My severe cold gear list

Eric, it’d be helpful to define severe cold. Is that below 0F? Wind chill?

Sorel felt boots are great but they can contribute to “foot rot” if you live in them for months at a time.  They don’t breathe too well.

Good to see someone here on BPL takes a down parka and not a mere puffy etc.  On all my winter trips I take a FF Icefall parka with 15.3 ozs of wonderful goose down—it’s a sleeping bag with arms.

LL Bean -20F bag—This will probably stop working at around -5F (the 15 degree rule).  If I was gonna see -20F consistently I’d get a -30F or -40F goose down bag—for night time comfort and security.

My current winter bag is a WM Puma rated at -15F and it works great at 0F and hits its edge right around -10F.

No mention of base tops or midlayers or outer layers (merino/capilene/fleece)—but I’m sure you got that figured out.

Ski googles are a big help. An alternative is a tunnel hood and ruff on your parka.

Lots of Hot Hands! A thermos of hot whatever in a wool sock. An extra layer of lightweight foam (could be a ridge rest, a Zlite, or a piece of outhouse blue foam (unused in that way). Something to sit and lie on that protects from the cold. Neck gaiter.

Yes, Hot Hands.  For 40 years of winter camping I never “acquiesced” to taking Hot Hands but last winter I said what the heck and packed several packets for hand warmth when packing up on cold mornings.  Now they are part of my standard load.

And the contents can be sprinkled into a firepit and the pouch burned.  I like to put two pouches—one each in the pockets of my down parka and let the goose down hold the heat.  They last about 10 hours before “going out.”

Mark, I’m defining severe cold as 0 F. and below.

Walter, I would be traveling, usually on Tele skis & skins, so when traveling my insulation layer would be a synthetic jacket with Thermolite insulation. Good synthetic insulator but not the very best. I would use that layer inside my sleeping bag when needed. Same with the pants.

David, Yep on the fur ruff.  Last spring I purchased a really nice coyote fur piece and will soon make it into a Velcro attaching/detaching fur ruff that can be flipped forward to form a “breathing tunnel”. Currently I’m pinning on various trial cloths to see just how to best position it.