Marmot Hydrogen, '07 model
I'm pleased, very, very pleased. I had toyed around with sewing my own bag, but I was looking at spending between around $150 for the materials and then investing the time. The time I do not have.
In case it is not mentioned below, I have also acquired an older Marmot Col (pre-EQ version). It is a -20 bag with 725 fill power down. (New Col EQ bags are made with 800 fp down and retail new for ~$600; less on Campmor)It compresses nicely, to about the size of a basketball. I have yet to measure it. It kept me sufficiently warm in -18 weather last weekend. I was using a Prolite 3 (1") full length pad, ridgerest full length pad underneath me. I was wearing my poly-pro base layer; poly-pro liner socks, SmartWool style winter-grade socks, Sorel felt boot liners (9 mm), 100 wgt fleece pants, 200 wgt fleece vest and a thin 100 wgt Fleece hat. I was not wearing gloves. I had no problems staying warm. The only problem with the bag is that it is a long bag, but I see that as just fine, since in winter I shove a bunch of stuff in there anyway.
---
These two bags should be the end of my sleeping bag purchases. I knew I needed two bags - one for winter and late fall/early spring and another for the rest. Essentially, I needed a 3.5 season bag and a 0.5 season bag. I think I have picked up what I need.
The Col has proved itself capable of going down to low temps. I believe I could take it further with more clothing, such as an additional fleece jacket or my down coat. I also could have worn my balaclava and my thicker hat.
The Hydrogen is intended to cover the rest of the year. Ideally, I thought a 20 degree bag would have been better, and I missed a chance to pick up my dream bag, a WM Apache 20 degree bag with a taffeta shell for $210 (someone beat me to it). A warmer-rated bag would have been better because it can easily get to 20 degrees in northern Minnesota. However, I couldn't pass up such a good deal. A 30-degree bag should be just fine for my uses, and I can wear clothing to bolster its rating. And it weighs in at a listed 25 oz. I was hoping for a bag that weighed under 2 lbs and around 24 oz (1.5 lbs) would have been ideal. My hand-sewn bag was designed to have 3 inches of loft (top only, bottom would have no insulation) and weigh in at approximately 18 oz. So, this bag is right up my alley.
It should be here in about a week. I'll continue my BWCA story soon.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Returned from BWCA
Part 1 added 1/11/08
Part 2 added 1/14/08
I'm back from the BWCAW. Here's a synopsis:
Thursday, Dec. 27.
The drive from home to the lake is about 5 1/2 hours. On the way, we see a sign in Virginia (or some other mining town) that says "Be prepared to stop for blasting." We scoffed. A minute later, we say another sign that read the same thing. This sign, however, was a cloth-type and was moveable. Someone was serious. And then we saw the State Trooper talking with one of the mine workers. Yup, it was serious. We saw the same thing going the other way.
As usual on a trip, the road got worse and it also got slimmer as we drove along. First it was a slimmer paved road. And then the ice-covered dirt. We passed a few resorts and also the Kekekabic trail parking lot. It was not plowed and the trail looked sketchy at best. So we drove further, and came to the Snowbank Lake canoe landing. It was now about 3 p.m. - we have 90 minutes of daylight left.
We changed and packed the sleds, something we had not done in the days previous. It was all very interesting cutting rope for the sleds that were designed to carry kids down hills. They were never meant to be pulks.
We were planning to stay on the west side of the lake, at a canoe campsite on the tip of a spade-looking peninsula (get out your maps now). This we did, but it was slow. It was a few miles away and pulling the sled, even in snowshoes, done was 1 to 1.5 mph. We made it to camp at 5 pm ish. The stars were coming out and the northern sky turned a hue of purple. This was to be our coldest night.
The lake ice seemed reasonably solid. There were only a few parts where we needed to move out onto more stable ice, and when these times came, my trekking poles proved invaluable for determining safe ice or not.
The campsite had a table someone had carted no doubt from one of the local resorts. There was a hook in one of the trees and two nails in others. Someone had been making clothesline hooks. Snow was about 12-15" deep.
We had brought a hand-powered ice auger to get water. We never used this. The ice near the first campsite was too sketchy to venture out onto for long, so we ended up melting snow. We had plenty of gas for the planned four-night trip. This created a nice cedar/woodsy taste to our bottles.
