Questions about layering

under armour clod gear

merino wool sock liners

microfleece upper and lower sweats

heavy thinsulate, or merino wool, or alpaca wool socks

another layer of heavy fleece for upper body

then outer shell with goretex and thinsulate.









if you plan to get anything wet wool retains 100% of its insulation properties even when wet.

This may seem kind of dumb but the main thing you want to avoid is getting too hot. Good thing about layers is you are ready for anything. If you are working and generating heat you can peel a layer off. I would stick with thin layers.

I elk hunt in NW Colorado. Normally around 20 to 25F in the morning and gets up to 55-60F in the daytime. I usually wear silk top/bottom, long sleeve thin poly cotton blend pullover shirt, short sleeve poly cotton blend pullover tshirt, then either zip up fleece top or a heavy duty extreme cold weather jacket. Do yourself a favor and do not wear anything with a turtle neck if you are going to be very active. Instead get a pullover muffler to go around your neck so that you can take it off and on.

What you want to avoid is getting too warm. If you are working and you get too warm you are going to sweat. When you sweat you are going to get wet. Once that happens you will not have enough clothes with you to get warm again. Getting wet is the problem you have to avoid. Start peeling off layers as soon as you even start to feel like you are getting warm.

On the ride out on a 4 wheeler in the morning I got everything on. Once I park and start walking layers come off. If you go with fleece the quality varies a lot. I like a zipper on the fleece because it is usually one of the warmer layers and being able to unzip it and let heat out or cold air in effectively acts as a pretty flexible layer. You can always take it off if unzipping isn't enough. Better quality fleece will do a good job of blocking a cold wind and keep you warmer if the wind is really blowing.

Personally don't think brand matters that much. Under Armor is fine but so are a lot of brands.

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This may seem kind of dumb but the main thing you want to avoid is getting too hot. Good thing about layers is you are ready for anything. If you are working and generating heat you can peel a layer off. I would stick with thin layers.

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This

Here you go, in order of getting dressed:

UA Cold Gear Mock

Wool Henley

Fleece Shirt

Fleece Mock TNeck
Then wear a fleece vest.
Then add a shell coat.

This is generally what I wear when its <29 when I hunt. The numerous thin layers allow for flexibility and ease of movement. I broke ice to put out decoys Sunday and never felt cold.

Have fun on your trip!

I had some culture shock moving from Alabama to Pennsylvania last year, some good advice given already as far as specific layers. I highly recommend a coat with down insulation. It's a bit crazy how warm those are.

Some of my specific combos are:
Under Armour Under Layer 3.0, top and bottom
Lower Body
Wool mountaineering socks, I like these because they go up really high almost to the knee.
Insulated boots
Heavy Carhartt canvas pants.
Waterproof pants over the carhartts for wind resistance and water resistance
Rubber boots for the snow.

Upper Body
Flannel shirts
Sweaters
Vest (I have a north face that does pretty good at warmth and wind resistance)
Feather Down insulated coat (this will be your best friend)
Gore Tex rain coat

Head
Knit hat/Toboggan
Scarf
Balaclava (covers face, ears, neck)

Heavy pair of insulated gloves

You need to keep exposed skin down to a minimum. So, cover everything. Like previously stated sweating=death. So, take some layers off while moving or working and put them on when you stop or slow down. Also, remember your outer layers have to fit on top of everything else, so you will probably have to buy them a size bigger than normal.

PS: frick the cold.

Carhart Arctics. Get some.
Wear them over regular clothing worn over silk/wool under layers.
Sorel or Lacrosse PAC boots.

Wool or synthetic base layer. Synthetic base layer will usually start to smell pretty bad after 1/2 to 1 day though. Wool is way better in this category.

Thin fleece for the next layer.

Mid-weight synthetic down jacket for a third layer or as outerwear.

Uninsulated shell jacket to block wind and/or rain.

For example the following setup is what I wear on my upper body and it keeps me comfortable at high elevations(single digit temps with high winds):

Baselayer- Smartwool Midweight Zip or Patagonia Capilene 2 Crew
2nd Layer- Patagonia R1 Fleece Hoody or Patagonia NanoPuff
3rd Layer- Arcteryx Atom LT (hooded)
Shell- Arcteryx GoreTex Pro

Setup for the lower half of my body is almost identical materials except no 3rd layer/synthetic insulated pants.

You can find many other brands besides the ones I listed that carry similar products with similar materials.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I've been in Michigan for 5 days now. The coldest it has gotten so far is -30. I just want to thank everyone for their input. Although I've never been in this type of cold, I have to say that I get hot at times with everything covered and that's with minimal walking. I knew the OB was the place to come. Thanks fellas

Went to academy and got their cold weather long johns and synthetic tops. Bought a Columbia micro fleece 1/4 fleece. bought their waterproof bibs and a polar edge waterproof down jacket. Got the merino wool socks with muck rubber boots. Got a seirus 3 in 1 micro fleece beanie with the neck guard and face mask. With seirus waterproof gloves lined with micro fleece.