Reviews of the winter clothing used for Arrowhead 135

Reviews of the winter clothing used for Arrowhead 135

Clothing materials used in temperatures of -21F degrees up to +10F. Very calm wind- mostly sunny light snow. On the trail for about 40-50 miles (within ~20-22 hours), and pulling a sled about 1/3 of my body weight (128 pounds). Desert kid--- put faith into the items bought that they would keep me warm for the race, because I was last minute ordering everything. Did not own any ‘real’ winter clothes until the race. When you live in southern Arizona you don’t need winter clothes. So no real quality legit test runs.

Face:

-REI Balaclava

-Patagonia Balaclava

- Cool winter cycling hat

Overall: It was nice having two balaclavas. There is that saying "if your feet are cold, put on a hat". Well, your head is obviously a big part of keeping a regulator on your temps. Part of me kinda wished I brought a scarf. I think it's a bit easier to protect your cheeks, nose, and mouth with a scarf, than a balaclava.

Hands:

-Black Diamond Lightweight Glove Liners

Not warm enough, but they worked okay. Decent for the rating that Black Diamond gives them…which is about +35F. The wrist cuff seemed oddly sized

-Outdoor Research Adrenaline Mitt

Bought mitts in size large Mens. In hopes for extra space with in the mitt to trap dead warm air. The mitts were surprisingly not as big as I thought they would be. There is 21% worth of cotton that went into making these mitts. That made me rather frustrated! What highly serious outdoor company puts cotton into their winter clothing?! It just seemed stupid that I didn’t catch that! Noticed it when the palms of my mitts froze, and then I realized cotton had to undoubtedly be in these mitts.

Overall: It took a good chuck of time to sort through the many companies for mitts, and gloves for a vegan alternative. I’m sure that there is a better combo of mitts/gloves out there, but this worked. I don’t know how well it would have worked if it was liner gloves then gloves (not mitts)- I’m guessing it might have been colder. I don’t like being dependent on heat packets, but I had to use them into the night.

Upper body:

-Patagonia Capiliene 3- long sleeve (thermal value performance base layer made from recyclable synthetic fiber)

-Patagonia Capiliene 1- long sleeve (performance base layer ideal for wicking sweat/quick drying made from recyclable synthetic fiber)

-Patagonia Synchilla Vest- double-faced fleece. Never thought I would ever own a vest, but it’s totally worth it for winter endurance activities! Loved it! Glad I went with advice from native Minnesotans, and friends who love winter activities.

-Patagonia Micro Puff Jacket- compressible jacket (comes with a cool little stuff sack), synthetic insulation. Bomber jacket!

-Patagonia Ascensionist jacket- softshell, wind breaker. This jacket is meant more for snow, but not exactly a rain jacket.

Overall: The vest was awesome over the two layers of Patagonia Capiliene, and I was not too hot or cold….even when stopped. The Micro Puff jacket was nice towards the night, and almost was too hot to wear in -20F! Carried the Patagonia Ascensionist Jacket with me, but did not end up using it.

Lower body:

-Patagonia Capiliene 3- (thermal value performance base layer made from recyclable synthetic fiber)

-Patagonia Capiliene 1- ((performance base layer ideal for wicking sweat/quick drying made from recyclable synthetic fiber)

-Patagonia LW guide pants

Overall: It was good layering. Although, I think it’s important to keep joints as warm as possible. That was my issue. So, next artic cold winter adventure I think I would apply some type of sports cream to my knees, and then wear simple knee covers. Like the spandex based knee warmers you would find in cycling.

Feet:

-Injinji performance series-mini crew- (glove like socks-synthetic material)

-Drymax Cold Weather Running socks (wore over Injinji socks-synthetic material)

-Forty Below Synthetic Fill Camp Bootie (synthetic fill)

-Forty Below Light Energy Overboot TR (wore over camp booties. Overboots have a stretchy nylon covered neoprene, upper gaiter, removable closed cell foam bottoms)

Overall: Stellar socks. Had no chaffing, blisters, etc. Feet were sincerely happy! This combo of socks was stellar at keeping feet warm, and not too warm nor cold. Great at wicking sweat.

As some of you know I’m not a hardcore shoe person. Also, I just foresaw problems arising wearing stiff shoes during this event ie. swelling, possible chaffing, blisters, ankle roll, tired feet, losing toenails, etc. While looking for winter footwear I knew I would like to be able to use something like the mukluk (which is like a soft boot), but a vegan version. For mostly obviously reasons I couldn’t find vegan versions of ‘serious’ (serious-as in for artic outdoor adventures. Most I found were fashion) mukluks, but in my search it lead me into camp booties. Surprisingly most camp booties have a goose down fill, and it’s obviously animal product. But the idea of camp booties made sense to me, and I kept pursuing the idea. My idea-eventually lead me to a company called Forty Below, and it’s where I found the synthetic fill camp booties! Happy to see that they had also added ties to adjust how tight you wanted the bootie on your foot!

So, called them up, and talked with the owner. Really nice guy, and he told me that my request was interesting. They really deal with mostly mountaineers. He gave me really great advice, and thought I should pair the booties with their light energy over boots. So, took his advice, and the set up was truly stellar. It came with different cell foam thicknesses that I could put into the over boots, and booties for more insulation. I loved it! I love to be able to still feel the bumps in the snow, and wear light weight foot covers it was really enjoyable. My feet were very happy.