The temp hit 5 above (F) that night. The tent, an Half-Dome from REI circa 2005 (pre-goofy hub) did not breath incredibly well., despite being a 3+ season tent. There was plenty of frost in the morning. Also, a 51" wide tent is not wide enough for two people while camping in winter. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Supper that night was pizza hotdish. It was cooked at home by my mother and bagged. It was still not frozen. We had a large pot and boiled water. It took some difficulty to keep the bags from melting on the bottom, and I eventually wore a hole in the two bags. We pulled the food out right away and it was still edible.
Breakfast was a mixture of pre-cooked eggs, sausage, mushrooms and green peppers cooked in the same manner. I managed to keep the bags moving better this time and it worked better. No bags got holes. As my mother said, the green peppers would soften upon thawing. Of course, she was right. In the original mixture, I added the mixture of green peppers and mushrooms late and hardly cooked them.
We left that morning with an ambitious trek. We needed to get across the lake to its northern edge and find the Snowbank trail. The crossing was about 2.5 to 3 miles. Without a map, I can't give only estimates. This side of the lake, the western side, had deeper water and no major narrowings to create sketchy ice conditions. The day was 10 degrees F with overcast skies and a 5-10 mph wind from the SE/SSE area. The wind was at our backs on for the majority of the first crossing.
We navigated to the trail by two hills that rose from from the shore. The trail split these two hills (50 ft+ off the lake shore) and a canoe campsite was just SE of the easterly hill. We left the ice and were at the base of the westerly hill. We could not find the trail, as we were stopped by the downed trees. The area was impassible. So we moved. At the suggestion of my partner, we ventured across a little bay of 50 yards and began searching. We left the sleds at our original landing. The ice was sketchy and covered with slush.
The campsite was small and maybe could have fit three two-man tents. The site was not very visible from the water, and it may have been a hiking campsite. My partner found a spur trail off to the main trail, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
We split up to look for the trail. I trekked through the knee-deep snow toward the water and then moved north toward the easterly of the two hills. My partner did find the trail. It was thin, no doubt and obscured by overhanging branches at points, but it was in front of us. The trail was marked by clean chainsaw cuts through fallen trees.
And it was impassible. There was no way we were going to get a sled through there. The snow was a problem compounded by the trail conditions - low hanging branches and thin trails - that pulling a sled through there would have been impossible. Well, that was that plan. We needed to figure something out.
So we ate lunch. Lunch was some sandwiches with turkey, cheese and bacon. They were decent and better when not partially thawed. I had my bag in my pocket the whole morning and that helped slightly.
And then a plan. It became that we would complete our circle of the lake and stay at a campsite on the eastern shores. It would a water-access campsite. It appeared that it was on a peninsula; but when we got there, no campsite was to be found. And then we moved on. Plan number next was a site at the northern end of Harri Island. It was about a mile away, the same distance we had traveled to our phantom site. When we got there, the sun was getting lower. The site was vast, and stretched a hundred yards into the island. There was a main area on the tip of the peninsula, and a small trail led back to another area. It was protected by the wind from all sides. This is were we made our camp for the night. Further exploration revealed an additional site south east of our tent site. The site in all could fit multiple tents, probably enough for three or four full parties of BWCA overnight campers (8 people to a party max).
more later ...
Thoughts and reflections about the trip
Part 2 added 1/14/08
I'm back from the BWCAW. Here's a synopsis:
Thursday, Dec. 27.
The drive from home to the lake is about 5 1/2 hours. On the way, we see a sign in Virginia (or some other mining town) that says "Be prepared to stop for blasting." We scoffed. A minute later, we say another sign that read the same thing. This sign, however, was a cloth-type and was moveable. Someone was serious. And then we saw the State Trooper talking with one of the mine workers. Yup, it was serious. We saw the same thing going the other way.
As usual on a trip, the road got worse and it also got slimmer as we drove along. First it was a slimmer paved road. And then the ice-covered dirt. We passed a few resorts and also the Kekekabic trail parking lot. It was not plowed and the trail looked sketchy at best. So we drove further, and came to the Snowbank Lake canoe landing. It was now about 3 p.m. - we have 90 minutes of daylight left.
We changed and packed the sleds, something we had not done in the days previous. It was all very interesting cutting rope for the sleds that were designed to carry kids down hills. They were never meant to be pulks.
We were planning to stay on the west side of the lake, at a canoe campsite on the tip of a spade-looking peninsula (get out your maps now). This we did, but it was slow. It was a few miles away and pulling the sled, even in snowshoes, done was 1 to 1.5 mph. We made it to camp at 5 pm ish. The stars were coming out and the northern sky turned a hue of purple. This was to be our coldest night.
