Cold Weather Gear: Date, Marry, Kill

running cold

Some hikers are immune to the cold; You know, the ones who wear shorts and a tank top and shout, «Don’t be stupid, walk in the cold!» in freezing weather. I envy them. For a variety of reasons (one of them being Raynaud’s syndrome), I tend to get very, very cold. I take layering seriously, because if I get distracted by how cold I am, the trail quickly becomes overwhelming. (Ironically, I love cold weather.) I left on March 17.^th for last year’s LASH. We were surprised by snow in the late afternoon four days later, and woke up to a very cold frost in the Smokies on April 8th.^th. Here’s a quick list of cold weather clothing I liked, loved, and hated.

DATE:

booties down I bought a cheap pair and wore them every night. Keeping my feet warm while I slept ensured a much better night’s sleep.

REI Rainier Rain Pants I didn’t bring them for the rain; I brought them to use at camp at night and on very cold days. Temperatures drop quickly when you get to camp, but you still have chores: setting up your tent/gear, fetching and filtering water, making dinner, cleaning, etc. Putting on waterproof pants really helped me stay comfortable even when night fell. I also liked that they had full side zippers for easy on and off.

Windproof vest with hood/arm sleeves For the Goldilocks hiker constantly adjusting to the temperature. The vest and sleeves were relics from my days as a mediocre runner, but they were essential to me almost daily. Between the freezing shadow of a ridge and the warm sun on a bald spot, there were rapid changes in temperature throughout the day and I was able to adapt accordingly.

MARRY:

REI Magma 15 degree sleeping bag. When I asked the AT experts on Reddit if my 30 degree bag would be warm enough, they said «NO.» They were right. The degree rating on a bag indicates what temperature you would survive the night at, not what temperature you would be comfortable at. The 15 degree bag had a weight penalty, but the extra heat was worth the weight.

Sea-to Summit Reactor fleece. Even with the 15 degree bag, the first week I was very cold at night. As soon as I got to a town to resupply, I bought a Sea to Summit Reactor fleece. It was like getting a warm hug after a long day of hiking and I LOVED it.

Nemo Tensor UL All Season Sleeping Pad. Yes, when you turn around, it sounds like you’re opening the world’s largest candy wrapper in church, but the R-value of 5.4 means you stay warm while you do it.

Cotopaxi down hooded jacket. I brought a down jacket because I’m cold and there were many, many days that I left it in the first hour of hiking. I wore it every night when I got to camp. With the hood, I didn’t need the hat I brought and sent it home a few weeks later.

KILL:

Gloves. This is where I really went wrong. I brought a pair of thin old running gloves and a pair of dishwashing gloves to put on during the rain. The running gloves weren’t warm enough and it was a disaster the day we woke up to 24 degrees in the Smokies. Within minutes of starting the ride, my Raynaud’s kicked in and my fingertips felt like someone was squeezing a pair of pliers around each of them. It was incredibly painful and frustrating, and it was the only time I burst into tears. I ended up sending a pair of super warm ski gloves to the next one and although I only needed them a few times, they were worth the extra weight.

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