[pct-l] cold weather gear

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Jan 12, 2009, at 6:13 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> I've never needed my
> synthetic insulating layers while hiking, though I get cold quickly  
> when i
> stop.

My experience is similar. I get cold easily, too. I never wore down  
(Patagonia down sweater) while hiking and only occasionally wore my  
Marmot-driclime (the one with the soft lining). Once in a while I  
wore gloves while hiking in the morning. The added layers came off  
pretty quickly. Even down to the 40s I was comfortable hiking with  
just my tank top and button-up nylon shirt.

Since I hiked much more distance than on normal backpack trips (12  
hours each day) there was no sitting around in camp getting cold. The  
only night I really struggled to stay warm I had stopped hiking at 3  
and sat around long enough to get cold. Any night when I was cold in  
my bag, I put on my down jacket and fell back to sleep.

At Kennedy Meadows all my buddies received puffy down jackets in  
their mail drops and I was jealous and nervous I would freeze in the  
Sierra. I need not have worried. By choosing warmer sites (not near  
streams or lakes) I was toasty warm all the time.

And for people fearing heat, I found that it was a lot like cold. I  
acclimated to that as well. I hiked with my long-sleeved shirt no  
matter what the temperature and felt comfortable. In fact, I was  
asked by some day hiker in 103 degree heat why I wasn't too hot in my  
long-sleeved shirt (typical nylon button-up shirt) and the reasons  
were many:
- I'd soak it in water at every stream crossing
- My sweat would form in the elbows so every time I stretched my arm  
out the cool sweat felt good
- I didn't button the wrists so air flowed well
- It protected me from the searing rays of the sun
- I swear it kept me at my body temperature despite the 103 outside.