In a 4
season climate, it’s nice to know how to dress warmly enough to stay
comfortable outdoors. Here are a few tips to do so.
Dress in
layers - The more layers, the better. Dressing in layers of clothing does several
things for you: Layers fill up the space
between you and your winter coat with insulation. An undershirt, a shirt, and a
sweater each represent one layer. Your winter coat is yet another layer. The
more layers of insulation the better. Layers tend to trap air better. If you
have only an overcoat on, the warm air next to your body tends to leak out of
the top and bottom of the overcoat as you make body movements. Layers help to
hold this air in. Layers allow you to
regulate your body temperature more accurately. If you get too warm, you can
always open up a layer -- starting with opening up the top of your overcoat and
progressively opening up more and more layers as you get warmer and warmer.
Favor
natural materials.
In my
opinion, there is nothing warmer and lighter than a down overcoat. If you can,
buy one that is rated to a certain temperature such as 20 degrees below zero
Fahrenheit.
Don't get
over-sold on synthetic materials - Synthetic materials often come highly
recommended. Before you buy synthetic materials, however, be aware wool will
keep you warm even when it is wet. I know of no synthetic material that will do
this. Natural materials tend to breath better. This can be critical when you
start to work up a little bit of a sweat and need to evaporate this sweat so
that you don't become cold later when you are a little less active.
The one
exception to this rule is the value synthetics add as wind-breaking materials.
It sometimes makes sense, for example, to have a pair of wool gloves (perhaps
with leather palms for wear) covered by larger-than-your size mittens that have
a nylon shell. This will keep your hands very warm.
Be aware
that you lose more heat through your head than any other body part. This can be
very deceptive. Your head never feels cold. Why? Because your body sends more
heat to your head than any other body part to protect it. Keeping your brain
warm is so critical that your body will sacrifice any other body part before it
will let the brain get cold. Just because your head does not feel cold does not
mean you are not losing heat off the top of your head. Remember this forever!
You will not feel yourself losing heat off the top of your head, but you are! The
reason your feet and hands are cold is because you are losing heat in the head
area. Why? Because hands and feet are low priority and your head is top
priority. This is the body's system for
rationing its limited heat supply. Because your head is given top priority when
it comes to heat supply, it never feels cold even though it is in fact a giant
heat dissipation module. Remember! Your head leaks heat. Plug the leak.
If you will
prioritize keeping your head warm, you will have won half the battle in keeping
your body warm. The dumber your
head-gear looks, the warmer it is.
I was
recently shopping at Walmart. A man was looking at a bombardier hat with a
leather cover and a sheepskin lining. A woman who appeared to be his wife said
to him, "Forget it! You're not wearing it!" Grimly, he put it back.
He had just barely started to look. The hat would have gone well with the
character Jim Carey played in the film Dumb and Dumber. As dumb as it looks, it
is also very warm. Yes, head-gear that dramatically alters your appearance is
incredibly warm. The converse is also true. Cool-looking winter hats are just
that -- a little too cool temperature-wise. Why do you think those Russian
women wear those big fur hats when it's 20 below zero? Because fur is
incredibly warm, that's why.
Keep your
feet warm - Your feet are in contact with the cold ground. You should wear
well-insulated boots. Again, favor natural materials. Wear wool socks if you
can find them and layer them if necessary.
·
Sheep skin boots can also be quite warm.
·
Keep your neck warm.
·
A scarf around the neck or a jacket that zips up
to your neck will do.
·
There are 2 important reasons for covering your
neck:
·
You want to leave as little skin exposed as
possible. This is the obvious reason.
·
A less obvious reason is that you want to seal
the top of your jacket so that air does not leak out of the body of your
jacket. You lose a lot of heat when the top of your jacket is basically an open
hole surrounding your neck. If you were a boat, you'd sink.
Patch up the
leaks wherever you can. Be sure to buy a jacket that has Velcro seals on the
cuffs of the sleeves so that you get a tight seal against the cold around your
wrists.
Prioritize!
Decide in advance which body parts you wish to keep warmest. This was taught to
me by a lady from Iceland. She says that keeping your priorities straight will
help keep you warmer. Some body parts are more important than others. Here is
how I suggest you prioritize based on what I learned from her:
1.
you want to keep your torso warm.
2.
your want to keep your head warm.
3.
you want to keep your feet warm.
4.
you want to keep your neck warm.
5.
you want to keep your hands warm.
6.
you want to keep your legs warm.
By focusing
on what is most important first, you are likely to stay warmer. Why? Because
ignoring a very important priority area, such as the head, will make you cold
very quickly.
Make sure
you don't sweat - If you get too warm. you sweat. This is very bad. If you
sweat, you get wet. If you get wet, you get cold. How do you avoid sweating? Make sure you peel
off your layers as you start to get warm. A very fast way to cool off is to
open up your jacket. Another is to take off your hat. Anything that helps you
to radiate heat will help you to cool down. Taking off your mittens turns your
fingers into radiator prongs radiating heat. Taking your hat off turns your
head into one giant radiator prong radiating heat. The key is to stay on top of
it. At the first sign of excessive warmth, start opening things up. Usually
this happens when you are doing something that causes you to exert yourself,
such as climbing a hill.
Keep your
face warm by keeping the rest of your body warm - Yes, you can cover your face
with a scarf or a face mask. Do so if it is cold enough and you have to.
However, I find covering my face to be uncomfortable. I prefer to employ
another tactic. I like to keep the rest of my body so warm that I can afford to
lose warmth through my face. Think of it as a bank account. Warmth you preserve
with other parts of your body can be spent on your face. Call this tactic
saving face if you need an easy mnemonic.
Wear long
underwear - Besides providing an extra layer, long underwear saves your legs if
all you are wearing are blue jeans. Buy a good winter coat. I've saved the best
suggestion for last. Here are some of the features you want in a winter coat:
·
Make sure it features down insulation. In spite
of commercial advertising to the contrary, there is nothing warmer than down – that’s
my opinion.
·
Make sure it is rated. My coat is from L.L.
Beans. It is rated to 20 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). It is quite warm. You
can do even better than this at a mountaineering store if you need to.
·
Note that the ratings on coats are generally
geared towards moderate activity. If you are planning on standing around gazing
at the stars through your telescope, you may need to buy something that is even
warmer.
·
Make sure it has a hood. This is important
because it represents yet another layer. You should wear both a hat and a hood
if it is very cold.
·
Ideally the hood will stick out in front of your
face just like the hoods of Antarctic explorers you see in National Geographic.
This traps air near your face. The fur lining that lines the hood is a further
air trap. A natural fur can provide a further benefit; it reflects heat back to
your face.
·
Make sure that all openings on the jacket seal.
This includes the top of the jacket and the sleeves. There should be a pull
string that lets you adjust the waist so that you don't lose air out of the
bottom.
·
Buy a coat that is long enough. I special
ordered mine in a long size. The racks in the store did not carry one that was
long enough to suit me.
·
Ideally, I want a winter coat to extend far down
on my thighs and the sleeves to reach down to my hands.
How you feel
about wintertime is largely dependent on how good a job you do of keeping
yourself warm. It's a modest ambition -- wanting to stay warm. But it is very
important to your wintertime morale - Bird
