Layering for Cold: Why Moisture Is Your Enemy

Sleeping Bag Testimonial & Other Thoughts

I love my Hunter Ultima Thule by the way. It's rather bulky to carry backpacking but worth the effort come bed time!
Thanks for making great stuff!

–Robert

For the absolute best results, I strongly recommend that the very first layer you wear is the fishnet top. It will allow the entirety of moist vapor coming out of your pores to move quickly away from your skin surface. The fishnet underwear should always be loose fitting. Remember the fishnet material is a barrier separating the surface of your skin from the next layer of fabric; that is its primary purpose: so that the vapor can easily move away from you. All subsequent layers of clothing should also be loose fitting so as not to be constricting of your movements and never coated with anything. This will give the moist vapor the very best chance of moving through all layers (including the Lamilite) and out of the garment.

If you wear any close knit fabric as a first layer you will restrict the flow of vapor away from your body causing it to condense within the clothing you are wearing. This is a contributing factor as to why people get a chill, retention of moisture. Many under garments are sold with the claim that they wick away moisture, but the synthetic material the garment is made from is polyester and polyester does not wick any form of moisture. Natural fibers such as cotton, wool and silk wick all forms of liquid.

When I was found after getting lost, there was frost all over my Fossil Ridge parka. First layer was fishnets, second layer a cotton shirt and third layer the 12 ounce Lamilite of the parka. The exterior shell fabric is Novasuede which is very dense but the heat of my body was actively driving the vapor out of all that I was wearing with ambient air temperatures of -20°F and colder.

Now we readily know that the torso emits moisture through the pores of the human body and this process is not isolated to the torso; as a matter of fact we have pores all over our body which includes our feet. While we quickly feel the chill effect from perspiration cooling on our torso it does not happen so readily with our feet until it is too late. Once our feet get cold the chance of getting them warm without removing our footwear in a warm place like our house is not likely. The reason has to do with blood flow. Now things get even worse for our feet.

Our blood flows through our entire body in one minute. It is bringing warmth to all areas of our body including our extremities such as hands and feet. When our hands and feet are subjected to cold and not protected, the human body senses this and acts to stop the flow of blood to our extremities keeping the warm blood going to our vital organs. This action that the body takes is very hard to reverse unless you enter a warm area such as 70°F.

The reality is we humans cannot get away from the importance of not stifling the flow of moisture away from our skin surface from all parts of our body. Moisture from our own body in cold conditions is our enemy.

Having a cold torso will also further be detrimental to feet losing heat because the body wants to keep the blood going to the vital organs, and when they start cooling you begin to shiver, the body's mechanism to get warm, so the extremities now will not get blood flow.