The lake ice seemed reasonably solid. There were only a few parts where we needed to move out onto more stable ice, and when these times came, my trekking poles proved invaluable for determining safe ice or not.
The campsite had a table someone had carted no doubt from one of the local resorts. There was a hook in one of the trees and two nails in others. Someone had been making clothesline hooks. Snow was about 12-15" deep.
We had brought a hand-powered ice auger to get water. We never used this. The ice near the first campsite was too sketchy to venture out onto for long, so we ended up melting snow. We had plenty of gas for the planned four-night trip. This created a nice cedar/woodsy taste to our bottles.
The temp hit 5 above (F) that night. The tent, an Half-Dome from REI circa 2005 (pre-goofy hub) did not breath incredibly well., despite being a 3+ season tent. There was plenty of frost in the morning. Also, a 51" wide tent is not wide enough for two people while camping in winter. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Supper that night was pizza hotdish. It was cooked at home by my mother and bagged. It was still not frozen. We had a large pot and boiled water. It took some difficulty to keep the bags from melting on the bottom, and I eventually wore a hole in the two bags. We pulled the food out right away and it was still edible.
Breakfast was a mixture of pre-cooked eggs, sausage, mushrooms and green peppers cooked in the same manner. I managed to keep the bags moving better this time and it worked better. No bags got holes. As my mother said, the green peppers would soften upon thawing. Of course, she was right. In the original mixture, I added the mixture of green peppers and mushrooms late and hardly cooked them.
We left that morning with an ambitious trek. We needed to get across the lake to its northern edge and find the Snowbank trail. The crossing was about 2.5 to 3 miles. Without a map, I can't give only estimates. This side of the lake, the western side, had deeper water and no major narrowings to create sketchy ice conditions. The day was 10 degrees F with overcast skies and a 5-10 mph wind from the SE/SSE area. The wind was at our backs on for the majority of the first crossing.
We navigated to the trail by two hills that rose from from the shore. The trail split these two hills (50 ft+ off the lake shore) and a canoe campsite was just SE of the easterly hill. We left the ice and were at the base of the westerly hill. We could not find the trail, as we were stopped by the downed trees. The area was impassible. So we moved. At the suggestion of my partner, we ventured across a little bay of 50 yards and began searching. We left the sleds at our original landing. The ice was sketchy and covered with slush.
The campsite was small and maybe could have fit three two-man tents. The site was not very visible from the water, and it may have been a hiking campsite. My partner found a spur trail off to the main trail, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
We split up to look for the trail. I trekked through the knee-deep snow toward the water and then moved north toward the easterly of the two hills. My partner did find the trail. It was thin, no doubt and obscured by overhanging branches at points, but it was in front of us. The trail was marked by clean chainsaw cuts through fallen trees.
And it was impassible. There was no way we were going to get a sled through there. The snow was a problem compounded by the trail conditions - low hanging branches and thin trails - that pulling a sled through there would have been impossible. Well, that was that plan. We needed to figure something out.
So we ate lunch. Lunch was some sandwiches with turkey, cheese and bacon. They were decent and better when not partially thawed. I had my bag in my pocket the whole morning and that helped slightly.
And then a plan. It became that we would complete our circle of the lake and stay at a campsite on the eastern shores. It would a water-access campsite. It appeared that it was on a peninsula; but when we got there, no campsite was to be found. And then we moved on. Plan number next was a site at the northern end of Harri Island. It was about a mile away, the same distance we had traveled to our phantom site. When we got there, the sun was getting lower. The site was vast, and stretched a hundred yards into the island. There was a main area on the tip of the peninsula, and a small trail led back to another area. It was protected by the wind from all sides. This is were we made our camp for the night. Further exploration revealed an additional site south east of our tent site. The site in all could fit multiple tents, probably enough for three or four full parties of BWCA overnight campers (8 people to a party max).
more later ...
Thoughts and reflections about the trip
- Freezer bag cooking, as done on this trip, was ineffective once the food has frozen. It took too long to melt the ice chunks that were our meals.
- REI half dome needs a redesign on the fly on the head and foot ends (non-door) to eliminate the need for an additional stake on each end.
- vapor barriers
Thursday, December 13, 2007
First round of gear tests finished
REI Alpine Lakes pants
These are hard-shell waterproof/breathable pants. They have full zips on the size and velcro on the top and bottom. The shell fabric is REI E1 elements fabric. The top half is lined with mesh. The lower half is a breathable black nylon.
