Lightest weight baselayers?

[Brad Rogers]

I am currently trying and lighten my load a bit and one of the areas that I can’t help but think that I can save some weight is with baselayers. I take a long sleeved top and long bottoms year round for camp use and for sleeping in (keeps my bags clean) and am currently using a Patagonia Capaline Lightweight top (older) at 6.4oz in size large and Patagonia Capaline 1 bottoms at 5.05 ounces in size medium. Looking for lighter baselayers can be troublesome because many makers do not publish weighs for their baselayers and even when they do, I don’t find them very accurate. Do you guys (and gals) have any suggestions on extremely light baselayers?

[Tony Wong]

Bradford,

You might want to check out the BPL Shop on this site.

The Merino Wool Base layers are very lightweight.

4.9 Oz for the long sleeve top

3.7 Oz for the bottoms

Just a questions of availability.

I have them and they are very light….good for sleeping, but sometimes I wish they were a little thicker/heavier to provide more warmth when sleeping.

-Tony

[Anonymous]

Well, my Icebreaker 150 LS top weighs 5.57 ounces in small, and the 200 weight 3/4 bottoms in small are 5.11 ounces… so, not much saved there. I too am curious to see what others might suggest…

[Jim MacDiarmid]

Have you thought about silk? Sierra trading post has Terramar silk base layers cheaep and they weigh approximately 3.5oz for the large top and 3oz for the medium bottom. I got them to wear and pjs in my quilt. I've worn the bottoms w/shorts and the tops under a Houdini + UL Down Inner parka down to around 40.

One issue is that the stretch in the cuffs stretches out very quickly to the point of being non-elastic, hanging sort of baggy around my wrists. Not a big deal worn as sleepwear or undersomething, but might get annoying if I worn it as my only outer layer on my arms. If I had the gumption, I could probably hand stitch them a little narrower and still have enough stretch to get them on, it wouldn't look nice, but they're base layers, right?

[Scott White]

My golite silkweight L/S is only 2.7 oz (on my scale) in a size large. I've never seen a lighter option.
It would be perfect for your needs. Just throw it an as an extra/sleeping shirt for a very small weight penalty.

[Jay Wilkerson]

I have XL Patagonia Silk-weight Capilene-Long Johns that way 4.3 oz..This pair has lasted me 4 seasons so far.

2 cents worth

[Anonymous]

I will certainly check out some silk options… seem to remember seeing some at the local Marshall's for very little money.

[Brad Rogers]

Thank you everyone for your input. I went ahead and ordered the Golite Silkweight L/S shirt for a top. I noticed that Golite said it weighed 2oz but knew that that couldn't be correct, so thanks for the actual weight. I am currently thinking about trying out the Terrimar Silk bottoms from STP to replace my Capaline 1 bottoms.

[Jim MacDiarmid]

If you decided to buy from STP, sign up for their email list. They send me additional discounts pretty much daily, usually at least 20% off the already sale price, if not more. Today it's 25%.

I have the Golite silkweight short sleeve, and the fabric is great. I love it. The hemline is really short though on the T, and I have a short/medium torso(18.25").

[Jim W.]

Personally I find that natural fibers in the sleeping system allow for better temperature range because of how they buffer moisture. With a down bag the down handles this (in warm temperatures). With a synthetic bag I want to be wearing natural fibers. Silk works well for this.

The problem is that if you need to use them for a different purpose the silk doesn't insulate when wet. So if the trip turns into a cold drizzle and you decide to wear your sleeping base layer as part of your clothing system you don't want silk. When it gets damp it gets cold and doesn't dry very quickly. I think light merino or a light synthetic layer is worth a couple ounces over silk. Since merino is stink-resistant it's the most pleasant option to me.

[Erik Graf]

I'd say there weights are very much on – and you need to make sure you're talking about the same things.

