Softshells - below freezing

[Blake]

I've had good success wearing softshell type clothes outside on cold windy days, or when rain is in small amounts. However, in prolonged rainstorms, they aren't really able to withstand the soakage. However, what about prolonged snow, when it's below freezing? Have you all had good success keeping warm and dry in softshell garments when its cold enough to be snowing, and stormy enough to be snowing all day long? (assuming I'm going to be staying active)

 

-Blake

[cj001f]

If it's cold and snowing, yes. Warmer wetter cascade snow doesn't work so well.

[selkirk]

The first place I saw them for sale was from Cloudveil, i'm guessing because they're almost perfectly suited to the tetons. They're really at their best when it's dry and cold, shed the wind and the snow and breath fine. Up here in the wet they're still pretty nice htough

[John Frieh]

For me snowing all day even below freezing isn't a big deal... I get a bit wet but not soaked.

 

What you have to worry about is when you get the soft shell wet (easier to do at warmer temps/above freezing) and then it drops below freezing. Talk about climbing in a suit of armor

[John Frieh]

And Blake: are you talking insulated or uninsulated softshells?

[Blake]

And Blake: are you talking insulated or uninsulated softshells?

 

Thinly insulated (ie with a thin layer of soft fleecy stuff bonded to the inside) depending on temps, obviously may have multiple layers below as well.

[underworld]

soft shell = good stuff in the snow, for the most part. but if it does get wet, i find that it doesn't dry as fast as your more breathable fleecies (ie R2 patagonia stuff)

[ryland_moore]

I loved my Cloudveil jacket when living in Jackson and it did well for me on Denali when temps were cold and dry. It works alright out here too. Just don't take it on a N. Cascades approach to an obscure peak as devil's club and slide alder have a way at grabbing the stitching and causing runs.

[JayB]

I got some Schoeller WB-400 pants from Beyond Fleece that were The Dank for snowy conditions in the Cascades. I seemed to stay drier/more comfortable in them than hardshells as the increase in breathability seemed to more than compensate for any reduction in water-resistance that they had.

 

The patagonia Dimension stuff also seemed like a good tradeoff.

[Squid]

Please explain "The Dank." I'm not hip to the lingo. Yo.

[spicoli11]

dank n dismal with a bit o pepto bismal

[JayB]

Please explain "The Dank." I'm not hip to the lingo. Yo.

 

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dank

[Squid]

Thanks JayB!

 

For the differently-abled link-clickers:

 

Dank

 

noun.

A refuge for people of low spirits.Taken from an episode of The Simpsons, "Bart Sells His Soul":

 

Moe: Seems nobody wants to hang out in a dank pit no more.

Carl: You ain't thinking of getting rid of the dank, are you, Moe?

Moe: Ehh...maybe I am.

Carl: Oh but Moe, the dank. The dank!

 

 

 

JayB's pants are a refuge for the depressed.

[JayB]

Guess I didn't look down far enough on the list. Motivated scrolling on your part. Way to keep after it. Pretty funny.

 

They have definitely been a refuge.

[gearup5000]

I haven't tried mine out in snowy conditions, but I have in wet ones, and what I do is keep a very light, no frills windbreaker with me. simple nylon hooded pullovers pop up non and then on ebay, however I got lucky and scored an activent one

 

This way, if you have a jacket, you get full protection with a lot of flexibility.

Activent also cuts wind/very water resistant, so if th softshell gets too hot, toss the activent/other over a regular fleece/sweater.

[Zoran]

Cloudveil Zero-G looks like good choice. I love mine.

Z

[Billygoat]

My Ibex pants and jacket worked great this w/e as you saw. Kept me warm even when wet and dried out as I wore them. Conditions were very cold and dry tho...

 

I don't know how much the wool in the blend helps out on the warm when wet sitmo. Anyone find their purely synthetic softshells working well when wet, heat retention wise?

[sweatinoutliquor]

What you have to worry about is when you get the soft shell wet (easier to do at warmer temps/above freezing) and then it drops below freezing. Talk about climbing in a suit of armor

Agreed... I have taken mine on 2 or 3 day trips... The first day it's great, but gets damp. When I wake up it's frozen solid so I just toss in in the bottom of the pack as ballast for the rest of the trip. It's heavier when soaked as well.

[Baltoro]

Beware of the term softshell as nearly every other jacket is slapping the term softshell onto their name and calling it good. Take a look at any of Mtn. Hardwear's offerings which they'll tout as "nearly waterproof and would be if we could seal the seams" (Gore won't let them). To me that is a rain jacket that leaks, not a softshell. The idea of a softshell which I think was first worn by Moses on the first ascent of Mt. Sinai (it's been around for a long, long time), is to repel wind and snow but still breathe really well. Also, break down the name and you have soft and shell. Keep this in mind when looking at "softshells" that have a great deal of insulation. You have other layers for insulating. All I want from my softshell is for it to act as a shell, not as insulation as well, thus increasing it's breathability. Check out Arc'Teryx Gamma SV or Gamma MX. I'm not sure how much insulation these have as they no longer make the one I have, the Gamma LT. Do not get Windstopper in your softshell. These are just fancy fleece. Windstopper is also "sweatstopper" as you will not breathe through it nearly as well as you would through something made of just Schoeller or Powershield that uses the tight weave of the fabric as it's wind blocking layer instead of a laminate layer like Windstopper. Sorry for the rant, I just get tired of people getting "softshells" that are bastardized versions of what they should be. Hope this helps.

[cj001f]

Windstopper = Goretex membrane pulled more laminated to fleece

[Dru]

what baltoro said. windstopper - the worst parts of goretex and fleece and the best parts of neither.

[letsroll]

JayB,

How do you like your cold play pants from beyond fleece? did they fit perfect the first time? Are the cold play pants too warm for hiking even in winter? I am looking at pants and having trouble deciding between the Cold play and Cold fusion pants. Don't want to get too warm of pants (tent to hike warm and don't want to sweat out to bad), figure that if it is too bad I can put on my shells for a bit more protection.

Edited December 7, 2005 by letsroll

[JayB]

I can't say that they've ever been too warm for winter-activities - and I've done most of the usual stuff in them - skinning up-hill with a heavy pack on, WI, etc. When it's really cold out I wear a layer of polypro under them, otherwise I just wear the pants. Both the fit and the workmanship were top-notch.

 

I think that these are definitely a winter-pant though - before mid-November and after mid-march I usually wear something lighter.

[JayB]

I can't remember if they are the Cold- Play or the Cold-Fusion. Whichever is made from the WB-400 is the kind I've got.