I wore these pants over a poly-pro base layer and 100 weight fleece pants. The temp was consistently hovering around zero (F). When I was moving, I was very warm and found that I could vent the pants effectively. However, I was wearing snowshoes and with the side zippers pulled down to my knees (top of gaiters), snow got into the pants and landed on my fleece pants.
There was no condensation on the inside of the pants. The pants breathed well. The snow was a fine powder and did not stick to the pants. However, if I were to sit in the snow, the snow could melt against the pants and form ice.
I am happy with the pants. They are heavy (~23 oz) but they should never be carried in the pack so the weight is not so much of an issue.
SmartWool Mountaineer socks
These socks are, from what I can find, SmartWool's warmest socks. The inside of them looks much like off-white shag carpet. The sock is constructed in typical SmartWool fashion. The cushion is excellent. The sock (size L) fits well over my 8 1/2 shoe size foot with a liner underneath. It holds firm to my skin but does not constrict the blood flow to my foot. The sock goes over my calf, up to about where a boot gaiter would stop.
I was pleased with the sock throughout the weekend. It kept moisture off of my foot and pushed it out of my boot. I am slightly worried about durability, but that issue always comes up with merino wool socks. They fossilize eventually.
REI Ridgecrest mitts
These a insulated shell mittens. The insulation compresses down nicely, and the mitts pack well. The shell fabric everywhere but the palm is REI E1 elements. As stated before, this material breathes quite well. The palm is toughtec, a rubbery fabric that is tough and grippy. It is useful for opening water bottles that have been heated and subsequently cooled (creating a vacuum).
I wore the mitts with the powerstretch gloves below. The mitts did not absorb water and were warm. The draw cords on the gauntlets are nice to keep snow out. They are two-way pulls which allow a person to tighten and loosen the gauntlet with one hand (even a mittened one)
OR Celestial Gaiters
I wore hiking boots this weekend. I wore the these gaiters over the boot and over the bottom of the pants listed above. At the end of the day, there was no condensation on the inside of the pac-lite portion of the gaiters but there was frozen condensation on the inside of the pac cloth at the bottom of the gaiter. This was brushed off easily by my mittens.
The gaiters are lightweight and stuff well. I plan to use them in the summer also.
MH power stretch gloves
These a just what they say - liner gloves made of power stretch fleece. The palms have pilled slightly, but they are warm. They do not keep the wind out. However, they breath very, very well, and when I soaked my hand with water, the gloves dried out after I put them in the above mitts. I am keeping these as winter liner gloves and as summer warmth gloves.
Marmot Ion Windshirt
This is a 2007 dual color windshirt. It weighs approximately 5 oz. it stuffs down to the size of an apple. It stuffs into its chest pocket. I wore this primarily over a vest and/or a wool shirt. It cuts wind well and has a very well designed hood. I have also worn it running and it works very well at cutting wind.
---
I'm heading to the BWCAW from Dec. 27-31. Most of the above gear will be in my sled or pack.
These are hard-shell waterproof/breathable pants. They have full zips on the size and velcro on the top and bottom. The shell fabric is REI E1 elements fabric. The top half is lined with mesh. The lower half is a breathable black nylon.
I wore these pants over a poly-pro base layer and 100 weight fleece pants. The temp was consistently hovering around zero (F). When I was moving, I was very warm and found that I could vent the pants effectively. However, I was wearing snowshoes and with the side zippers pulled down to my knees (top of gaiters), snow got into the pants and landed on my fleece pants.
There was no condensation on the inside of the pants. The pants breathed well. The snow was a fine powder and did not stick to the pants. However, if I were to sit in the snow, the snow could melt against the pants and form ice.
I am happy with the pants. They are heavy (~23 oz) but they should never be carried in the pack so the weight is not so much of an issue.
SmartWool Mountaineer socks
These socks are, from what I can find, SmartWool's warmest socks. The inside of them looks much like off-white shag carpet. The sock is constructed in typical SmartWool fashion. The cushion is excellent. The sock (size L) fits well over my 8 1/2 shoe size foot with a liner underneath. It holds firm to my skin but does not constrict the blood flow to my foot. The sock goes over my calf, up to about where a boot gaiter would stop.
I was pleased with the sock throughout the weekend. It kept moisture off of my foot and pushed it out of my boot. I am slightly worried about durability, but that issue always comes up with merino wool socks. They fossilize eventually.
