Photo: Ryan training for the trek in Montana's Bridger Range. Clothing: GoLite Virga Rain Jacket, Patagonia French Roast pants.
Clothing must be light and keep you warm. Beyond that, any features, such as "keeps you dry", or "pockets", or "makes you look good whether in the backcountry or a bistro" are a luxury. What follows is a discussion of clothing from one of the expedition members (Ryan) and the rationale behind his choices.
Base Layers
Ryan will wear GoLite Stride Shorts (3 oz) and a Smartwool Hoody (9 oz, permithrin-treated for mosquito repellency) that will hit the market later this year. The Hoody is a women's version, which fits trim (good for the Arctic) but reveals the belly button (bad for the Arctic). So, Ryan sewed an 8 inch extension of GoLite Lightweight C-Thru to the hem. Voila - a sealed waist, whether tucked or untucked. The other mod Ryan made is to sew the hood a little tighter so it seals. It seems that "hoodies" have become fashion pieces, which means the hoods on the hoodies are not so functional all the time. The hood is also Ryan's "warm" hat for the trek. The hoodie has thumbholes in the sleeves, which when combined with Ryan's spare pair of socks (= gloves) should keep his hands warm that first week...
Wind Layer
Like the base layer, the wind layer will also be worn most of the time. Patagonia French Roast soft shell pants (permithrin-treated, 9 oz) provide wind, bug, and some moisture protection for the legs, while a Montane Lightspeed Jacket (4.0 oz) offers wind protection for the top. Ryan's hacked the Lightspeed to simplify its function: removing the waist drawcord (saves weight, more comfortable tucked in) and inner hood lining (saves weight, improves breathability), and replacing the hood drawcord with small bits of elastic band (saves weight, simplifies hood use). Yes, there are lighter wind shirts, but none that really fit well - trim and long enough to cover the butt.
Rain Layer
As conditions worsen, on goes raingear, which includes the GoLite Virga Jacket (2-layer waterproof-breathable, 6 oz) and Mont-Bell Ultralight wind pants (water-resistant, 2.5 oz), both garments freshly Revivex'ed. Spare stuff sacks or used plastic food bags combined with spare socks protect hands during super cold conditions.
Insulating Clothing
The Bozeman Mountain Works Cocoon Hooded Pullover (10 oz) and Cocoon Pants (7 oz) provide core warmth for sleeping, cooking, and in the direst of circumstances, trekking. They are made with highly breathable shell materials (Pertex Quantum) and synthetic insulation (Polarguard Delta). The hood on the pullover, combined with the hood on the Hoody (above) provides head warmth at night in combination with Ryan's hoodless sleeping quilt. The only other piece of clothing carried in the pack is a pair of polypropylene stocking tights, from Sahale (1.6 oz), which are used for trekking on very cold days and as a sleep layer under the Cocoon clothing when other trekking clothing is soaking wet.
Headwear
Baseball cap (Headsweats Coolmax polyester, 1.6 oz, permithrin-treated), bridal veil mesh mosquito headnets (0.3 oz each x 2). Combine with hoods on the merino wool Hoody, wind shirt, rain jacket, and Cocoon Pullover for warmth / weather protection. No dedicated "warm cap".
Footwear
Montrail Vitesse shoes treated with Seam Grip on all exposed stitching and at usual glue junctions where delamination typically occurs as the shoe wears out. REI Spring Gaiters (Schoeller Dynamic) are stitched directly to the shoe to avoid the inevitable "gaiter strap wear". Darn Tough full cushion hiking socks (2 pair) keeps one pair dry for sleeping while offering a spare if one fails.
Handwear
No dedicated "warm gloves". Hoody has thumbholes and long sleeves into which hands can be tucked; spare socks can be used as mitts; stuff sacks as mitt shells; long sleeves on the wind shirt and rain jacket can be used for wind/water protection; long insulated sleeves on Cocoon Pullover can be used for warmth. Grabbing a cookpot of the woodfire stove can be accomplished with a sock.
- Ryan Jordan
Roman's Clothing Notes:
Tops and bottoms:
MontBell pants like Ryans for wind/rain. No additional treatment. Actually prefer wind pants to rain pants in dry Arctic. Not so clammy, fast to get wet but fast to dry.
Taking Patagonia pullover anorak-style Spectre for wind and rain. I like the chest pocket for map, pencil. I keep notes on my maps: time, terrain, Brush rating (on this trip Class III at most), tussock size (pint, quart, 5 gallon, 55 gallon), animals seen, camps, human sign, game trail locations, events....
