Welcome to Icefire?

[jchrisobrien]

The good news is that I have a ticket to September Wildfire. The bad news is that the temperatures at night are in the low 40's again. This lead to a miserable time on my last trip.

A friend of mine reccomended Patagonia to pick up some Capilene 3 clothing, which is good at retaining heat. Part of me balks at spending as much on clothing for the trip as I would for the trip itself. The other part of me says... it was damn cold last time! I'll be talking to a globe trotter and outdoors person tonight , and get some advice. More thoughts on IceFire to come in a few days. Tomorrow morning it's time for my monthy head checkup. More on that later, too.

Comments

[cris.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, to add on to Forest's awesome advice ... If you're car camping, definitely bring spare socks, and depending on how cold it is you can also double up on socks to add some insulation (keep your boots loosely laced if you do so ... the point is to create a warm buffer of air between the clothing layers and allowing your feet to maintain circulation. Footwear that's too tight will work against that)

The underarmour stuff is pretty warm and comparable to Patagonia. I have a pair of underarmour tights and they're usually all I need in winter cycling until the brutal subzero days of February, then I'll usually throw on an extra pair of fleece leggings.

Also, if you have the budget for it, you could consider wool clothing instead of the polypro stuff. Benefits of wool are, imho, better insulation for lower bulk than poly, less odor retention, and better breathability. Drawbacks: more expensive, less comfortable if you have sensitive skin. Smartwool is a decent entry brand for wool if you want to try it, and Ibex is the sort of stuff that is worth saving for then picking up on sale.