Hi!
I would like to ask you what would make sense to buy to expand my gear of clothing. I try to get a structure in my post to make it as easy as possible to read and understand :-)
What I do or need me cloths for:
- Hiking & Mountaineering (100-4’500m elevation) in Switzerland (the higher grounds only in Summer)
- Camping in the mountains
- commuting by bicycle (in the morning short downhill, longer uphill, so sweat is the bigger problem)
- strolling outside
What I already have:
- Merino Shirts and Longsleeves
- Merino Sweater (Icebreaker Descender, kind of fleece)
- 750 cuin down jacket with Pertex Quantum
- Arc’teryx Alpha AR jacket (Goretex Pro)
How do I react to activity:
I sweat a lot and fast. In summer even with a Shirt and no activity.
What I wanted to buy, iteration 1:
Because I sweat easily I thought it would be a good idea to buy a vest. This would protect my body from the cold (f.e. when strolling or riding the bicycle to work) but would not let me sweat on my arms. The more I read abouth vests, jackets, insulations, breathability and activity, the more I got the knowledge that maybe just a vest is not the best thing I can buy and my jackets are maybe the reason I sweat in the mountains. Because they are not exactly the definition of breathability, especially during activities.
Iteration 2:
Now I thought, maybe I don’t need to have “free” arms with a vest but just a more breathable jacket. This would have e bigger range of use. But what should I buy?
- A jacket with an active insulation like Polartec Alpha or FullRange from Patagonia (their Nano Air jacket?) with high CFM?
- If this is with wind protection (any Pertex) I don’t win much (CFM would be below 10)
- If this is without a wind protection, I would destroy all the breathability with my Alpha AR (CFM would be below 2 I think)
- Additionaly to the active insulated jacket, do I need a windshirt to protect me from wind but still have better breathability than the Alpha jacket? F.e. the Patagonia Houdini is mentioned a lot.
This setup would cover the following situations, in my opinion:
- During activity without wind: Merino base, merino fleece, active insulated jacket
- During activity with wind: same + windshirt
- During rain & heavy wind: Alpha AR on top to stay dry
- During camping / no activity: down jacket
- Bicycling: active insulated jacket + windshirt (good enough protection downhill, no sweat uphill)
What do you think about this plan? Am I missing something or doing a mistake? Is there anything I can do better?
Appreciate your time and answers. Thank you for helping me!
Have a nice afternoon or day!
