‘Warmth’ from a Hardshell

[Daniel C]

Just did my first solo winter backpacking trip at Shenandoah this weekend with Temps in the low-20s. I’ve been scouring used gear sites recently and ended up with a MassDrop Veil wind shell and a killer deal on a used Patagonia Super Pluma Hardshell ($45!) with a few stains that I mostly got out with a couple washes.

Anyway, my plan was to have my puffy and then cover it with the Wind Shell and stay around 11-12oz of jacket weight. When I hopped out of the truck and felt how cold it was, I got scared that I would freeze myslef solid with the light fabric of just the windshell and frantically grabbed my Hardshell. When I got to camp, I realized I also had my light rain coat, too. So, in all around 35oz of jacket weight.

Feeling like I definitely packed my fears; with 1 puffy and 3 wind/rain jackets I felt pretty foolish.

Anyway, my question is since the ‘shell’ was only needed to block wind and the puffy provides the warmth is there an appreciable difference in a windshell or a hardshell in cold weather when it comes to staying warm?

[Jerry Adams]

like you said, the outer layer should block wind from convecting through your inner insulation layers.  That produces a lot of effective warmth.

any layer of fabric will produce a thin air layer that produces a little warmth.  But if you look at the weight per insulation value, it’s not as good as real insulation like down, synthetic, or fleece.

Like you said, three layers is inefficient, you only need one layer which provides the wind blocking and a little warmth.

[Author]

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