Layer Up
One of the principles of keeping warm in the extreme cold is to layer up (and no, wearing one bulky piece of clothing in place of several lighter pieces isn’t recommended).
Around here the temperatures have been rather cold of late–cold as in “The high today will be 2 degrees.” So when I went out to the hill the other day, I put on plenty of layers. Here’s what I wore on top:
- A base layer with wicking properties;
- thin pull-over shirt with a mock turtleneck;
- A light zip-up cardigan;
- A heavier zip-up cardigan;
- A jacket
Despite all this clothing, I was not overheated.
For my legs, I took no special measures. I wore my standard snowboarding pants (a two or three-year old pair from Ride) on top of some comfy base layer pants.
Remember what your mom said about heat escaping from your head? Believe her. That’s another reason why a helmet is useful, but you might need to supplement it, as it I did, with some ear warmers.
The weak part of the outfit? The gloves. I don’t like the “helpless” feel of mittens, so I normally go with gloves. When I teach, I wear a ratty old $10 pair from Wal-Mart, and put a leather palm guard on top to keep the tow rope (used in our teaching area) to keep them from getting instantly sliced.
Gloves are lightweight and easy to pack. If you leave some stuff in your car or in the lodge while on the hill, it might be worth your trouble to bring along several pair of gloves, some heavier and some lighter. Swap them out as conditions warrant.