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Clothing System for Colorado in Winter

PostPosted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 11:25 am
by bzbrian
While I'm at Ouray this winter, I'm planning on some winter mountaineering. This will be my first time in Colorado, and my first time doing some real (aka cold) winter mountaineering. My friends are much more experienced than me, but this is what I'm planning on bringing. Let me know if I need to change anything.

I'm planning on bringing all these things, and I'll probably bring most of them when going out but I can leave some of the gear in my friend's house if it's not needed. I'm particularly worried about hands and feet, I'm not sure if I can do more. I wonder if the Nepals are warm enough..?


Upper
Lightweight Synthetic T-shirt
Patagonia R1 Hoody
Patagonia R3 Hi-loft
Marmot ROM Soft Shell
Patagonia DAS Parka

Lower
Lightweight synthetic leggings
Midweight synthetic leggings
TNF softshell pants (old pair, I don't know the model)

Feet
Nepal EVO GTX
Midweight wool socks
OR Gaiters

Gloves
Lightweight Liner gloves
Work gloves
Hestra Heli 3-Finger Lobster Mitts

Re: Clothing System for Colorado in Winter

PostPosted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:15 pm
by Jfaub
Looks like a pretty good system to me. I have the nepals too. They're a great boot, and pretty warm as well. I've used them at around -25 to -30 Celsius in the adirondacks. I would recommend getting a pretty good sock (my thorlos always do the job) and bring heating pads. Place them under your feet in the boot if you ever get cold. that way every time you take a step you «activate» it with the little amount of air you displace in your boot. Just be careful not to lace them on too too tight! I learned that the hard way.

Happy adventures!

Joel

Re: Clothing System for Colorado in Winter

PostPosted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 10:47 pm
by Scott
What kind of mountaineering are you thinking of?

Ice climbing at moderate elevations, ascents to 14,000+ foot mountains, or something else? Overnight or day hikes?

When above timberline, don't forget that the most important thing is to get something that covers you entire face, yet lets you wear googles and glasses. I don't see it on on your list. This is probably of the most importance.

Next important will be your feet.

Your list looks pretty good other than the head and face gear.

As far as gloves go, unless ice climbing, I prefer taking a lightweight pair and a heavy pair of mittens with built in liners. The mitten have zippers along the side so you can unzip them and still use your fingers when needed.

Re: Clothing System for Colorado in Winter

PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 7:02 am
by bzbrian
Cool, thanks. We're planning on doing some 14ers on overnight routes that involve mixed climbing.

The R1 Hoody has a built in balaclava, would I need an additional balaclava over it?
And what would you recommend me getting for my feet? I normally just wear medium or heavy weight wool socks, but that's during the summer. I'm not so familiar with sock systems.

Re: Clothing System for Colorado in Winter

PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 2:01 pm
by WyomingSummits
bzbrian wrote:Cool, thanks. We're planning on doing some 14ers on overnight routes that involve mixed climbing.

The R1 Hoody has a built in balaclava, would I need an additional balaclava over it?
And what would you recommend me getting for my feet? I normally just wear medium or heavy weight wool socks, but that's during the summer. I'm not so familiar with sock systems.

I have a lightweight powerstretch balaclava that easily accommodates goggles. I'm with Scott on the face protection.....you don't want to be up there without it.

Re: Clothing System for Colorado in Winter

PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 10:55 pm
by mconnell
Personally, I own 3 balaclavas. One is very light that I wear for sleeping on cold (below -10F) nights. The other 2 balaclavas have been carried many times but never worn except for ski descents. The hood on my jacket has always been plenty.

Re: Clothing System for Colorado in Winter

PostPosted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:13 pm
by ty454
Personally while I like the Nepal Evos, I wouldn't use them if I was intending on doing extended cold winter trips (where it stays well below freezing 24/7). Whenever I do long cold trips I always prefer a boot that has a removable liner. There are few things worse than having to put on a cold, frozen, stiff leather boot in the morning when it's 10 below outside. I'd prefer the Evos for trips where it's cold, but gets up near freezing during the day, or maybe if it was just a single night I would suffer through it, but more than that and I want doubles. Doesn't the new Batura have a removable liner?

I've never seen a DAS in person, but on long cold trips I prefer two coats - one a thinner down or synthetic (I use either my First Ascent Igniter or BC 2.0 depending on precip expectations). I wear that coat pretty much 24/7. Then I also have a Peak VX down parka that I throw on over my thin coat as soon as I stop moving and start setting up camp in the evening. You get cold really fast in the winter as soon as you stop moving, and the sun is already really weak and sets really early, so by 3pm you're already setting up camp and shutting down for the day...which means you have 16-18 hours before you can start moving again in the morning! And the Parka comes in handy in the morning when you're really cold making breakfast and putting on your ice cold frozen boots (if you don't have doubles).

Don't know if you're going to be all cramponed up or if this is more just winter mountain backpacking, but I love my Baruntses for cold weather mountaineering stuff, and my go-to boot for cold weather backpacking is the Merrel Norsehund Alpha. The Alpha has an awesome removable liner with a sole that you can wear around camp. I leave them on all night so they're warm and dry in the morning, and my feet never get cold - no foot heaters required. I wish I could wear them for mountaineering trips.

Re: Clothing System for Colorado in Winter

PostPosted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 4:58 am
by Kai
Troll


Sunny Buns wrote:I'd include heavy weight long underwear bottoms, or polar fleece pants, or down pants if you are going to be sitting around your camp at night.

The DAS parka looks more like an in-town fall jacket than a winter mountaineering parka. I have no personal experience with it, but it looks too thin to me. The hood needs to be well insulated - the same as the jacket and it should button up tight to your face to hold in the heat.
http://www.patagonia.com/patagonia-mens-das-parka.wso I would choose down over synthetic.

This jacket looks better, but I'm just going by the internet photo - at least it is down and appears to have some loft (thickness), and the hood looks better. BUT I'M JUST going by the photos. http://www.whittakermountaineering.com/brands/first-ascent/peak-xv-down-jacket

Here is some gear for you. For Colorado winter camping I'd shop the Everest page:
http://www.whittakermountaineering.com/shop-by-summit/everest

This is what I think a winter mountaineering parka should look like: http://marmot.com/products/8000m_parka
Mine looks like that, only mine is poofier (thicker), and is 35 years old, and is not a well known brand. It keeps me warm in camp.