degree bag.

Good luck!!!

Kanati

#6

I hike with a pack about 25 pounds in the winter but I am wondering what type of shoe to hike the AT in when I start in mid march. I live in Charlotte NC and know the mountains can have some pretty sloppy weather. I am not interested in wearing heavy boots.

Richard Robinson

#7

I would highly suggest reading reading reading forums here, whiteblaze, and backpackinglight.com. I would highly recommend cheap subscription to backpackinglight.com online as it allows access to many articles testing various clothing layers, tarps,tents,etc. They talk lots about water resistance & breathability of various material vs. waterproof & sweat to death. Lots of info there to help you decide.

Don’t underestimate the benefit of carrying lighter clothing that is equally or more effective. (And not much more expensive, just different than around town “hiking” and outdoors clothing where weight doesn’t matter.) For example synthetic insulated clothing (looks and acts like down) vs. fleece.

The best advice is to get out and trial your layering options with full pack for several days. Camp in you back yard. Hope for crappy rainy chilly weather and head out for a weekend anyway. Ideally with an easy bailout option. Or carry extra clothes just in case but try to use just what you think will work to see if it works for you. This helped educate me in what I liked and what worked for me while lightening my load considerably.

Good Luck

FedEx