Don't Wear Too Much.

[wayno]

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/hill-skill ... 10261.html

why you may need less clothing that you think - temperature regulation on the hill explained. Here's the thing - you may need less clothing in cold conditions than you think and the more intense your activity, the less clothing you'll need.

In NZ, every youth group I belonged to there were lectures on the dangers of hypothermia...
i remember my first snowcraft course we were warned about temperatures as low as -20... I wore so many layers, as I started walking I steadily began to cook, and that was on the flat!

yes hypothermia isnt to be taken lightly, but neither is overheating and the sweat loss and the associated chill when you stop, from your sweat soaking your clothes....

[nelson castro]

Definitely, hypothermia should to be taken lightly it is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions. This usually occurs whenever exposed to low temperatures. To prevent it, appropriate clothing must be utilized. Synthetic and wool fabrics are superior to cotton as they provide better insulation when wet and dry. Some synthetic fabrics, such as polypropylene and polyester are used in clothing designed to wick perspiration away from the body.


Nelson

[Strider]

Good advice. Even in snow I usually wear just a baselayer and a shell layer (if needed) as long as I'm moving.

[Rob A]

Wear Jade, happy campers . Ohh go home Kiwi .

[Franco]

I'm always amused to see how so many take layers off (inevitably wet layers) as soon as they stop .
That is because when I stop I put layers on...

You can easily get hypothermic well above zero when "resting" by having wet layers on particularly when it is windy.

Tasadam has a point...
Just for a change I wasn't trying to inject some humor but I did.

[tasadam]

You can easily get hypodermic well above zero when "resting" by having wet layers on particularly when it is windy.

I hope you mean Hypothermic? Could be pretty nasty & painful if not...

[wayno]

its a bit of a black art managing your body temp in the cold.... if you're not used to it. if you come from hot environments, you're used to sweating profusely and you probably wouldnt give it a second thought, who ever told you that sweat can kill.....
i the cold you have to:

minimise sweating and ventilate when you can,

don't stop for too long if you are wet and

when you do stop for the day, get out of your wet clothes once you've stopped moving around and you're not likely to get wet again.... and

make sure that you ALWAYS HAVE ONE SET OF WARM DRY CLOTHES to change into at the end of each day, which means

you may well have to get back into wet clothes at the start of each new day....

it's well known by people used to cold climates but not from those used to hot and or dry environments...

water conducts heat out of your body somewhere between fifteen to twenty times faster than air...

you really need to understand how to use clothes effectively in cold wet environments to avoid a dangerous situation

[Moondog55]

Typical beginners mistake and we all must have made it, I know I have.
I have to say tho that with modern synthetic clothing the wet clothing issue is much less a problem than in the "Olden days" when the warmest clothing we had was wool.
I keep telling my friends from the US how easy they have it with the dry cold conditions they walk and ski in and while having dry clothes to change into may be reasonable and the ideal I tend to use a belay parka these days and put the extra layer on over my daytime wet stuff, I find that when I use the appropriate synthetic under layer I dry out reasonably fast. Only taken me 20 years to wake up

[nq111]

Typical beginners mistake and we all must have made it, I know I have.

+1 and +1

[sim1oz]

+1 Wayno, you are spot on and it's a timely reminder.

It's taken me a while to 'learn myself'. I've found that I start in the morning with baselayers, wind jacket, gloves, beanie, and if even more if its really cold. But I heat up really quickly from the exertion of climbing and layers start coming off until I am comfortable. The moment we stop for a break the first thing I do is start re-layering, all the time trying to keep my body temperature stable. If it's windy I might put on a wind jacket. If its cold, I'll put on gloves, beanie and my insulating jacket. People have this strange reluctance to stop and readjust their clothing layers to suit how they feel. I find the minute or two it takes to remove or add layers is more than recouped by feeling comfortable.

[wayno]

can be a problem when people get garments that are both insulating and windproof... easier to overheat, if you've opted for a softshell or a synthetic shell over a fleece you loose the option that a fleece gives you of a highly breathable insulating layer..... you can always throw a shell over the top if it isnt enough... but softshells and synthetic shells have taken away that option, you've opted for one garment performing two functions...those types of garments are usually for pretty cold environments, if the temperature is fluctuating you have less flexibility in how you can layer up.. a lot of shops won't explain the advantages and disadvantages of the various garments to people. people can buy out of a preconception of the garment, because they like the look or its something new , its lighter or more compact or they see other people wearing them...
people go for a softshell and also try to use it as a raincoat when it isnt waterproof....
if you're experienced enough you can look at a garment and work out how well it's design will fit in with your bushwalking, if you're not you'll just assume its going to fit your needs.
as a bushwalker you shouldnt be buying gear for fashionable reasons, you might look at seasoned bushwalkers and think they look funny with long johns under their shorts, funny hats with long ear coverings. boring old fleeces. heavy rain shells but that gear has been tried and tested and they know how to combine those clothes correctly for the conditions regardless of how strange they may look they will be a lot more comfortable on the trails than the newbie with the flash looking new gear....

