BOB Clothing

[hso]

If you live in an area where you can get rain and temps regularly get below 50 degrees F you should remember that hypopthermeia can kill you very easily. Only a few hours in wet cotton at 45 and you'll find yourself at risk.

This is why the guys from the NW and those of us in the Appalachians focus on synthetics and wool and consider cotton to be suicidal.

I'm an old solo backpacker, caver and whitewater kayaker and the synth/wick/insulate/shell model has kept me going when other folks in carharts were on the verge of dropping out so I pick my gear accordingly. Since I'm in an area where people dress for cold/wet no one dressed in a broad brimmed hat, rain shell with fleece/bunting underlayer and boots stands out.

If you lived in a dry climate YMMV.

 

[Krenn]

I'm guessing that either A) you live in a warm, dry climate, or B) are impervious to wet, cold.

Up here, for me, the standard is polyester layer 1, fleece layer 2, raingear.

That's standard for anytime of year: summer, winter, fall, spring.

If there's room in the BOB, throw in a t-shirt for the occasional hot day in the (Cascade) mountains, which is where I'd but out if necessary.

Nem

Well, I don't live in a mountain range or swampland, if that's what you mean.

We do get blizzards and thunderstorms, but not often, and not very powerfull ones. And I really would be inside shelter in that event.

Plus, of course, having seasonal protection along.

 

[NMshooter]

Thanks for the recommendations folks, looks like I have some shopping to do.

 

[hso]

The advantage that wool and silk has over synthetics is that it isn't flammable, doesn't melt, all while keeping you warm even while wet. The problem with it is that it doesn't keep you as warm when wet and isn't as flexable, but before synthetics I used it extensively here in the other continental rainforest (western Southern Appalachians).

In the '60s and '70s I wore

Silk liners under rag wool socks

Silk thermal underwear under wool pants and sweaters

Wool jackets and wool watch cap or balaclava or "llama caps"

Silk glove liners under wool mittens

Waterproofed parkas and hats