Replacing some gear with UL stuff: top layers and sleeping bag

MT, for the sleeping bag I'd look at the Reitveld article on three season down bags that came out earlier this year. You have many good options. Western Mountaineering is the best, and a great long term investment.

Base layers are quite personal. Some prefer wool (soft, warm, more fragile, expensive) some synthetic (tougher, dries faster, potentially stinky). Fit also varies a bunch across brands, and I find it important to find a layer that is snug but not super tight, and long enough in the sleeves (harder than it should be to find). Go to a store and try a bunch on.

For conventional three season hiking most folks find a light puffy jacket to be the most useful. Down, synthetic, or pile are the choices. Hoods are nice.

Down: best warm/weight ratio, most compact, looses warmth when damp quickly
Synthetic (primaloft, etc): second best at warm/weight and compactness, quite good with moisture, often has a nice wind and weatherproof shell material
Pile: cheapest, most durable, best when damp/wet, takes up lots of space (but makes a good pillow!), not wind resistant

In the interest of being contrarian (as pile has fallen out of favor) I'd point out that Patagonia has just released the high-loft R3 hoody, which is great stuff.

Add.: I (like many) prefer wind pants to rain pants. The Montane Featherlites are fantastic.

Thanks for your input, Dave.

I've looked at wool base layers recently and you are right, they are expensive! I was wondering about the capilene stuff, is it any good?

The R3 looks good for the weight/warmth, I'll grant you that.

Wind pants? Can they withstand some rain? Other than that, I am not seeing the advantages — I wear hiking pants and I don't really get cold on my legs easily.

Depending on your height, there are three excellent Nunatak down quilts (http://nunatakusa.com) available on the Gear Swap forum at fantastic prices. Nunatak quilts rarely get offered for resale so these won't last long. All three have a Pertex Quantum top shell.

Arc Specialist –
size small (fits to 5'4"),
rated 32°F (0°C)
weight 14 oz
asking $300
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=35734

Arc Specialist
size large – fits to 6'4"
rated 32°F (0° C)
weight 18 oz
+2 inches top width
+1 oz overfill
asking $400
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=35734

Arc Alpinist
size large – fits to 6'4"
rated 20°F
weight 22 oz
asking $375
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=35993

Katabatic Quilts: No wait time, cheaper, different strapping system (which I think should work really well for side sleepers)

http://katabaticgear.com/

or you could get BPL member Javan Dempsey to make you a custom one. Very nice guy, answers emails/questions promptly.

My Katabatic Palisade w/ 2 ounce extra down should be waiting for me when I get home, so I have no personal experience with the product yet.

or the various Montbell UL offerings.

or a Golite Ultra 20 if you can find one used (probably cheapest option).

Manufacturer rated 25*-32* F, approx 19 oz.

These were the options I looked at. They seem to be pretty popular, in addition to the Western Mountineering stuff.

I chose quilts because I don't like hoods of any kind, having sleeping bag material underneath me, drape/stick leg out for warm temperatures, and want something compact/light.

I like lightweight merino wool (I use Icebreaker stuff). You can sweat buckets in it, still feels comfortable against skin when wet, once dry soft/clean feeling to sleep in and doesn't stink. I can't do that with synthetic personally. I can't wait to get synthetic off once I cool down. Merino can be scratchy (not itchy) though, YMMV. It's not that expensive, look for sales.

I really really like Event fabric for weather proof gear. Completely waterproof/windproof, superb breathability (no more clamminess). Although the jacket I have wasn't great for abrasion, so care in the lighter weight versions need to be taken. It might have been from my snowboard edges rubbing sides as I carried board.

Hi All,
I'm a new member and had a similar question to MT. My packweight is now just under 10 lb and I was hoping to ditch some extra weight by replacing my old, heavy clothes. Current 3 season clothing includes:
REI midweight baselayer (10 oz!)
Patagonia R2 fleece (14 oz)
Integral designs Sil Poncho (9 oz)
In winter I add a patagonia down (sweater 13 oz)and WB shell jacket. I live in Michigan where the spring/fall temps drop to the 30s/wet and winter temps may be 0-10 F. I spend some time during my trips fishing or ice fishing so need good layering when stationary.

Was considering replacing the REI baselayer with Capilene 2 (5.5 oz), the fleece with a Montbell UL thermawrap (8.8 oz), and possibly adding a marmot ion (3 oz) or montbell tachyon anorak (2.3 oz) windshirt. I'd love any feedback on these items, or other specific products I should be looking at before deciding. While I'm on the topic, any recommendations for shell or windpants that could be worn solo or over shorts?

Thanks in advance for the guidance. I've learned a lot from this forum as I've made the switch to lighter packweight.

Ike

I prefer sleeping bags to quilts (as long as they have got long zippers), as I actually like the hoods when it's cold.

I've read the latest article on sleeping bags, and it seems my options boil down to the WM SummerLite or the MontBell Spiral Down Hugger #3. The latter is cheaper, but other than that? Which would be the best pick?

If you do go for the Montbell UL SS #3 (I have no experience with it), and can't find one used or on sale (which I couldn't anywhere), you might want to get it from Moontrail.

They ship for free and you get quite a bit of free quality stuff with purchase as part of their bonus points program.

May be a better deal if you're in the states vs … say Hong Kong.

Rain pants:

Try the golite Reed WP/B rain pants, if you can find them. Apparently they are no longer made (not on website). They can double as wind pants.

Most of us don't walk through long or constant rain by choice, prefering instead to wait it out under shelter. Where rain pants are really helpful is when having to walk through a lot of wet brush AFTER the storm. You can soak a pair of nylon hiking pants real fast that way………and it's usually a cold wet.

eVent rain jackets and pants are made by Integral Designs, but they're heavy (12 and 11.5 oz) and expensive ($250 @).

For no more than you'll probably use them, something like DriDucks or RainShield will work fine and cost less than $50 for a jacket and pants set. Just don't expect them to last more than one season, if that.

I really like Capilene, especially cap 2. Wool is nice, especially in winter, but the cost and exponentially less durability make it hard to buy again.

I'm in Europe, but thanks for the tip!

What about the stinky factor with Capilene?

I saw recently a wool top for 100+ USD or so, and that gave me pause, especially when I can get good quality and durable synthetics for half the price.

Type in whatever piece of clothing you want to buy, comma and then "gearbuyer". It gives you specs, prices, sizes and colors from various online retailers.

eg.

http://www.gearbuyer.com/products/icebreaker_tech_t_lite_mens.html

I was able to find some decent deals that way. There is another site that does basically the same thing, but it didn't provide specs or sizes/prices etc.. and I can't remember what it was called.

or keep checking the gear deals section on BPL. Got some decent deals that way too.

I got my Westcomb Spectre (Event) Jacket (11 oz) for $150 CDN. Sample sale, they manufacture in my hometown but I've seen them online for that much.

Montane is coming out with an ultralight Event anorak/windshirt/rain jacket. I'd be really tempted to get that .. provided it's under $300.

I get a lot of use out of my event jacket.

Capilene (or any synthetic baselayer I've ever used) definitely stinks, though the newer stuff is better than the old. It doesn't bother me, but some folks find it troubling.

Which would be good picks for mid layers (brands, models)?

At the moment I wear either a powerstretch fleece top or a lightweight fleece jacket.