[madmacca]

water conducts heat out of your body somewhere between fifteen to twenty times faster than air...

In this context, it is not so much about the thermal conductivity of water, but the amount of latent energy absorbed in evaporating water from your skin/clothing and changing it from a liquid to a gas.

[wayno]

its not even about evaporation, the air temperature has an influence on the water temperature especially if you cant complteley seal out the wind, so the water can conduct heat out of the skin if it is left at a lower temperature than the body temperature even before considering evaporation.
in cool damp conditions the evaporation of moisture is often nil. if you have high humidity, the air has little ability to absorb the moisture, you dont want the wind to dry your clothes in the cold when you're wearing them, you could easily die before that happens....
with the prospect of it being so hard to dry out thats why a second set of warm clothes that are dry becomes so important, once you stop walking for the day then the real problems can start....

[north-north-west]

It's weird how much some people will - or won't - wear. I remember coming down from Ohlssen Bagge after catching the sunset from the summit, to see two middle-aged ladies heading off for a twilight ramble into the Pound and back. Long sleeved shirts, long trousers, boots, gaiters, netted hats, jackets, large daypacks stuffed full with God knows what, blah blah blah. I was in shorts & sleeveless shirt & barefoot, carrying one small water bottle (and camera). And still sweating.

[wayno]

on the tongariro crossing it's usually thongs, a t shirt, plastic supermarket bag, jeans at 1900 metres, regardless of the forecast

[ryantmalone]

Classic case - was hiking in the late 90's going up Helicopter Spur on Boxing Day. Was under 10 degrees when we left, foggy, and drizzling. Body heat rose real quick, and made the amateur mistake of stripping down to a singlet top. Reached the top, all was good, found a place to camp just before the Magdala turnoff, and in the space of around 2 minutes went from extremely warm to "Oh my god, I cant feel my hands or feet!" and stopped helping put tents up, and in general, started to freak out somewhat.

My Dad, who I was hiking with, ended up trying to motivate me enough to get me in the tent, which he practically put up around me, and managed to get me warm in my sleeping bag, got feeling back in my hands, and was ok. Ended up doing another 4 days or so after that one.

An amateur mistake, but one that's damn easy to make. No one likes to be too hot, but what people don't quite get is that we cool down much quicker than we heat up. If you stop in the cold, and you have next to no layers on, you need to put layers on, even if you feel too warm, you need to keep yourself warm.

I'll usually keep a few things within quick reach - a fleece jacket in the main compartment of my pack on top of everything else, and waterproofs in the top compartment of my pack with gloves and a beanie.

[wayno]

humans evolved in equatorial climates, too much heat was a bigger issue to our survival than too little. we evolved to be efficient at loosing heat but not efficient at retaining it. people who live in cold climates arent that much better adapted physically to cope with the cold than people from hotter climates they are better skilled at dealing with it...

[Wolfix]

Then there's the thinning or thickening of blood dependent on your home climate. It's important to train in the conditions you will be walking in, and to have time to adapt to them before your walk.

I like wearing vests because my arms and armpits can breathe and my core stays warm. I pretty much can't walk at all in any rain jacket thicker than a GTX Paclite or Active shell as I have quite a high body temp and I am fat, meaning I heat up and sweat efficiently.

Water consumption and deep breathing have proven to be very important to my maintaining a reasonable body temperature when walking and socks are not to be underrated in importance either.

[icemancometh]

common sense goes out the door when people put their boots on...cmon they would declothe if they were that hot elsewhere but on the trail, nah, someone else told them they need to layer blah blah woof woof

think for yourselves! cold? wear more clothes, move more, eat
hot? shed some clothes, etc

baselayer, some kind of wind shell for wind/rain unless heavy then you may need a rain shell and a warm jacket for stationary times/camp.

[Moondog55]

While over-dressing is a typical beginners mistake the discussion so far hasn't mentioned fitness levels, my own fitness ranges from super to non-existent over a period of years depending on my overall activity levels. When I am on the fitter side on my own personal ledger I feel the heat and cold less and break into a sweat at a higher body temperature. I can tell you being unfit and sweating like a horse at minus 25 can be quite an experience when the wind picks up