Base layer is sourdough style with a one piece lightweight capilene long john turtleneck. Time-tested design in the North Country for more than a century. Hoody will go over this as will some old Patagonia Cool Weather Tights. Currently deciding weather to take a base layer of Silkeweight Capilene short sleeve shirt....hmmm....certainly wearing some snug-legged underwear to prevent chaffing....
Clothing Modifications:
We sewed draw strings on the bottom of the Cocoon Pants so they seal shut when sleeping. Keeps feet warmer by sagging the pants at night and closing off the pant leg.
Removed all toggles and used taughtline hitch or bow-tie on all clothes instead.
Other Modeifications:
Skipped the sewn-on gaiters and any other mods to clothing -- going stock on this one by and large.
Hat/gloves/mitts:
None. No hat at all, baseball or otherwise, just the hoods (bug net, too) and long sleeves. Did all my training this winter bare-handed up here in Anchorage to maintain my "hunters response."
Sleep Clothes:
I don't like to sleep in my "work clothes" so I have super-sheer cotton top and Pointelle Patagonia Capilene long bottoms to wear under those Cucoons at night to fight the sweats I get with bare skin on nylon-- also one pair of sleep socks I'll wear at the end if the other socks wear out.
No stuff sacks at all. Just the big outer dry bag and a smaller inner (POE 15 L Superlight) one to hold sleep clothes and quilt.
Cucoon Endorsement:
By the way, Hig and Erin of http://www.aktrekking.com/ were over at our place on their way to 400 mile trip in the Nushagak/Mulchatna area -- site of proposed Pebble Mine -- and thought the Cucoon clothing absolutley wonderful!
Posted by: Roman Dial | June 07, 2006 at 05:00 PM
Wedding veil or Black funeral veil? I always though white netting was more difficult to see through than black.
Posted by: Tony | June 08, 2006 at 05:52 AM
Ryan, is that the Smartwool Shadow's Hoody you are referring to? I bought a mens large in March from the Smartwool site, and I love it. Mine weighs 12.7 oz. I removed the stripes that run down the sleeves. What were they thinking? It's better without them and I think it looks better too. I do wish the hood covered a little more of my face. I last used it 2 weekends ago, in the Rockies, with great success. The temperature range was from the low 40s to the upper 70s Fahrenheit. I hiked and slept in it. I used it with a Patagonia Houdini. Did the permithrin effect the fabric in any negative ways?
I went to GoLite's web site and didn't see the Virga Jacket. I assume it is working very well for you and look forward to it's being available. The hooded Cocoon is also on my list when it becomes available.
Posted by: Eric Noble | June 08, 2006 at 12:57 PM
Ryan,
Did you opt for optimal bug protection, optimal water repellency, or neither with your Montane lite-speed?
Pertex Equilibrium is mosquito bite proof, but not the Pertex Microlight used in the lite-speed. Permethrin will solve the mosquito bite proof issue but will adversely affect water repellency. Microlight yields a water repellency grade 5 when not treated with Permethrin and a 2 or 3 when treated with Permethrin.
Posted by: Richard295 | June 08, 2006 at 02:55 PM
Greetings from Anchorage!
Richard295: I went with permithrin treatment on my base layer (merino wool hoody) and Reconditioned the DWR on my Lightspeed jacket. The latter is not what I like to do, because it inhibits breathability. I'd rather wash DWR completely out of wind shirts. But in this case, I want to wear the wind shirt as much as possible without having to don a rain jacket, so it needs to hold up to the apparently incessant fog, snow, and mist that we'll encounter during the first week.
Posted by: Ryan Jordan | June 09, 2006 at 05:43 PM
Eric, no not the Shadow, but I think Roman will have the Shadow. Mine is a top secret model not yet released.
OK, kidding. It's not actually top secret. It's due to hit the market this fall. It's just a ... women's model ... don't tell! That's why I sewed an 8" extension to the hem, didn't want the little buggers camping out in my belly hair.
Posted by: Ryan Jordan | June 09, 2006 at 05:45 PM
Are the production GoLite Virga's heavier? Can't find any for sale at the weights you mention?
Why didn't you choose Montbell Stretch Wind pants over the Patagonia French Roast's? They're much lighter and very similar features.
Posted by: Sab | September 25, 2006 at 09:02 AM