Adirondacks Winter Mountaineering School, has anyone attended the week long course

Where I live in Michigan normally gets a lot of snow so hopefully will get some practice in myself :-)

Jeremy…I see you wear VBL layers top and bottom….do you normally run cold, and these help? I've done a fair amount of winter hiking in the Adirondacks, and never known anyone who wears VBL layers…maybe a few VBL socks, but that's it.
Just curious, because I am usually warm no matter what, and have never even worn a bottom base layer….

I was actually giving them a try to serve duel use. Bring less insulation and offset my lighter sleeping bag. I am normally not hot when I hike, but in the VBL I was very hot. Overall I wasn't happy with the construction quality of the Stephensons VBL system but it was a good learning experience. Those will not be worn this winter as I now live in the Sierra Mountains where the temps are much more consistent and a lot warmer than our lows on the east coast. I wouldn't recommend VBL on the east coast the temps are just way too variable. I think if I were doing a 4 day or longer trip in the interior west (Colorado, Montana, Wyoming…) where you can put money on the fact that temps will stay cold, I wouldn't use VBL.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=55433
Here is the thread that lead to my purchase of the Stephenson VBL suit.

I made shirt and pants from Stephenson "Fuzzy Stuff"

It's sort of heavy. Silvery color. Easy enough to sew.

It was comfortable enough, but I don't do extended periods and don't go below about 20 F, so non VBL worked just as good and was a little lighter.

If I did extended periods below 20 F it would probably have worked better.

I think 20F hiking temps are even too warm…

I think this is a personal temp rating for hiking in VBL. Your physical conditioning, how hot your body "runs" while hiking, what the weather is like. For me from the handful of times I used VBL while hiking last winter my temps are between 10-20F depending on how hard I am hiking and how sunny it is. At rest and in the sleeping bag VBL is all good your bag will never so dry.

I think the downsides to VBL are the smell, after only 1 day you are fairly ripe by day 3 in a trip it is disgusting. The other big issue, VBL clothing makes you lazy about moisture management, which in the winter I think is the most dangerous and easiest way to become hypothermic.