GoLite has their DriMove series but some are "silk" versions and some are heavier. I believe a person I was speaking with at GoLite told me they were discontinuing their "silk" version of DriMove. I love mine – now, there's nothing to those things and I hike in them and have picks all over these shirts but they're tougher than you'd think. Anyhow, using my scales:

DriMove SILK S/S: 1.6 ounces
DriMove SILK L/S: 2.1 ounces

Question is – finding them. Getting harder and harder to find. I got my last – and probably final – set from a running store online.

Otherwise – I use some Patagonia Capilene shirts I kayak in – 4 ounces.

[Kathleen B]

My experience is the same as Jim's. I wore silk longjohns and tops as baselayers for a few years until I realized I didn't need to be that wet and cold all the time. Silk may work if you're not moving around, but I switched to merino as a 24/hour baselayer with vastly improved results.

[obx hiker]

"Thank you everyone for your input. I went ahead and ordered the Golite Silkweight L/S shirt for a top"

Where'd you find it Brad?

[Brad Rogers]

I ordered it from Altrec. I couldn't find it on sale anywhere but they had free shipping.

Moosejaw also has it in stock.

[Brad Rogers]

Does anyone have any other suggestions for baselayer pants before I try the 3oz silk ones? I currently have the lightest weight Patagonia ones and they are 5.05oz. I think they were lighter a few years ago before they went to recycled material.

thanks

[Scott White]

I've had my eye on a Nike Pro Basic Tight at argear.com. Its listed at 3.6 oz but I have no way to verify the weight.

[J B]

Does anyone have any other suggestions for baselayer pants before I try the 3oz silk ones?

I too have one of these GoLite Drimove Silk ones. I think they're amazing, weighing around 65 g, I think.

Is GoLite really discontinuing them?

I also have several GoLite Drimove Lite shirts, they weigh around 100 g each. Also very good.

[Brad Rogers]

I have not seen the Golite Silkweight Bottoms anywhere so if anyone finds them please let me know where.

Apparently, they are discontinuing the Silkweight layers and going to a BL1/BL2/BL3 rating system where the BL1 is heavier then the previous "Silkweight".

[Brad Rogers]

Nevermind Altrec called and due to a inventory error they are out of stock on the shirts, so I tried to order from Moosejaw and they called and said the same thing. Very strange. Apparently, this shirt can no longer be found in Mens sizes, but backcountry.com still has the womens version for you ladies out there.

[Erik Graf]

I got my last GoLite DriMove Silk tops from:

1) ZombieRunner.com
2) Wildernessrunning.com

Not sure if they still have any – worth a look….

[Brad Rogers]

thanks for the links, both sites still have Men's size small, but no larges.

[Brad Rogers]

I emailed Golite about their silk tops and thought I would share the response:

We are no longer making the Silk tops but will have new lightweight tops
to replace it in the Spring.

Brenda
Sales and Service Supervisor

[J B]

We are no longer making the Silk tops but will have new lightweight tops
to replace it in the Spring.

Well, just how lightweight will they be?

[Erik Graf]

Forgot who I spoke with – Susan I think? – told me the same thing. I voiced my displeasure at ending the silk version. She encouraged to give the new stuff a chance. Which is her job – but I added that I thought they, with each year's new line, were slipping away from their original intent and their stuff was getting heavier and heavier.
Response was sorta like "We strive to provide the lightest.etc.etc….." sort of company line. I still like many of their things – still, with other items – they cannot compete with some of the cottage folks in the lightweight arena……

[Brad Rogers]

If recent product updates from Golite are any indication, we are screwed, but hopefully they will come out with a similar product.

In the meantime I am still looking for superlight base layers. I can't help but think that there are some other layers that are that light out there (hard to believe that Golite was the only one making baselayers that light) perhaps in another sport (running baselayers perhaps).

If I can't find anything I will have to decide whether I want the expense and hand wash requirement of the BPL Wool or go to silk.

[Author]

Posts