REI Ridgecrest mitts
These a insulated shell mittens. The insulation compresses down nicely, and the mitts pack well. The shell fabric everywhere but the palm is REI E1 elements. As stated before, this material breathes quite well. The palm is toughtec, a rubbery fabric that is tough and grippy. It is useful for opening water bottles that have been heated and subsequently cooled (creating a vacuum).
I wore the mitts with the powerstretch gloves below. The mitts did not absorb water and were warm. The draw cords on the gauntlets are nice to keep snow out. They are two-way pulls which allow a person to tighten and loosen the gauntlet with one hand (even a mittened one)
OR Celestial Gaiters
I wore hiking boots this weekend. I wore the these gaiters over the boot and over the bottom of the pants listed above. At the end of the day, there was no condensation on the inside of the pac-lite portion of the gaiters but there was frozen condensation on the inside of the pac cloth at the bottom of the gaiter. This was brushed off easily by my mittens.
The gaiters are lightweight and stuff well. I plan to use them in the summer also.
MH power stretch gloves
These a just what they say - liner gloves made of power stretch fleece. The palms have pilled slightly, but they are warm. They do not keep the wind out. However, they breath very, very well, and when I soaked my hand with water, the gloves dried out after I put them in the above mitts. I am keeping these as winter liner gloves and as summer warmth gloves.
Marmot Ion Windshirt
This is a 2007 dual color windshirt. It weighs approximately 5 oz. it stuffs down to the size of an apple. It stuffs into its chest pocket. I wore this primarily over a vest and/or a wool shirt. It cuts wind well and has a very well designed hood. I have also worn it running and it works very well at cutting wind.
---
I'm heading to the BWCAW from Dec. 27-31. Most of the above gear will be in my sled or pack.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
First winter gear test completed
I have returned from my first weekend of winter camping and an important test-run of my gear for the upcoming BWCA trip, tentatively planned for Dec. 27-31. Sometime tomorrow, I'll post reviews of the following items:
REI Alpine Lakes pants
SmartWool Mountaineer socks
REI Ridgecrest mitts
OR Celestial Gaiters
MH power stretch gloves
Marmot Ion Windshirt
Come back tomorrow.
REI Alpine Lakes pants
SmartWool Mountaineer socks
REI Ridgecrest mitts
OR Celestial Gaiters
MH power stretch gloves
Marmot Ion Windshirt
Come back tomorrow.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
First snow
We got about 4-6" of snow. It came down in mist, it came down in huge flakes, but most importantly, it came down. And I had to test some gear. New to my gear arsenal are OR Celestial Gaiters, SmartWool Trekking socks (heavy cushion), MH Power Stretch Gloves, Marmot Precip Pants (ankle zip), REI Alpine Lakes pants (full zip) and REI Ridgeline Mitts. And before anyone jumps, I did not pay full price for any of them. Not even close.
Anywho, I put on the gaiters over my old hiking boots. I was wearing the wool socks. The old boots will accommodate the wools, where my summer shoes will not. I put the Alpine lakes pants on over that. I hiked up the pants to tuck in my fleece, an old Denali TNF jacket. I put my Precip jacket on over that. I wore both pairs of mitts and a 300 weight polartech fleece windstopper hat. My hood was up the whole time. My girlfriend wore the Precip bottoms. The temp was about 15 def F. There was a moderate wind, no more than 5-8 mph.
I was pleased with the gear, except either I was overheating or my precip jacket is dying. I'd like to believe the latter.
I bought the gaiters to accompany my rain pants because last May, I wore my rain pants and the water drained into my boot. Major suck. The gaiters kept snow out of my boot and they were easy to put on and off. They had no moisture inside of them when I removed them an hour os so later.
The Alpine lakes pants were also a success. I slid down a small hill multiple times to test waterproofness with pressure and I was pleased. Although they have a lining in them (1/3 mesh, 2/3 breathable nylon), I felt no moisture in them at the end of the night. My jeans stayed dry.
The mitts plus the gloves were probably overkill. I could have gone without the power stretch gloves. However, the mitts kept my hands warm and dry. When I first purchased them, I went home, I put them under running water to test their water proofness. I also submerged them and looked for bubbles. The mitts passed both these tests. This is unlike my previous shell gloves, REI Minimalists (bought in '07, made in '06 or '07). I learned that they were not waterproof the hard way, when I stuck them in a moving river and watched for a brief second water bubbles come out of the palm.
My precip jacket had moisture inside. Bummer, I hope it is just from overheating. The precip pants, however, had no moisture inside them. This is similar to a previous test, where I used the pants during a multi-inch downpour and then wore them while the sun came out, scared away the clouds and shot the temp up 20 degrees. And I was sitting in a canoe and could not take them off. Ninety minutes later, I took them off and they had no moisture in them.
