Cold lower back: how did you solve the issue of clothes riding up?

[zorobabel frankenstein]

You find a suitable location for your tent, get into your down gear, finally set-up the tent and you get to snow melting. Sitting next to the stove or bending to set-up the tent you realize that once again your torso layers rode up and your lower back is cold. You remediate the problem, and 2 minutes later, you're right back where you started.
While this may not bother a good number of people (judging by the hosts of people showing off the tops of their buttocks), I find that having my lower back warm is crucial to my comfort.
The best solution to this would be a down suit; down suits are scarce and expedition weight, not to mention cost prohibitive. You also lose some flexibility and probably won't use a suit on shorter stops, where you'd only use a jacket.

In case this had bothered some of you, how did you mitigate the problem?
Thanks.

[Jerry Adams]

jacket longer in back?

[Andrew Zajac]

This hasn't really been an issue for me either, but I hope I could make a gear suggestion for the longer jackets. I recently got an eddie bauer first ascest down jacket in size large tall. It has an awesomely long torso that covers most of my butt and might help your problem. I also know that kuhl makes some pants that are cut a little higher in the back to help remediate this problem. Patagonia recently released a cap4 onesy as well. Hope this helps!

[Jerry Adams]

I have long torso. I make my own jacket, long enough.

[zorobabel frankenstein]

Thanks, it might be that mass produced clothing just doesn't fit me well. I have a 19.5" torso and 30" waist. I wear men's size S tops and they are usually short and baggy at the waist. I am thinking of buying a longer jacket.

To echo the tall pants idea, I was also thinking about some sort of tall bibs, they might be easier to find than long jackets.

I was also giving thought to adding a zipper (like motorcycling protective gear) or buttons to help keep thing in place.

@Andrew – Unfortunately the EB FA line doesn't offer tall for S size. I would be looking for something in between the Downlight and the Peak XV warmth wise. The Peak XV would probably be ok with a center-back length of 29.5". The Downlight wouldn't cut it at 26", as my current jacket is that long.

[David Thomas]

Irish ancestry? Short legs and long torso? I've got that.

Duluth Trading's signature product is an "anti-plumber's-butt" t-shirt, "Long-tail T's" that are 2"-3" longer than normal so they stay tucked in. It also lets me downsize to a small (at 6'0" 175 pounds) because a small is plenty of width, but FINALLY I get the length I need and want without being in a billowing size large.

Of course you don't want a cotton t-shirt, but they have some wicking synthetic version, including some in a small-pattern waffle weave that I like a lot as a base layer for hiking, BPing, sleeping, etc. They also have those in long-sleeve versions and they are a lot cheaper than many outdoor speciality clothing – $20 to $30 I think.

"Buck-naked" is what they call their "Diamond-knit 93% nylon/7% spandex for lightweight stretch and support"

http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/mens/workwear/buck-naked-underwear/83008.aspx

It doesn't solve your puffy-layer issue, but maybe it helps a bit at night.

My down suit was $30 at a garage sale. Location, location, location.

Also look at bicycling wear. Especially their rain wear is cut to cover some butt while they are bending over. Some of their insulating layers do as well.

[Paul McLaughlin]

interlocking layers.
My base layer shirt is tucked into my long johns, my mid-layer is tucked into my puffy pants. So if my puffy jacket rides up, as it occasionally does, I'm still pretty well covered. Of course this only works if the tails on your shirts are long enough, so I select my shirts accordingly – shirts I have otherwise liked have had to go because they were not long enough to do the job.

[Justin Baker]

I have that problem too.
I usually take my sleeping bag and wrap in around my waist while sitting down.

[Richard Lyon]

With a 22-inch torso the back of my base layer rides up all the time. Best base layer shirts I've found with extra length come from Ibex. When it's cold I do wear a longer outer layer to keep the backside covered as well as possible.

[Alex Wallace]

This might work for you:

[BlackHatGuy]

I don't have this issue, but I think a cheap and relatively light way to help mitigate would be one of those tyvek suits they sell at Home Depot. Can pull the double duty of being a barrier between sparks from a fire and your expensive jacket too.

[Mitch Chesney]

Like others have said,

> longer torso fit
> interlocking layers
> body suit

Or you might cut and splice a length of elastic suspender into a 2-4", dual-sided metal clip mini-suspender. Attach one set of jaws to your pant waist and the other either to the bottom or your upper layer or somewhere a little higher (to keep it taught). Should work for any article.

[Caleb Johnson]

The motorcycling idea of zipping your upper and lower layers together might work. I'm not as sure how you'd handle the multiple garments, i.e. do you have a zipper just on the base layers, or on the shell, etc?

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I no longer use my military polar weight polypropleyene drawers B/C they are cut too low in the back of the waist.

My Cabela's polyester drawers, on the other hand, are cut properly and don't pull down.

When I order base layer thermal tops I always order "Tall" sizes to be sure that they won't be too short in the back. So far (last 15 years) I've been very happy with that solution.

[Roger Caffin]

Easily solved by having your shirt and other top garments of adequate length. They should reach down to your coccyx at least.

Cheers

[zorobabel frankenstein]

Thanks you all for the replies!

David, Richard and Alex, thanks for the baselayer suggestions. Fortunately the baselayers stay put, it's the midlayers and puffy that are problematic. I'll keep your suggestions in mind for the future.
Maybe I can find some kind of cycling fleece instead of my currently preferred Land's End ThermaCheck 100 half zip fleece.

Paul, if the interlocking layers are not long enough, the "locking" part is a problem. I am at the stage where I tuck the top baselayer in my underwear, it is an improvement.

Justin, wrapping the sleeping bag around my waist only covers limited situations. There is also the inconvenience factor of trying to wrap my waist with a 0 degree bag in the snow. Maybe I should be melting snow in the tent…

Doug, thanks for the Tyvek suit idea. It has limited insulative properties unfortunately.

Mitch, thanks, the minisuspender idea is something I didn't think of, but sparked an idea, see bellow.

Caleb, the more I think about it, the less I like the zipper idea. It seems too fiddly with the zipper being at the back. I am thinking about buttons and shock cord now.

I also got to thinking; if regular clothes don't fit me well, would a full body suit fit me? I bet not.

It is clear to me now that I have to make changes to my clothing:

1. Buy a cheap and long replacement for my Land’s End TC 100 fleece or add buttons (or some other type of fasteners) and elastic cord.

2. Buy some tall waist bibs instead of my M65 army pant liners, or perhaps sew some fleece above the waist. I think a high waist on thermal pants would be the most beneficial out of the 3.

3. Buy a long down parka. This is going to be expensive. Unfortunately these kinds of parkas also have hoods made to fit helmets (I hate big hoods and I don’t carry a helmet).

Thanks again!

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

You don't have to buy a mountaineering parka to get a long one.
Several companies make custom sizes of their jackets.
It will be expensive

Otherwise you might consider adding an insulated tail to your current jacket. That would not hav to be very expensive or complicated..

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