Hiker dies on Bondcliff Christmas Eve

jfb said:

Modern windshells are usually a single thin layer of polyester and should not be dismissed because the 60/40 made you steamy.

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I used the phrase "shell of any kind". That includes a single layer of polyester.

Read what I wrote: I'm not telling people not to use shells--just that no shell can be a good option under certain conditions.

Plonk!

Doug

DougPaul said:

I used the phrase "shell of any kind". That includes a single layer of polyester.

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Sounds like moisture is unable to move from your base layer through your fleece midlayer without outside air forcing it to flow. I don't have that problem so don't see a need to deviate from what I've been doing.

For many of us, we've been doing this enough to know what works for each of us. In winter, I almost never wear my shell if I have brought my wind-bloc vest and my wind-bloc balaclava. (a couple of miles above treeline may be different but for a 1/3 or 1/2 mile above treeline, I'd opt for the vest unless it was raining. (35 degrees today in a t-shirt and dense polyester top and summer hiking pants & I was sweating - other than my fingers, generating heat is seldom an issue for me.)

Mike P. said:

For many of us, we've been doing this enough to know what works for each of us.

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Agree. The thing I found tricky about this past weekend's conditions (and pertinent to the conditions that ultimately led to the hiker's death on Christmas eve) was the wetness. There was so much moisture coming off the trees, it felt like a steady rain with occasional large clumps of slush too. So more like a heavy rain. On Saturday, I hiked in just a base layer. It was completely saturated by the end of the day. I'm not talking about a little moisture, I'm talking about submerging my base layer in a bucket of water. This was fine while I was moving, but 35 degrees and soaking wet - well, it didn't take me long to get cold. I found it uncomfortable. On Sunday, I tried hiking in my shell jacket too, with my base layer underneath. I stayed just a little bit drier - maybe "wet" rather than "saturated" - but I was definitely more comfortable. Swampy and muggy, but I could slow the pace or stop or go downhill for a stretch without immediately being cold.

Drying my base layer overnight was a little tricky, but it didn't get that cold, so I was able to do it by putting a fleece and thin DownTek jacket on over it while eating dinner. I was producing a lot of body heat with dinner and there weren't any trees overhead to drip on us where we were camped.

Still, all in all, pretty tough conditions. The person who was most comfortable was the woman who was able to hike in just a thin T-shirt. She runs hot. I couldn't do it.