I will be winter camping this weekend, and I'll be testing most of the above gear over a 24-hour period. I will also be wearing a thin Balaclava and Sorel Boots.
The odd thing about this weekend is that I really dislike trying to find how much clothes to bring, in particular, warmth layers for my top. I have three good fleece tops, a good fleece vest, a wool vest and a down jacket. I never like to bring too much, but I can't risk bringing too little. In the past, I have used at most (-20 F), a lower-quality fleece vest, the wool sweater and a columbia jacket with the insulated (non-fleece) liner. I'm inclined to bring the vest, a thin fleece (~100 wgt generic fleece from Eddie Bauer, I got it for $5 at savers), my windshirt, the down coat and my precip shell. I should be able to deal with anything this weekend can throw at me with that on. If it gets crazy, I'll bring the wool sweater. I don't think I will bring any of the thicker fleeces because they will not fit under my windshirt, which is a tight-cut size small.
I'm also going to be taking fleece pants with me winter camping for the first time. Previously, I used wool army surplus pants that worked OK. They didn't block wind all that well, and they collected snow and ice. My shell pants will block wind (to 60 mph, I believe the tag said) they will not collect snow. And I'll be warmer.
More when I return.
Anywho, I put on the gaiters over my old hiking boots. I was wearing the wool socks. The old boots will accommodate the wools, where my summer shoes will not. I put the Alpine lakes pants on over that. I hiked up the pants to tuck in my fleece, an old Denali TNF jacket. I put my Precip jacket on over that. I wore both pairs of mitts and a 300 weight polartech fleece windstopper hat. My hood was up the whole time. My girlfriend wore the Precip bottoms. The temp was about 15 def F. There was a moderate wind, no more than 5-8 mph.
I was pleased with the gear, except either I was overheating or my precip jacket is dying. I'd like to believe the latter.
I bought the gaiters to accompany my rain pants because last May, I wore my rain pants and the water drained into my boot. Major suck. The gaiters kept snow out of my boot and they were easy to put on and off. They had no moisture inside of them when I removed them an hour os so later.
The Alpine lakes pants were also a success. I slid down a small hill multiple times to test waterproofness with pressure and I was pleased. Although they have a lining in them (1/3 mesh, 2/3 breathable nylon), I felt no moisture in them at the end of the night. My jeans stayed dry.
The mitts plus the gloves were probably overkill. I could have gone without the power stretch gloves. However, the mitts kept my hands warm and dry. When I first purchased them, I went home, I put them under running water to test their water proofness. I also submerged them and looked for bubbles. The mitts passed both these tests. This is unlike my previous shell gloves, REI Minimalists (bought in '07, made in '06 or '07). I learned that they were not waterproof the hard way, when I stuck them in a moving river and watched for a brief second water bubbles come out of the palm.
My precip jacket had moisture inside. Bummer, I hope it is just from overheating. The precip pants, however, had no moisture inside them. This is similar to a previous test, where I used the pants during a multi-inch downpour and then wore them while the sun came out, scared away the clouds and shot the temp up 20 degrees. And I was sitting in a canoe and could not take them off. Ninety minutes later, I took them off and they had no moisture in them.
I will be winter camping this weekend, and I'll be testing most of the above gear over a 24-hour period. I will also be wearing a thin Balaclava and Sorel Boots.
The odd thing about this weekend is that I really dislike trying to find how much clothes to bring, in particular, warmth layers for my top. I have three good fleece tops, a good fleece vest, a wool vest and a down jacket. I never like to bring too much, but I can't risk bringing too little. In the past, I have used at most (-20 F), a lower-quality fleece vest, the wool sweater and a columbia jacket with the insulated (non-fleece) liner. I'm inclined to bring the vest, a thin fleece (~100 wgt generic fleece from Eddie Bauer, I got it for $5 at savers), my windshirt, the down coat and my precip shell. I should be able to deal with anything this weekend can throw at me with that on. If it gets crazy, I'll bring the wool sweater. I don't think I will bring any of the thicker fleeces because they will not fit under my windshirt, which is a tight-cut size small.
I'm also going to be taking fleece pants with me winter camping for the first time. Previously, I used wool army surplus pants that worked OK. They didn't block wind all that well, and they collected snow and ice. My shell pants will block wind (to 60 mph, I believe the tag said) they will not collect snow. And I'll be warmer.
More when I return.
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